Lee Hamilton, Indiana Democrat and vice chair of 9/11 Commission, dies at 94

Jason Dick, CQ-Roll Call on Feb 4, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Lee H. Hamilton, an Indiana Democrat who went on to chair the 9/11 Commission and was one of his party’s foremost foreign policy mavens, has died at the age of 94.

First elected in 1964, Hamilton served 17 terms and went on to a busy retirement with his roles at, among other institutions and organizations, Indiana University’s Center on Representative Government and the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, named after him and the late Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar.

“Few public servants have shaped our understanding of democracy, global engagement, and principled leadership as profoundly as Lee Hamilton,” Indiana University President Pamela Whitten said in a statement. “His lifelong commitment to public service reflects the very best of our democratic ideals and left an enduring impact on our nation.”

Hamilton began forging a moderate and maverick reputation early on. “As a House freshman in 1965, Hamilton sent a letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson suggesting it was ‘time to pause’ in the rush to enact Great Society legislation,” according to the the 1998 version of Politics in America. A chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in the 99th Congress (1985-87), he went on to chair the select House committee investigation into the Iran-Contra Affair in the 100th Congress (1987-89) and later the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the 103rd Congress (1993-95.)

By the end of his congressional career, his votes started moving rightward, particularly after narrowly winning reelection in 1994 in a GOP wave year. He voted with Republican colleagues and against a majority of his Democratic colleagues on a number of key votes, including on denying education to the children of undocumented immigrants and to ban “partial birth abortions,” according to Politics in America.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Congress passed legislation that President George W. Bush signed to create an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the attacks and make recommendations. After congressional Democrats’ first pick for vice chair of the commission — former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine — bowed out of consideration, leadership turned to Hamilton, whose profile made him a natural fit. “Organizations representing victims of the Sept. 11 attacks have several times named him one of their top picks for the probe,” as CQ-Roll Call reported on Dec. 11, 2002.

Born on April 20, 1931, Hamilton had no previous political experience prior to his election to the House. He died on Feb. 3 in Bloomington, Indiana.

_____