Toby Moffett

Anthony John "Toby" Moffett, Jr. (born August 18, 1944) is an American former politician from the state of Connecticut. A Democrat, he served in the United States House of Representatives as the member from Connecticut's 6th congressional district from 1975 to 1983. Moffett is currently Senior Advisor at Mayer Brown LLP.

Moffett was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, the son of Lebanese immigrants. He attended Suffield Elementary School in Suffield, Connecticut and graduated from Suffield High School. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Syracuse University in 1966 and studied in Florence, Italy from 1963 to 1964. He received his Master of Arts degree from Boston College in 1968.

An avid Democrat and leading voice on environmental issues, Moffett first appeared on the national scene in the 1970s as an environmental activist and coalition-builder in his home state of Connecticut.

Moffett served as Director of the Office of Students and Youth in the Office of Education within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1969 to 1970, but quit to protest the Vietnam War.

Aligned with consumer activist Ralph Nader, Moffett founded the Connecticut Citizen Action Group and parlayed this to a victory in 1974 for the seat vacated in the U.S. House of Representatives for Connecticut's 6th congressional district seat when Ella T. Grasso ran for governor.

On April 10, 1975, Moffett walked out of the House chamber during President Ford's State of the World speech when he requested military aid for Vietnam.

Moffett held the northwestern Connecticut seat until 1982. He was regarded as a liberal and an opponent of the oil industry. He was also closely aligned with trade unions. Moffett served as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources.

In 1981, he was selected to be one of the first Young Leaders of the French-American Foundation.