Early life and education Weldon grew up in a blue-collar family in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of nine children. He attended West Chester University of Pennsylvania and earned a B.A in Russian Studies in 1969, making him the first in his family to graduate from college. At West Chester University, Weldon became a brother of Lambda Chi Alpha. Weldon speaks Russian fluently.

After graduation, Weldon was subject to the draft, with the Vietnam War ongoing. In November 2000, his office said he used student and teaching deferments during the Vietnam era, and had a low number when the draft lottery was reinstated. In July 2006, a Weldon spokesman said that Weldon "wanted to serve, but the military would not take him because of his extremely poor eyesight." The Army's standards for rejection from military duty are not based on poor eyesight alone, however; they allow rejection only if the eyesight cannot be corrected to 20/20 or 20/40 in one eye with glasses, or for certain other narrow reasons.

Early political career Weldon wasn't active in politics until 1977, when he became the Mayor of Marcus Hook. Prior to that, he served as an educator in local Delaware County schools as well as a volunteer line officer chief for the Viscose Fire Company in Marcus Hook.

Weldon served two terms as Mayor from 1977 to 1982 and was nominated for election on both the Republican and Democratic tickets. His efforts as mayor were geared towards defending the town against the violent Pagans Motorcycle Gang.

From 1981 to 1986, Weldon served as a councilman and later chair of the Delaware County Council. Maintaining his interest in foreign affairs, he coordinated a USSR student exchange program in 1985 that continues to this day.

U.S. House of Representatives

Campaigns Weldon first ran for U.S. Congress for the 7th district of Pennsylvania in 1984 on the Republican ticket but lost to incumbent Democrat Rep. Robert W. Edgar. However, Edgar did not seek re-election in 1986 but instead ran for the U.S. Senate against Arlen Specter. Weldon then ran again for Edgar's seat in 1986 and won with a comfortable margin.

Weldon's margin for re-election grew considerably since 1986, handily defeating Democratic opponents. In 2000, he was re-elected with 65% of the vote even though Democratic Presidential candidate Al Gore won Delaware County with 54% of the vote.

In 2004, Weldon won with 59% of the vote. By contrast, Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry got 53% of the district's vote that year. Weldon's Democratic opponent, Paul Scoles, spent $24,000 dollars running against the nine-term incumbent; in that 2003â€'2004 election cycle, Weldon received nearly $900,000 in campaign contributions. Scoles entered the race in the last 90 days of the campaign, when the original Democratic candidate, Greg Philips, was called up for Reserve duty to support the Iraq War.

Actions in Congress In 1993 Weldon and Bob Dole, among other Republicans, advocated pulling out of Somalia after the "Blackhawk Down" failed snatch and grab mission of Adide cost 18 American lives.

Weldon has worked to promote a national missile defense system, citing a need to protect the U.S. against potential ballistic missile attacks from nations such as North Korea and Iran. In the late 1990s, he was one of the first members of Congress to speak out about the threat that chemical and biological weapons pose to U.S. security.

Weldon founded the Congressional Fire Services Caucus and has consistently fought for increased funding for firefighters. He was the author of a bill that implemented a federal grant program for local fire departments. He has fought for mandatory safety sprinklers in college dormitories and training of fire departments to deal with terrorism incidents involving chemical and biological weapons. At times, his alleged pork barrel spending was challenged by fiscal conservatives such as Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake; Weldon once told Flake, "Doggone it, I’m not gonna let somebody stand up here in total and complete ignorance and spout off a bunch of gobbledygook. Don’t stand up on the floor and make stupid allegations because you want a headline about cutting waste. This is not waste."

In June 1998, Weldon served on the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People’s Republic of China, perhaps better known as the "Cox Committee." The committee, five Republicans and four Democrats, investigated whether the Clinton Administration's waivers allowing U.S. military contractors to transfer military technology to China damaged national security.According to officials who have been briefed about its contents, the report concludes that Beijing's acquisition of secret American weapons designs was part of an intelligence collection effort that spanned 20 years, including both Republican and Democratic Administrations.

