Decorated Navy aviator and former San Diego Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who was later disgraced by a bribery conviction, died Wednesday at the age of 83.
According to numerous reports, he died at a hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, from an undisclosed illness.
Before going into politics, Cunningham flew an F-4 Phantom fighter jet for the U.S Navy during the Vietnam War. He was sometimes credited as the inspiration for Maverick, Tom Cruise's character in the film "Top Gun," though the movie's producers have rebuffed the claim.
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.
He was released from prison in 2013 and later pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2021.
After being incarcerated, Cunningham denied accepting bribes and said he regretted his plea.
Cunningham, a Republican, represented portions of San Diego County in Congress from Jan. 3, 1991, to Nov. 28, 2005, when he resigned.
Former US Attorney for the Southern District of California, Carol Lam, who oversaw the prosecution of Cunningham, told KPBS in 2021 that there was never any doubt about Cunningham's guilt.
“The evidence in this case was so strong that it just kept coming in faster and faster… and at the end of the day, there just wasn’t much question what the result should be.”
Lam also said Cunningham shouldn't have been pardoned.
“Somebody who held the position he held should certainly, certainly deserves to have this conviction on his record for all time, but practically speaking, I don’t think it gets him that much," she said.
Cunningham was born on Dec. 8, 1941, in Los Angeles, one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The family moved to Fresno, California, in the mid-1940s, where his father opened a gas station. They moved again to Missouri in the 1950s, where Cunningham eventually graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Cunningham joined the United States Navy in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War. During his service, Cunningham won the prestigious Navy Cross and two Silver Stars for extraordinary bravery.
"Duke Cunningham, my friend and colleague, represented the very best of American Heroes who go out to meet our enemies at the gates," said former Congressman Duncan Hunter Sr., who served alongside Cunningham during the early 2000s. "Reflect for a minute on the description of Duke's actions for which he received the Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, and a Purple Heart."
The citation for Cunningham's second Silver Star reads, in part, "with complete disregard for his own personal safety he continued his attack through a hail of cannon fire to rescue his wingman."
"Duke Cunningham has been the point of lots of media criticism over the last twenty years," Hunter said in a statement. "But during the Spring of 1972 when the politicians had abandoned South Vietnam, Duke saddled up each day with his co-pilot Bill 'Irish' Driscoll and catapulted off the deck of the Constellation to fly a gauntlet of anti-aircraft fire and shoot down five enemy aircraft and save his men doing it."
Cunningham is survived by three adult children, two daughters and a son.
