John Jenrette

John Jenrette
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 6th district
In office January 3, 1975 – December 10, 1980
Preceded by	Edward Lunn Young
Succeeded by	John Light Napier
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Horry County
In office 1964–1972
Preceded by	At-large district
Succeeded by	District abolished
City Attorney of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
In office 1965–1969
Mayor	William E. Cameron Mark C. Garner
Judge of the Myrtle Beach Municipal Court
In office 1962–1965
Personal details
Born	John Wilson Jenrette Jr. (1936-05-19) May 19, 1936 (age 85) Conway, South Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Rita Carpenter ​ ​ (m. 1976; div. 1981)​
Alma mater	Wofford College (B.A.) University of South Carolina (LL.B.)
Profession	Lawyer, politician

John Wilson Jenrette Jr. (born May 19, 1936) is an American former politician from South Carolina, best known for his involvement in the Abscam corruption scandal, and being the husband of the Playboy model Rita Jenrette. He was in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from January 1975 until December 1980. He was convicted of accepting a bribe in the FBI's Abscam operation.

Biography[]

Jenrette was born in Conway, South Carolina, in 1936 and grew up in Loris, South Carolina.^[1] He graduated from Loris High School in 1954. He then earned a B.A. at Wofford College in 1958. After graduating from law school at the University of South Carolina, he worked as a city attorney, then a judge, as he attempted to reach higher office.

South Carolina House of Representatives[]

Jenrette was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1964, where he represented Myrtle Beach. He retired from the state house to run for a seat in the U.S. House in 1972.

U.S. House of Representatives[]

Jenrette defeated the seventeen-term Congressman John L. McMillan in the primary, but lost the general election to the Republican, Edward Lunn Young. Undaunted, he again ran for the seat in 1974. In part because of the extreme unpopularity of Republican Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal, Jenrette won.

Jenrette, a liberal, seemed out of place representing his rather conservative waterfront congressional district. However, he was locally well-known and the South Carolina Republican Party was not especially well-organized at the time in that part of the state. Jenrette easily defeated Young again in 1976 and was unopposed in 1978.

Jenrette is most famous for two things during his days as a Congressman. First, he allegedly^[2] had sex with his then-wife, Rita Jenrette, behind a pillar on the steps of the Capitol Building during a break in a late night session of Congress. (The comedy group "Capitol Steps" take its name from this escapade.)

Second, he was charged with and convicted of accepting a $50,000 bribe in the FBI sting operation known as Abscam which was conducted in 1980. He was recorded saying he had been given a cash bribe by an associate.^[3] Jenrette was sentenced to two years in prison, of which he served 13 months.^[4]

His wife, Rita, separated from him in January 1981 and they divorced later the same year.

Jenrette was defeated for re-election in 1980 and resigned from Congress on December 10, just days before the end of his term. He subsequently ran a public relations firm called Lehuguenot, Ltd.,^[5] in Myrtle Beach and developed property in nearby Cherry Grove.

Later[]

In 1989, he was apprehended after shoplifting a necktie from a department store in Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia. Convicted of a misdemeanor, he was sentenced to serve 30 days in a local jail.^[6]

In 2017, the book Capitol Steps and Missteps: The Wild, Improbable Ride of Congressman John Jenrette was published. It was written by two of Jenrette's former aides. While promoting the book, Jenrette described his years since Congress as including "marketing an experimental balloon-operated flotation device; running (and then folding) a national chain of timeshares; breeding horses in Bulgaria; and selling cigarettes in Eastern Europe immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union".^[7]

See also[]

• List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes
• List of federal political scandals in the United States

References[]

External links[]

• United States Congress. "John Jenrette (id: J000099)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Profile from Congressional Bad Boys

Sources[]

• ""Destination Scandal" tour of DC". The Washington Post.
• The Hill, May 29, 2002
• The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), November 17, 1999
• The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), July 22, 2000