Bill Hendon

Infobox_Congressman
name = William Martin Hendon


date of birth = birth date and age|1944|11|09
place of birth = Asheville, North Carolina
death_date =
death_place =
state = North Carolina
district = 11th
term_start = 1981
term_end = 1983
preceded = V. Lamar Gudger
succeeded = James McClure Clarke
term_start3 = 1985
term_end3 = 1987
preceded3 = James McClure Clarke
succeeded3 = James McClure Clarke
party = Republican
spouse =

William Martin Hendon (born November 9, 1944 in Asheville, North Carolina) is an author, POW/MIA activist, and two-term Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina's 11th District. His 2007 New York Times bestseller, cite web | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/books/bestseller/0617besthardnonfiction.html?ex=1185163200&en=c9940911fa73a658&ei=5070l | title = New York Times Best Sellers: Hardcover nonfiction, June 17, 2007 | publisher = New York Times | date = 2007-06-17 ] [http://www.enormouscrime.com "An Enormous Crime"] , chronicles the history of American soldiers abandoned in Indochina following the Vietnam War and the circumstances that left them there. A companion website allows readers to examine actual intelligence reports and decide if the Defense Intelligence Agency acted properly in dismissing each case.

One day prior to the release of "An Enormous Crime", "The Raleigh News & Observer" ran a story about a passage in Douglas Brinkley's "The Reagan Diaries," wherein Reagan, following a briefing by then-Vice President George H. W. Bush, wrote that Hendon was "off his rocker" with allegations about Americans held in Vietnam. cite web | url = http://www.newsobserver.com/659/story/582501.html | title = Reagan dissed N.C. lawmaker in his diary | publisher = The Raleigh News & Observer | date = 2007-05-28 ]

In the 1980s Hendon's congressional campaigns became nationally famous due to his rivalry with Democrat James McClure Clarke. In 1982, Clarke defeated Hendon's bid for re-election by less than 1,500 votes. In 1984 Hendon gained revenge by defeating Clarke's bid for re-election by just two percentage points. In their third consecutive meeting in 1986 Hendon lost to Clarke by one percentage point. Despite being encouraged to run against Clarke for a fourth time in 1988, Hendon declined and announced that he was leaving political life to concentrate on the POW/MIA issue. Hendon is an alumnus of the University of Tennessee, where he also taught from 1968 to 1970.

Tenure in the United States Congress

*97th United States Congress (1981-1983)
*99th United States Congress (1985-1987)

References

External links

* [http://www.enormouscrime.com "An Enormous Crime: The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia"]
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000490 Biography] , The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
* [http://www.archives.gov/publications/ref-info-papers/90/appendix-m.html A Finding Aid to Records Relating to American Prisoners of War and Missing in Action from the Vietnam War Era, 1960-1994] , The National Archives, compiled 1996
* [http://www.usvetdsp.com/story19.htm Hanoi and Washington Officials Reneging on Promises of Joint POW/MIA Cooperation] , "U.S. Veteran Dispatch", February/March 1995
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE5D8153DF936A35755C0A963958260 M.I.A. Hunter in Hanoi Chains Himself to Gate] , "The New York Times", June 5, 1995
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE2D71E3CF93AA35755C0A963958260 Vietnam Ousts American Over the P.O.W. Issue] , "The New York Times", June 9, 1995