Former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham of San Diego, who became a decorated Navy fighter pilot in Vietnam but later was disgraced by a bribery conviction, has died at 83.
According to media reports, he died Wednesday in a hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, from an undisclosed illness.
Cunningham was sentenced in 2006 to eight years and four months in prison for his guilty pleas to conspiracy and tax evasion for taking $2.4 million in bribes in return for unduly influencing the awarding of Defense Department contracts.
After being released in 2013, Cunningham denied accepting bribes and said he regretted his plea. He was later pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2021.
The staffs of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News Service shared a Pulitzer prize for national reporting in 2006, thanks to a series of stories that revealed the congressman’s criminality.
Cunningham, a Republican, represented portions of San Diego County in Congress from Jan. 3, 1991 to Nov. 28, 2005, when he resigned.
Prior to politics, he flew an F-4 Phantom fighter jet for the Navy during the Vietnam War, shooting down five North Vietnamese MiG-21s — including three in one encounter. He became the first ace of the war, earning the Navy Cross.
Military pilot accounts on social media were the first to note Cunningham’s passing.
The Aviation Geek Club noted that after the Vietnam War, Cunningham became an instructor at the Navy’s Fighter Weapons School (better known as TOPGUN) and commanding officer of Fighter Squadron 126, a shore-based adversary squadron at Naval Air Station Miramar.
“Cunningham became American Fighter Aces Association president in 2020 and proposed to amend the definition of the membership category of Ace to include back-seaters,” the site said.
It said that Cunningham’s action echoed 1972, when after his fifth kill several senior officers said they would recommend him for the Medal of Honor.
“The new ace replied, ‘Whatever I get, I want Willy to get, or I will not accept it.’ In the end, Cunningham and {Willy “Irish” ] Driscoll were both awarded the Navy Cross, … the Navy and Marine Corps’ second-highest award.”
