Gerald Solomon: the Ultra-Patriotic Congressman from Queensbury

by Jackson Stanclift

Warren County has oddly had quite a history of high-profile representatives in the recent half-century. There was John E. Sweeney, who George W. Bush nicknamed “Congressman Kick-Ass” due to his role in helping the former Texas governor win in 2000. There has also been Kristen Gillibrand (who is currently one of the state’s two United States Senators), Glens Falls local Scott Murphy, and of course, the conservative firebrand Elise Stefanik. But, none of those people have had as much impact in Washington nor had as much of a legacy in Warren County as Gerald Brooks Hunt “Gerry” Solomon. A Republican, Solomon represented Warren, Washington, and Saratoga counties (as well as parts of other neighboring counties that changed with redistricting) from 1979 until his retirement in 1999. And, for the final four years of that twenty-year tenure (after attempting and failing to become Speaker of the House following the Republican Revolution of 1994), he became the chair of the powerful House Rules committee (who basically serve as umpires for the rules on how bills are introduced in congress). 

Gerry was born on August 14, 1930, in a small town in the heartland of Florida called Okeechobee. When he was fifteen, his family moved to Delmar, NY (a hamlet of Bethlehem in Albany County). After graduating high school, he would study at Sienna College for a year before he attempted to join the Marine Corps in 1950. They rejected him over a childhood illness, but that didn’t stop Gerry from trying again next year (which was far more successful). During his Marine Corps service, he had been stationed as a radio operator on a helicopter carrier ship in the Atlantic. His service in the Marines (1951-1959) ultimately defined what kind of politician he would be: one focused on veterans’ affairs and hardcore American patriotism. 

During the ‘50s and ‘60s, Solomon would settle down in Warren County and start a few business ventures. He worked at M. Solomon, a women’s clothing business run by his stepdad, with Solomon being the director of the business’ operations in the Glens Falls area. He also served on the board of an insurance agency called Associates of Glens Falls Inc, and was a member of the Glens Falls Chamber of Commerce board of directors. And through those business bonafides, Solomon would launch his political career. He would become the Queensbury Town Supervisor in 1967, the first Democrat to be elected to the position in over half a century. However, he would switch parties and become a Republican just a few months into his first term. According to him, he was only a dem because he got swept up in Camelot mania (“Camelot” was a term used for the John F. Kennedy administration, comparing the idealized glamour of Jack Kennedy to King Arthur, with his cabinet being his own round table, in order to imply that the Kennedy administration was a brief, glorious moment in the country’s history) , he was a republican before JFK ran, and felt like LBJ had gone against what he liked about Kennedy. 

Gerry would serve  as Supervisor until December 1972, when he was elected to the State Assembly, where he served from 1973 to 1978. In the Assembly, he made a name for himself as a hardline fiscal conservative who frequently clashed with Governor Nelson Rockefeller, a more liberal Republican, as well as the majority-Democratic assembly, over spending. He would eventually run for the house in 1978, in what was then the 29th District. And, needless to say considering that we are talking about a congressman in this article, he would win.

One of the first things of note that Solomon did in Congress was be an early supporter of Reagan in the 1980 Republican presidential primary. In fact, he was one of the first two NY congressmen to endorse Gipper, the Jack Kemp from the Buffalo suburbs, who would later become George H.W. Bush’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and also who was Bob Dole’s running mate in the 1996 election. He was a staunch supporter of Reagan’s policies, such as opposing the USSR and other communist countries, cutting taxes, and increasing military spending. He also championed a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the federal government to make burning the US flag illegal (the 1st Amendment prevents such a bill from being passed to this day). 

Speaking of constitutional amendments, Solomon was also a particular aggressive supporter of the 2nd Amendment. In fact, he was so opposed to gun control that in 1996, he would get into an argument with twenty-eight-year old Rhode Island Representative Patrick Kennedy (Ted Kennedy’s youngest son) over a bill to repeal the Assault Weapons Ban that was in place at the time which got so heated that it ended with Solomon telling the Kennedy to “Step outside,” and threatening to get into fisticuffs with the man several decades his junior. 

On a significantly less violent note, another big accomplishment Solomon had in congress was stalwartly advocating for the Department of Veterans Affairs to become a proper cabinet agency. Beforehand, the VA had been an independent agency. Solomon’s advocacy played a pivotal role in the eventual signing of the Department of Veterans Affairs Act of 1988, which transitioned the VA into what it is today. In fact, a lot of his most prominent achievements in Congress were in regards to the military and veterans. And of those, probably none of his actions are as prominent as his authorship of the 1996 Solomon Amendment . The Solomon Amendment withheld federal funding from colleges (which is important for financial aid) if they refused to allow military recruiters on their campuses. 

The Solomon Amendment would become a massive headache for many law schools across the nation, who wished to ban recruiters from their college in protest of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the law passed by the Clinton Administration that forced LGBT people in the military to hide in the closet unless they wished to get forcibly discharged. This controversy wouldn’t come to a head until 2006 (five years after Solomon’s death), when the amendment would be the subject of the SCOTUS case Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR). FAIR argued that the amendments violated the 1st Amendment rights of colleges by forcing them to help with military recruitment. However, the SCOTUS unanimously disagreed with FAIR, stating in a 8-0 decision that the Solomon Amendment was constitutional because it regulated the conduct of universities, rather than their speech. 

Aside from the more tangible policies, Solomon was a true believer in hardcore American patriotism and the ideals of freedom that our country was built upon. He fully believed that it was every American’s duty to serve the country in some way, and that countries whose values were incompatible with American values of freedom had to be stopped at all costs. And he would make this apparent by wearing American flag pins to congress long before it was cool. But despite his staunch conservatism and nationalism, Gerald was far from a partisan hack. He worked with California Democratic Congress members Nancy Pelosi and Tom Lantos on human rights issues around the globe. Also, he had a surprising amount of respect for Ron Dellums, another California Congressman, despite Dellums being a socialist and anti-war firebrand. Despite being on the polar opposite side of most issues, Solomon respected the Oakland Congressman’s sincerity and ability to stick to his principles. 

Back home in Warren County (and the other places in his district, but I’m writing this for the Warren County Historical Society), Gerry was a beloved figure. He was consistently re-elected again and again by massive margins, often more than any other congressman in the state. This was because Solomon had good constituent service and brought a lot of funding over to his mostly rural district (such as legislation to protect dairy farmers and build low-income elderly housing in the district). 

After a very long and storied career, Gerry Solomon left congress in 1999, being replaced by the aforementioned John E. “Congressman Kick-Ass” Sweeney. After a few years of just doing his own thing (and starting a lobbying firm), he passed away in his home in Queensbury on October 26th, 2001. A funeral was held in the First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, and he would be buried at a veteran’s cemetery in Schuylerville that would be named the Gerald B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in his honor. Just over a month before his death, 9/11 would ironically put his form of hardcore  patriotism into the political vogue, as politicians on both sides would virtue signal their support for their support for the troops and their patriotism at a time when the American people were united by their fear of another attack happening and desire to stop terrorism by any means necessary. But, regardless of which side you are on or if you think Solomon’s actions were good, it was obvious that he was an actual patriot and a person who truly cared about the people of Warren County. 

Jackson Stanclift was a summer writing intern at the Society.  He attends Champlain College in Burlington, VT.  In addition to writing for ‘Rewind’ and Pasttimes, he has kept us entertained.  You will be seeing more of his writing in the future.