The son of Amory Houghton and Laura DeKay Richardson, and the grandson of Alanson B. Houghton, Amory Houghton Jr. was born in Corning, New York. He attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and was a member of the class of 1945. Houghton later served as a member of the school's board of trustees.
He graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1950 and received his Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard in 1952. Houghton spent his business career with his family's company, Corning Glass Works, a company founded in 1851 by his great-great-grandfather, Amory Houghton. He joined the company in 1951, and worked as an accountant, process engineer, manufacturing foreman, and sales manager. He joined the board of directors in 1955, became a vice president in 1957, and was appointed president in 1961. From 1964 to 1983, Houghton served as Corning's chairman and chief executive officer. In addition to Corning Glass, his other business interests included membership on the board of directors of IBM, First National City Bank, Procter & Gamble, Genentech, and B. F. Goodrich.
U.S. Congress
In 1986, Houghton was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican. Houghton reportedly was among the richest members of the House, with a wealth of $475 million.
Voting record
Houghton had a moderate voting record and was founder of the Republican Main Street Partnership, which he formed to encourage a more moderate stance to public issues. He was frequently called upon to serve as a broker between Democratic and Republican members on critical issues since he was a champion for improving civility between political parties. While he voted with Republicans on most issues relating to the budget, he also voted with the Democratic Party on issues of environmental protection, civil rights and funding for the arts and education.
He was one of four Republicans to vote against all the impeachment articles against President Clinton in 1998. In 2001, Houghton was one of only three Republicans to vote against permanently repealing the estate tax. . On October 10, 2002, he was among the six House Republicans who voted against the resolution authorizing the invasion of Iraq.
Reputation
Throughout his career Houghton was one of Upstate New York's most well known and respected members of Congress; he was usually re-elected with more than 65 percent of the vote. He clashed occasionally with the increasingly Southern, socially conservative orientation of the party. For example, Houghton was one of the most vocal pro-choice Republicans in Congress.
On April 7, 2004, Houghton announced his intention not to seek a tenth term in Congress. On January 3, 2005, Houghton's term expired and he was succeeded by John R. "Randy" Kuhl. He was a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One. In 2018, he spoke out against the presidency of Donald Trump and stated that he would support efforts to remove him from office. Corning Inc. announced on March 5, 2020 that Houghton had died the previous day.
Family
In 1950, Houghton married Ruth Frances West of Waccabuc, New York. Their children include Amory, Robert, Sarah, and Quincy. After their 1988 divorce, in 1989 Houghton married Priscilla B. Dewey.
