Ex-Rep. Al Ullman, 24-Year Congressman, Dies at 72

Former Rep. Al Ullman (D-Oregon), who served in Congress 24 years, including a stint as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has died at the age of 72.

Ullman died Saturday at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland, near Washington, after an 11-year battle with cancer, said his brother, Miles Ullman of Salem.

“I will remember Al as as good representative, always real proud of being a congressman from Oregon,” Oregon Gov. Vic Atiyeh said Sunday. “He made quite a mark during his public service in Washington.”

Ullman was elected to Congress in 1956 from Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District. He served as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee from 1975 until 1980, when he was defeated for reelection by Republican Denny Smith.

After he left Congress, Ullman ran a consulting business in Washington for several years, his brother said.

He entered Congress as a liberal and moved steadily to the right. He attributed his shift to his experience as a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, pragmatism and disillusionment with some of the “Great Society” programs of the Lyndon Johnson era.

In a 1974 interview, Ullman described his stance as “a responsible liberal.”

Ullman proposed a national value-added tax, a form of a national sales tax, in 1980. But he failed to get the plan far in Congress. Smith used the proposal as campaign ammunition in a state long hostile to sales taxes.

In his campaign, Smith accused Ullman of losing touch with his district. He defeated Ullman 56,718 votes to 49,250.

Born March 9, 1914, in Great Falls, Mont., Ullman earned a bachelor’s degree at Whitman College in Washington state and a master’s degree from Columbia University.

He served as a Navy officer in World War II and was a builder and real estate developer in Baker, Ore., before going to Congress.

Survivors include his wife, Audrey, two sons and a daughter.

Funeral services are scheduled for Tuesday in the Falls Church Episcopal Church at Falls Church, Va.