Robert H. Michel

Robert Henry Michel His father was an immigrant from Alsace and his mother was the daughter of German immigrants. He attended Peoria High School. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Bradley University. 1960, 1964, and 1968, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Michel voted in favor of the House amendment to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on July 9, 1965, but voted against the joint conference committee report on August 3, 1965.

Michel's most difficult re-election was probably during the 1982 midterms, when he was in a tight race due to dissatisfaction over U.S. President Ronald Reagan's economic policies and the early 1980s recession. In March 1988, Michel voted against the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to uphold President Reagan's veto). Michel stirred a controversy in 1988 when he recalled enjoying and participating in blackface minstrel shows as a young man, and said he missed the shows.

In February 1993, Michel gave the rebuttal to President Bill Clinton's address to a joint session of Congress, criticizing the economic policies of the newly inaugurated president. "The Clinton spin doctors have even given us a new political vocabulary, if you will – investment now means big government spending your tax dollars. Change now means reviving old, discredited big government tax-and-spend schemes. Patriotism now means agreeing with the Clinton program. The powerful evocative word, sacrifice, has been reduced to the level of a bumper sticker slogan", he said.

The Bob Michel Bridge, carrying Illinois Route 40 across the Illinois River at Peoria, is named after Robert H. Michel

Personal life and death Michel was married to Corinne Woodruff (Michel) from 1948 until her death in 2003.