Theodore Marshall Risenhoover

Theodore Marshall "Ted" Risenhoover (November 3, 1934 - September 10, 2006) was a U.S. Representative from Oklahoma during the 1970s.

Risenhoover was born in Haskell County, Oklahoma, in a town called East Liberty. He graduated from Stigler High School in Stigler, Oklahoma, then served in the United States Air Force beginning in 1955. While in the Air Force, Risenhoover attended the University of Alabama from 1960 to 1961, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Discharged from the Air Force in 1963, Risenhoover became the part owner and president of a printing business in Tahlequah, Oklahoma two years later.

A Democrat, Risenhoover served as an Oklahoma crime commissioner from 1970 to 1974 and as a delegate to the Democratic National Mid-term Convention in 1974. That same year, Risenhoover was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District, assuming office on January 3, 1975.

He served two terms in the House, then lost the 1978 Democratic nomination for his seat to Mike Synar after The Washington Post ran a lifestyle article about Risenhoover that mentioned he slept on a "heart shaped waterbed" and the Synar campaign seized the opportunity to question the incumbent's judgement by printing and widely distributing copies of the controversial news article.

Risenhoover died in Claremore, Oklahoma.

References

*CongBio|R000268