It also enumerates an array of thefts from the Government's weapons labs, including classified information about seven advanced nuclear warheads, among them the W-88, the most sophisticated nuclear weapon in the American arsenal; that theft is believed to have occurred during the Reagan or Bush Administrations. The report also says that China stole design information about the neutron bomb.

Weldon made improving relations with Russia one of his key efforts in the House. He has worked with Russian leaders on a variety of issues, including efforts to improve Russia's energy supply, correct environmental damage, and protect both nations from ballistic missile attack. Weldon is the co-founder of the Duma-Congress Study Group, the official parliamentary exchange between the two legislative bodies. This bilateral relationship coordinates legislative efforts in the Russian Duma and the Congress to foster a better working relationship between the two nations. Recently, Weldon created a comprehensive framework designed to improve the state of relations between the two countries. Titled "A New Time, A New Beginning", his proposal makes recommendations for cooperative efforts in eleven different areas ranging from defense and national security to space exploration and scientific research.

Weldon co-chaired the House Oceans Caucus. In 1995, his "Oceans Agenda" legislation passed Congress, increasing funding for oceanographic research projects. Weldon was the sole House Republican on the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, which approves funding for U.S. wildlife refuges and wetlands preservation. Weldon is a member of Global Legislators for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE), where he serves as Honorary Chairman of the Oceans Protection Task Force. Weldon also serves as the honorary United States Vice President on the Advisory Committee on the Protection of the Sea (ACOPS). In his district, Weldon secured funding for the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge in Tinicum and obtained funding for the preservation of the Paoli Battlefield, the site of a Revolutionary War battle that was slated for development.

Weldon also co-authored the Family Medical Leave Act, pushed for the extension of unemployment benefits, has consistently supported raising the minimum wage, opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement, and voted for across-the-board tax cuts. He also played a key leadership role in welfare reform in the mid-1990s.

Foreign policy

Visits to North Korea In June 2003, Weldon lead a bipartisan Congressional delegation to North Korea. The delegation didn't go as official representatives of the White House, which had repeatedly refused North Korea's demands that the two countries meet one-on-one. The White House did know the trip was planned and did supply a military helicopter.

Weldon said that the meetings went extremely well. Weldon said he drew up an outline of how relations could be improved between the two countries, which would involve the complete nuclear disarmament of North Korea. North Korean leaders, including the vice-foreign minister who is the chief negotiator for the North, were receptive to the concept, said Weldon.

In October 2003, Weldon had planned to head a 10-member Congressional delegation to North Korea for his second visit. But two days prior to the October 25 departure date, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card informed Weldon that the administration was "pulling all support." Weldon then wrote a 4½-page letter to President George W. Bush that said that Bush's national security team was "arrogant and disrespectful" in the way it cancelled the trip. Weldon said he would continue his efforts to dialogue with North Korean officials whether the White House supports him or not. "They can’t stop me from going there", he said. "What they can do is make things supremely difficult."

In January 2005, Weldon led a six-member Congressional delegation in a three-day visit to North Korea, as well as brief stops in South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. Weldon said Pyongyang was serious about abandoning its nuclear program, but he said it wanted certain assurances from the United States â€' the main one being that an end to what he called "inflammatory rhetoric" from Washington.

In August 2005, Weldon went to North Korea as part of a 10-member delegation that included Ted Turner and former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg.

Visits to Libya In 2004, Weldon lead two bipartisan delegations to Libya. The first visit, in January, was to establish contact with government officials. The second visit, in September, was to address their Congress (Libyan General People’s Congress Great Jamahiriya).

A large picture of Weldon putting what his office said was an American flag pin on Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, the head of Libya, was displayed when Weldon spoke at the March 2004 event at which Sun Myung Moon also spoke.