George Vernon Hansen (September 14, 1930 – August 14, 2014) was a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Idaho. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years, representing Idaho's 2nd district from 1965 to 1969 and again from 1975 to 1985. Biography Born in Tetonia, Idaho, Hansen graduated from Ricks College (now Brigham Young University-Idaho) in 1956 and did graduate work at Idaho State University. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1951 to 1954 and was an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1964 to 1970. Hansen moved to Alameda, Idaho, and was established as a life insurance salesman by 1958. Career Hansen was elected mayor of Alameda in 1961 and supported its merger with Pocatello the following year. Following the merger, Hansen served as a Pocatello city commissioner until 1965. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the primary for the U.S. Senate in 1962, but won a seat in the House two years later in the 2nd district, ousting Democratic incumbent Ralph Harding. He was one of the few Republican challengers to unseat a Democrat in the wake of Lyndon Johnson's 44-state landslide that year. He again ran for the U.S. Senate in 1968, but lost to two-term incumbent Frank Church, who would serve four terms. Hansen ran a third unsuccessful Senate campaign in 1972, losing the primary to 1st district congressman Jim McClure. In 1974, Hansen sought to take his House seat back. He defeated his successor in Congress, three-term incumbent Orval Hansen in the August primary and won the general election to return to the U.S. House. As in 1964, Hansen was one of the few bright spots in a disastrous year for Republicans; in this case, anger at Watergate. In Washington, Hansen was known as one of the most conservative members of Congress, and a particularly vocal critic of the Internal Revenue Service. Congressman Hansen went to Tehran in 1979 in the middle of the Iran hostage crisis to try to negotiate with the hostage takers through the fence of the U.S. Embassy. No hostages were released. In 1980 Hansen published a book titled To Harass Our People: The IRS and Government Abuse of Power. Hansen was reelected four times. However, in 1984, his Democratic opponent from two years earlier, Richard Stallings, defeated him by less than 200 votes even in the midst of Ronald Reagan's 49-state landslide that