Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., an initial Iraq War supporter who became one of its most outspoken critics and who went on to decry U.S. military intervention abroad, died Sunday, his 76th birthday.
Jones’s office said in late January he had entered hospice care, an announcement that came a week after he broke his hip. Before the injury, Jones had been battling an illness for several months and had been unable to cast votes in the House since September 2018.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., confirmed his colleague’s death early Sunday evening.
“Deeply saddened by the passing of Walter Jones—a beloved colleague and friend who had a profound impact on all through his graciousness, character, and committed Christian faith. God be with and keep his family. We will miss him,” Meadows said.
Deeply saddened by the passing of Walter Jones—a beloved colleague and friend who had a profound impact on all through his graciousness, character, and committed Christian faith. God be with and keep his family. We will miss him.
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) February 10, 2019
Though sick for several months, Jones ran unopposed in 2018 for his 3rd Congressional District seat and was sworn in for his 13th term in his home in Farmville, N.C., in January. He had represented the coastal area at the eastern edge of the Tar Heel State in the House since 1995.
Jones previously served for 10 years in the North Carolina General Assembly as a Democrat. After losing a 1992 bid to replace his father in Congress, 26-year Rep. Walter Jones Sr., a conservative Democrat, the younger Jones switched parties and won as a Republican in the GOP landslide year of 1994. His win under the Republican banner came to symbolize the shift in party loyalties in the South, a Democratic stronghold for more than a century following the Civil War.
But Jones was hardly a party loyalist, at least during the latter part of his congressional career.
Jones, whose district includes several military installations, originally supported the Iraq War resolution in 2002 and the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. Jones won publicity for his efforts to change the name of “French fries” and “French toast” on the menus in House cafeterias to “freedom fries” and “freedom toast.” The effort was a dig at France, who did not back the U.S. entering Iraq.
“I represent a district with multiple military bases that have deployed thousands of troops,” Jones said in a 2003 statement. “As I’ve watched these men and women wave good-bye to their loved ones, I am reminded of the deep love they have for the freedom of this nation and their desire to fight for the freedom of those who are oppressed overseas. Watching France’s self -serving politics of passive aggression in this effort has discouraged me more than I can say.”
Within a few months, though, Jones reversed himself and became a leading Republican critic of the Iraq conflict. He grew convinced former President George W. Bush’s administration had misrepresented intelligence reports to make the case for war. He began writing letters — more than 11,000 over the years — to the families of soldiers killed in action in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other theaters.
After Democrats won a House majority in 2006, Jones voted with the other party to pull troops out of Iraq. And he rebuked former Vice President Dick Cheney in 2013 for his continued support of the U.S.-led effort to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, suggesting in a speech that Cheney would end up “in hell” for his involvement with the Iraq War.
“Congress will not hold anyone to blame,” Jones said at a Young Americans for Liberty conference. “Lyndon Johnson’s probably rotting in hell right now because of the Vietnam War, and he probably needs to move over for Dick Cheney.”
Jones’s House office long had a wall that is dedicated to deceased service members who trained at Camp Lejeune, located in his district.
“For me, it’s a sacred responsibility that I have to communicate my condolences to a family,” Jones told the Associated Press in 2017. “And it’s very special to me because it goes back to my regretting that I voted to go into the Iraq War.”
Jones sometimes bucked his party on domestic issues, too. In 2018, he was the only Republican to join House Democrats in opposing a measure, which became law, repealing some provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Jones is survived by his wife Jo Anne and his daughter Ashley.
