Ike Skelton dead at 81

Former Fourth District Congressman Ike Skelton died today at the age of 81.

Skelton won the first of 17 congressional terms in 1976 and was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee at the time of his 2010 loss to Vicky Hartzler.An astute military historian, Skelton helped build up Missouri's two military installations. As Whiteman Air Force Base near Knob Noster was losing its cache of long-range nuclear missiles, Skelton secured its future in the late 1980s by getting the Defense Department to place the new B-2 bomber there.After redistricting made Skelton the representative for Missouri's Fort Leonard Wood in 1983, the number of troops undergoing training there more than quadrupled and the post's mission expanded from the Army to all branches of military service.Born Dec. 20, 1931, Skelton met President Harry Truman as a teenager and had a lifelong interest in politics. He was elected Lafayette County prosecutor in 1956 and later practiced law with his father, but returned to elective office in 1970 when he won a six-year term in the Missouri Senate.An endorsement from Truman's widow, Bess, helped him win his first race for the U.S. House.