Everett Dirksen

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(b. Pekin, Illinois, 4 Jan. 1896; d. 7 Sept. 1969) US; Member of the US House of Representatives 1933 – 48, US Senator 1950 – 69 Dirksen's parents were German and he grew up in an Illinois farming community. Although enrolled at the University of Minnesota, Dirksen left before finishing his degree, but he later obtained a law degree through night school. After a brief spell in the army in the First World War, Dirksen went into business in Illinois, eventually starting with his brothers a successful bakery. In 1927 he was elected City Commissioner of Finance and developed political ambitions. In 1932 he successfully ran for the House of Representatives having dislodged the incumbent Republican in the primary. In Congress he carefully steered a line between rejecting the New Deal measures of F. D. Roosevelt and over-enthusiastic endorsement of them. Initially an isolationist, he became more of an internationalist as the Second World War progressed, though he remained suspicious of foreign aid and international entanglements. Illness forced Dirksen to retire at the end of 1948 but he returned to the Congress in 1950 as a Senator.

In the early 1950s Dirksen's loyalty was to Robert Taft, whom he supported for the presidential nomination in 1952, and it was not until after Eisenhower's re-election in 1956 that Dirksen closed the gap between himself and the Republican president. In 1959 Dirksen was elected Republican leader of the Senate and thereafter tried to adopt a national rather than purely partisan perspective. He exercised a powerful influence, often in support of measures sought by Democratic presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Party unity was always a major consideration for Dirksen and he rallied the party behind Goldwater in 1964 and Nixon in 1968.

A shrewd tactician and a good committee man, Dirksen was sometimes mocked for his tendency to change his mind on crucial issues, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (he initially opposed it and then urged support of it). He was also criticized for lacking vision and, as the 1960s progressed, his influence declined and he became increasingly out of touch with the younger more liberal elements in his party. Despite periods of illness, his death was unexpected and he was succeeded as Republican Senate leader by the moderate Hugh Scott.

Everett McKinley Dirksen (1896-1969) served as a Republican congressman and senator from Illinois for over three decades.

Everett McKinley Dirksen was born in Pekin, Illinois, on January 4, 1896, the son of Johann and Antje Dirksen who had immigrated from the Ostfriesland district of Germany in 1866. Dirksen and his twin, Thomas Reed, were named after prominent Republicans. The father died in their youth, and their mother supported her family on a small farm she purchased just inside the city limits of what was commonly referred to as "Beantown." Strong Calvinists, the family belonged to the Second Reformed Church. His mother encouraged his interest in reading, and he was the only one of her children who finished high school.

He considered becoming a teacher, actor, or lawyer and attended the University of Minnesota for three and one-half years studying liberal arts and law. He quit the university, in part because of the scorn heaped on German-Americans, to join the army to prove his Americanism during World War I. Trained at Camp Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan, Dirksen served in France and rose to the rank of second lieutenant. Forced to abandon his plans to finish his education at the university because of his mother's illness, he had several jobs but finally went into business with his brother in a wholesale bakery, which prospered. Active in local civic theater he met and married Louella Carver in 1927, and they had one daughter, Joy, who married Howard Baker.

Active in local politics, Dirksen decided he should act to combat the effects of the Depression and ran unsuccessfully against the local Republican congressman William Hull in 1930. Two years later he won the nomination and, cleverly eschewing any association with the Herbert Hoover administration, won despite the Franklin D. Roosevelt landslide.

From the outset of his career in the House of Representatives Everett Dirksen exhibited certain characteristics which would dominate his government career. He was pragmatic rather than doctrinaire, studied each piece of legislation carefully, worked hard, attended both committee and congressional sessions, and was a good speaker. For example, he voted with much of the New Deal to bring the country out of the Depression, supporting the banking acts of 1933 and 1935, federal emergency relief, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the National Industrial Recovery Act; social security, the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, and the Civilian Conservation Corps. In foreign policy matters, however, he was an avowed isolationist and opposed all legislation which might lead to war until September 18, 1941, when he made a dramatic about-face and called for complete support for the Roosevelt foreign policy and unity to defeat the Nazis.

