Charles Rangel

Charles Bernard Rangel (/ˈræŋɡəl/ RANG-gəl; June 11, 1930 – May 26, 2025) was an American politician who served as U.S. representative for districts in New York City for 46 years. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-longest serving incumbent member of the House of Representatives at the time of his retirement in 2017, having served continuously since 1971, and the ninth-longest serving in history. As its most senior member, he was also the Dean of New York's congressional delegation. Rangel was the first African American chair of the influential House Ways and Means Committee. He was also a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and is also acknowledged to have proposed the group's current name.

Rangel was born in Harlem in Upper Manhattan. He earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service in the United States Army during the Korean War, where he led a group of soldiers out of a deadly Chinese Army encirclement during the Battle of Kunu-ri in 1950. Rangel graduated from New York University in 1957 and St. John's University School of Law in 1960. He worked as a private lawyer, assistant U.S. attorney, and legal counsel during the early-mid-1960s. He served two terms in the New York State Assembly from 1967 to 1971 and defeated long-time incumbent Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. in a primary challenge on his way to being elected to the House of Representatives.

Rangel rose rapidly in the Democratic ranks in the House, combining solidly liberal views with a pragmatic style that allowed him to find political and legislative compromises. His long-time concern with the importation and effects of illegal drugs led to his becoming chair of the House Select Committee on Narcotics, where he helped define national policy on the issue during the 1980s. As one of Harlem's "Gang of Four", he also became a leader in New York City and State politics. Rangel played a significant role in the creation of the 1995 Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation and the national Empowerment Zone Act. Rangel was known both for what was his genial manner and his blunt speaking; he was long outspoken about his views and was arrested several times as part of political demonstrations. He was a strong opponent of the George W. Bush administration and the Iraq War, and he put forth proposals to reinstate the draft during the 2000s.

Beginning in 2008, Rangel faced allegations that he had violated House ethics rules and failed to abide by tax laws. The House Ethics Committee considered whether Rangel improperly rented multiple rent-stabilized New York apartments, improperly used his office in raising money for the Rangel Center at the City College of New York, and failed to disclose rental income from his villa in the Dominican Republic. In March 2010, Rangel stepped aside as the Ways and Means chair. In November 2010, the Ethics Committee found Rangel guilty of 11 counts of violating House ethics rules, and on December 2, 2010, the full House approved a sanction of censure against him. As his district became more Hispanic, Rangel faced two strong primary challengers during the 2012 and 2014 elections, but he nonetheless prevailed. He did not run for re-election in 2016 and left office in January 2017.

Rangel was born in Harlem in New York City on June 11, 1930. His father, Ralph Rangel, was from Puerto Rico and came to New York in 1914, while his African American mother, Blanche Mary Wharton Rangel, was from New York City and had family roots in Virginia. Charles was the second of three children, with an older brother Ralph Jr. and a younger sister Frances. Ralph Rangel sometimes worked as a laborer in a garage, but he was mostly a frequently absent, unemployed man who was abusive to his wife and who left the family when Charles was six years old. Charles was raised by his mother, who worked as a maid and as a seamstress in a factory in New York's Garment District, and by his maternal grandfather. Many summers were spent in Accomac, Virginia, where his maternal family had roots. Charles was brought up as a Catholic.

Rangel did well in elementary and middle school, and he began working at a neighborhood drug store at the age of eight. Rangel attended DeWitt Clinton High School, but he was often truant and was sometimes driven home by the police. His maternal grandfather, an early role model who worked in a courthouse and knew many judges and lawyers, kept him from getting into more serious trouble. Rangel dropped out at the age of sixteen during his junior year and worked in various low-paying jobs including selling shoes.

Rangel then enlisted in the United States Army and served from 1948 to 1952. During the Korean War he was an artillery operations specialist in the all-Black 503rd Field Artillery Battalion in the 2nd Infantry Division, and equipped with the 155 mm Howitzer M1. (While President Harry S. Truman had signed the order to desegregate the military in 1948, little progress in doing so had been made during peacetime, and the large majority of units initially sent to Korea were still segregated.) Rangel's unit arrived in Pusan, South Korea, in August 1950 and began moving north as U.N. forces advanced deep into North Korea.

In late November 1950, after the People's Republic of China intervention into the war, his unit was caught in heavy fighting in North Korea as part of the U.N. forces retreat from the Yalu River. In the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River, the 2nd Infantry was assigned to hold a road position near Kunu-ri while the rest of the Eighth Army retreated to Sunchon, 21 miles farther south. On the night of November 29, the 2nd Infantry was attacked by gradually encircling forces of the PRC Army, who set up a fireblock to cut off any U.S. retreat. The eerie blare of Chinese night-fighting bugle calls and communication flares piercing the freezing air led to what Rangel later described as a "waking nightmare, scene by scene, and we couldn't see any possible way out of the situation". During the day on November 30, the order came to withdraw the 2nd Infantry in phases, but the 503rd Artillery Battalion was sixth of eight in the order and could not get out in daylight when air cover was possible.