Preceded by District created Name Howard Nielson Role Politician | Spouse(s) Julie Adams Children 7 | |
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Alma mater University of UtahUniversity of OregonStanford University Religion The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) | ||
Howard Curtis Nielson (born September 12, 1924) is a U.S. Republican politician.
He was born in Richfield, Utah. He studied at the University of Utah, the University of Oregon and Stanford University. He later founded the Department of Statistics at Brigham Young University, Provo.
Nielson and his wife Julie had seven children - 3 sons and 4 daughters.
Prior to his election to Congress he was a member of the Utah House of Representatives and speaker of that body from 1973 to 1974.
He was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives from Utah and served four terms, from January 3, 1983 to January 3, 1991.
While in Congress, Nielson sponsored two resolutions calling on Israel to reopen Palestinian schools and colleges. In 1985 he was one of just two "nay" voters on a resolution urging Taipei to extradite gangster Chen Chi-li, who had murdered dissident journalist Henry Liu in San Francisco the previous year. He also cosponsored a bill to limit tobacco advertising. He also was a leading proponent of releasing the names of people who tested positive for AIDS to Public Health Officials. Nielson was also one of the main negotiators of the 1990 Clean Air Act. Nielson was an early promoter of rating of song lyrics.
Nielson currently resides in Orem, Utah.
Nielson retired from Congress so he could serve as a Mormon missionary with his wife. They served as missionaries in both Australia and Hungary.
In 1996, Nielson was elected to the Utah State Senate.
Nielson's first wife died in 2003. He later married Donna, the sister of one of his former House colleagues, Ron Packard of California.