Peter Hoagland, 65; the Nebraska Democrat served three terms in Congress
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Peter Hoagland, 65, a Nebraska Democrat who served three terms in Congress, died Tuesday in Washington, D.C., of complications from Parkinson’s disease.
Born Nov. 17, 1941, in Omaha to staunch Republican parents, Hoagland graduated from Stanford University. After serving in the Army during the Vietnam War, he graduated with a law degree from Yale in 1968.
Hoagland worked as an intern for Republican U.S. Sen. Roman Hruska of Nebraska, but the Watergate scandal that eventually drove President Nixon from office and dissatisfaction with the state party turned him to the Democratic Party in 1974.
Hoagland was first elected to the Nebraska Legislature in 1978 and served two terms. He represented the Omaha area in the House for three terms, from 1989 to 1995.
A moderate Democrat, he pushed for reform in the savings and loan industry as a member of the House Banking Committee. He voted to support a ban on assault weapons and voted against a constitutional amendment that would have outlawed burning the American flag.
After one of the most competitive races in the 1994 “Republican Revolution” -- which gave the GOP a majority in Congress -- Republican Jon Christensen upset Hoagland by less than 1% of the vote.
After his political career, Hoagland practiced law in Washington.
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