William Albert Steiger, representative of Wisconsin's Sixth Congressional District from 1967 through 1978, was born in Oshkosh on May 15, 1938. He was educated in the local schools and graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in economics in 1960. Even as a student, Steiger's leadership potential and his interest in electoral politics began to manifest itself. In 1955 he was governor of Badger Boys State. The same year President Dwight Eisenhower awarded him the Young American Medal for Service. From 1959 to 1961 he was national chairman of College Young Republicans. In 1960 he was assistant chief page to the National Republican Convention. Indeed, his only electoral disappointment during this period was his loss of the presidency of the Student Government Association at the university.
The year of Steiger's graduation from the university coincided with the resignation of the state assemblyman from his home district. Although only 22 years old Steiger filed and won, becoming one of the youngest legislators in the state's history. Thereafter Steiger's political rise was rapid and virtually without setback. He won re-election to the Assembly in 1962 and again in 1964. In the legislature he chaired the Election Committee and headed the Interim Election Law Study Committee which achieved the first major revision of Wisconsin election law. At the same time he remained active in civic affairs in Oshkosh, and in 1964 he was selected by the Jaycees as one of Wisconsin's outstanding young men.
In 1966 Steiger was elected to the House of Representatives. Despite his age and youthful appearance, he quickly established a reputation both for his views and for the aggressiveness and skill with which he legislatively advanced them. Commentator Jack Anderson called Steiger one of the best congressman of his era. Like many other young Republicans elected to office during the period, Steiger's views were often more liberal than those of the party leadership. His position on specific issues, however, was often difficult to predict. In 1970 as a member of the Education and Labor Committee he co-sponsored the Steiger-Williams Bill, which established the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, an agency later strongly opposed by many in his party. He also introduced the Clean Lakes Bill and the Older Americans Act. In addition Steiger supported the all-volunteer army, manpower training, and legal services and day care for the poor. He was also a consistent, if not always successful, advocate of party and governmental reform. On the other hand, the other piece of legislation which bears his name, the Steiger Amendment of 1978, greatly reduced capital gains taxation and placed him in the forefront of the economic changes of the Reagan Administration. This issue brought him a national constituency and made him a much sought after political speaker during 1978.
Steiger's personality made him very popular both among his colleagues and among voters in his district. During the immediate post-Watergate years, his was considered one of the few safe Republican districts in the nation.
Steiger died unexpectedly on December 5, 1978 at age 40 as the result of a heart attack. He was survived by his wife, Janet Dempsey Steiger, whom he married in 1963, and by a son, William Raymond Steiger.
