Jack Kemp
American football player and politician (1935–2009)
Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician, professional football player, and U.S. Army veteran who served as the ninth secretary of housing and urban development under President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served nine terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1971 to 1989. He was the party's vice presidential nominee in the 1996 presidential election, running alongside presidential nominee Bob Dole; they lost to Democratic incumbents Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Kemp had previously contended for the presidential nomination in the 1988 Republican primaries.
Before entering politics, Kemp briefly played in the National Football League (NFL) and the Canadian Football League (CFL) but became a star in the American Football League (AFL). He served as a captain of both the Los Angeles / San Diego Chargers and the Buffalo Bills, earning the AFL Most Valuable Player award in 1965 after leading the Bills to a second consecutive championship. He played in the AFL for all 10 years of its existence, appeared in its All-Star game seven times, played in its championship game five times, and set many of the league's career passing records. Kemp also co-founded the AFL Players Association, for which he served five terms as president. During his early football career, he served in the United States Army Reserve.
As an economic conservative, Kemp advocated low taxes and supply-side policies during his political career.
The public source identifies “Jack Kemp” as american football player and politician (1935–2009). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jack, Kemp and American.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q357676. VIAF identifies the subject as 70335486. The Library of Congress control number is n84148192. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1935, 2009, 1989 and 1993.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jack Kemp” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.