Background
He was born Anthony Lee to Philomena Lee in Ireland, and spent his first years of life in a convent before being adopted by Marge and Doc Hess of Street Louis, Missouri.
He was born Anthony Lee to Philomena Lee in Ireland, and spent his first years of life in a convent before being adopted by Marge and Doc Hess of Street Louis, Missouri.
George Washington University. University of Notre Dame.
The issues surrounding his adoption are controversial, as part of a program of forced adoptions practiced by some Catholic religious orders in Ireland at the time, and the story of that early part of his life was later told in British journalist Martin Sixsmith"s book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee and in the film Philomena. Hess became deputy chief legal counsel to the Republican National Committee, eventually rising to chief legal counsel He was an important figure in the redistricting battles of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was admired for his integrity and pursuit of justice on this issue.
The programme of forced adoptions by some ecclesiastical authorities in Ireland and elsewhere during the 1950s has raised considerable debate, and the Michael Hess case has further highlighted this.
Much of the paperwork relating to this program was later destroyed, and access to adoption archives has been cut official