Sam Fox - Biography

Sam Fox (born May 9, 1929 in Desloge, Missouri) is an American businessman in St. Louis. He was the United States Ambassador to Belgium from April 11, 2007 until January 2, 2009. President George W. Bush appointed Fox to the post by a recess appointment on April 4, 2007.

Life and career

Fox was born in Desloge, Missouri to Jewish and Ukrainian-American immigrant Michel Fuks (later Max Fox), and Fanny Gold. Fox went to Washington University in St. Louis were he joined Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity. He graduated with a A.B. in business in 1951 and served in the United States Naval Reserve. He married Marilyn Widman Fox and has five children; Sherri, Pamela, Jeff, Greg, and Steve. He has 14 grandchildren.

Fox founded Harbour Group Industries, a multi-billion dollar investment firm.[1][2]

A major donor to the Republican Party, Fox was a Bush Pioneer in 2000 and a "Ranger" in 2004, categories for donors who recruit others to donate. Very late in the 2004 election campaign, on October 29, 2004, Fox also donated $50,000 Swift Boat Veterans For Truth ("SBVT"), a 527 group that opposed John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election by claiming that Kerry exaggerated his service record. The SBVT has since been widely dismissed as a political attack group failing to substantiate any of their claims.

Fox is the past chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Fox has also been involved in numerous philanthropic events; he has been chairman of the Greater St. Louis Boy Scouts and a member of the Board of Trustees at Washington University since 1989. He also endowed the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University, which includes the School of Art and the School of Architecture.

Additionally, President George W. Bush appointed Sam and Marilyn Fox to serve on the Honorary Delegation to accompany him to Jerusalem for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel in May 2008.

Ambassadorial nomination

Late in the 2004 election campaign, on October 29, 2004, Mr. Fox donated $50,000 to The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT). Mr. Fox made this donation knowing that the SBVT claims against Kerry had been challenged.

Fox was nominated for the position of Ambassador in December 2006. During his February 2007 hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Fox faced lengthy questioning from the target of attacks by the 527 group he funded in 2004, Senator John Kerry. Kerry interrogated Fox for approximately 35 minutes, beginning with 20 minutes of questioning directly pertinent to the ambassadorial position for which Fox was nominated, such as the tensions over the U.S. Terrorist Finance Tracking Program which accessed transaction databases of the SWIFT network. Kerry continued with a series of questions related to Fox's financial support of a 527 group which had attacked Kerry's military record during the 2004 campaign. In response to the question from Kerry, "I assume that you believe the truth in public life is important," Fox answered, "Yes, sir." Kerry then followed with, "And might I ask you what your opinion is with respect to the state of American politics, as regards the politics of personal destruction?" to which Fox replied "I'm against 527s, I've always been against 527s....Senator Kerry, I very much respect your dedicated service to this country... Senator, you're a hero."

But in response to follow up questions from Kerry, Fox did not denounce or acknowledge any responsibility or regret for his own support of the attacks on Kerry's military record in 2004.

Recess Appointment

On April 4, 2007, while the Senate was in recess, Bush used his power of recess appointment to secure Fox's position without the need for Senate approval. This made Fox ambassador until the end of the next session of Congress, and effectively made him ambassador for the remainder of the Bush presidency.

Reactions to the Recess Appointment

Senate / Democratic Reaction

Several Democratic Senators criticized Bush's decision to make a recess appointment when the nomination was no longer pending before Congress. They also argued that this use of the recess appointment power was illegal because of statutory restrictions applicable to ambassadorships.

Three Democratic senators wrote a letter to the Government Accountability Office Thursday calling for an investigation of whether President Bush's Wednesday appointment of Sam Fox as U.S. ambassador to Belgium was legal. Bush bypassed Congress and gave Fox the position without confirmation from the Senate, angering Democrats who were strongly against his nomination.

Bush used his power to make recess appointments and gave Fox the job while lawmakers were on a one-day break. Recess appointments are generally made if Congress is out for a long time, such as a month-long summer vacation.

The letter, submitted by Democrats Chris Dodd of Connecticut, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Robert Casey of Pennsylvania, read: "We view the recess appointment of Mr. Fox as a clear abuse of the President's recess appointment power."

Dodd argued that the law that enables the president to make recess appointments was not created to get around the approval of the Senate.

"This is really now taking the recess appointment vehicle and abusing this beyond anyone's imagination," Dodd said, according to AP. "This is a travesty."

He said in a statement that what the President did was "deceptive at best and illegal at worst."

Administration / Republican Reaction

On April 5, 2007, Vice President Dick Cheney appeared on the Rush Limbaugh radio program and discussed the Sam Fox controversy.

Transcript of Rush Limbaugh Broadcast

RUSH: The recess appointment of Sam Fox. Sam Fox is from my home state, and I know of Sam Fox.

He was treated horribly by Senator Kerry and others on that committee, simply because he had made a political donation.

They essentially told him he did not have free speech in this country, and until he would apologize, 'til he would go up to Kerry and apologize for supporting the swift boats.

Now the president has recess appointed him (Ambassador to Belgium), and of course the Democrats say they're going to investigate this and going to look into this. This is the kind of move that garners a lot of support from the people in the country. This shows the administration willing to engage these people, and not allow them to get away with this kind of—well, my term, you don't have to accept it -- "Stalinist behavior".

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, you're dead on, Rush.

See also

• United States Ambassador to Belgium
• Foreign relations of Belgium

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External links

• Profile from Horatio Alger Association