For 16 years Dirksen was easily reelected to the House of Representatives. Sought as a political speaker, he also headed the Republican National Congressional Committee from 1938 through 1946. Throughout World War II, he supported the movement towards international cooperation after the war and worked to help pass the Fulbright Resolution. He served on the Post War Advisory Council of the Republican Party which met at Mackinac Island, Michigan, in the summer of 1943. Both the resolution and the council called for participation in an international peace-keeping organization after the war. He voted for the Legislative Reorganization bill in 1946. While in Congress Dirksen finished his law degree at George Washington University in the evenings and was active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, Eagles, Elks, Moose, Masons, and Shriners.

In mid-1943 he caught the presidential bug and, after 31 House members signed Illinois Congressman Leslie Arends' petition to nominate Dirksen on the GOP ticket, he formally announced his candidacy on December 2, 1943. He failed to form a political alliance with Governor Earl Warren of California and tried to secure the vice presidential nomination with New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey. However, that nomination went to Governor John Bricker of Ohio. An early advocate of economic aid to war-torn Europe, Dirksen advocated bipartisan foreign policy and voted for most of the Harry S. Truman policies, including aid to Greece and Turkey and the Marshall Plan; but he voted against nearly all of Truman's domestic legislation.

His physician in 1948 diagnosed blurred vision as cancerous and recommended surgery, which Dirksen rejected. Instead, he announced that he would not seek reelection. Retiring briefly for rest to a Chesapeake Bay cottage where his eyesight improved, he decided to oppose his old friend Senator Scott Lucas in the 1950 general election. After a campaign in which both sides engaged in highly questionable practices and aided by a scandal in the Cook County sheriff's race, Dirksen defeated the Democratic majority leader by slightly less than 300,000 votes to become the junior senator from Illinois.

Upon entering the Senate in 1950, Dirksen became a close ally of Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, attracted by his isolationist stance in foreign affairs and his conservative opposition to the Truman Fair Deal; he also became a firm supporter of Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin.

In 1952 Dirksen made the two most memorable speeches of the GOP convention: in the first he accused Governor Thomas E. Dewey of taking "us down the path of defeat" in 1944 and 1948, and in the other he formally (but unsuccessfully) placed the name of Senator Taft in nomination. However, Dirksen the eternal pragmatist soon made peace with Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower, the successful nominee, and campaigned vigorously for the ticket. Although loyal to both Taft and McCarthy until their deaths, Dirksen gradually gravitated to Ike and became by 1955 one of his strongest allies in the Senate.

Vigorously endorsed by Eisenhower for reelection in 1956, Dirksen won and replaced William Knowland as Republican minority leader in 1958. Dirksen fought hard for Ike's legislative program and championed the cause of civil rights, Irish self-determination (with Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts), the state of Israel, equal rights for women, and, eventually, under Ike's persuasion, the St. Lawrence Seaway. He also voted for federal aid to education, increased social security benefits, and minimum wage levels and embraced Eisenhower's notion of modern Republicanism.

Dirksen got on particularly well with Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, who genuinely liked the Illinois senator, paid ample homage to his enormous ego, and needed his legislative support. His assistance was indispensable to the passage of the United Nations bond issue of 1962, the nuclear test-ban treaty, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As he said at the time, quoting Victor Hugo, "Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come." With the advent of the Richard M. Nixon presidency in 1969, Dirksen found his status considerably diminished. Beset by multiple illnesses, he died in Washington on September 7, 1969.

Further Reading

Everett McKinley Dirksen is listed in Political Profiles for the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon years and in the Biographical Directory of Congress. Dirksen wrote numerous plays and six novels, none of which were published. His speeches are in the Congressional Record. An outstanding biography of the Illinois legislator has been written by Edward L. Schapsmeier and Frederick H. Schapsmeier, entitled Dirksen of Illinois: Senatorial Statesman (1985). Background material is readily available in American Epoch (1980) by Arthur S. Link and William B. Catton; in Stephen E. Ambrose, Eisenhower (1983-1984), and in Lawrence S. Wittner, Cold War America (1974).

Additional Sources

Schapsmeier, Edward L., Dirksen of Illinois: senatorial statesman, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1985.

Quotes:

"A billion here, a billion there, and soon you're talking about real money."

"The mind is no match with the heart in persuasion; constitutionality is no match with compassion."

• Born: January 04, 1896, Pekin, IL
• Died: September 07, 1969, Washington, D.C.
• Active: '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s
• Genres: Spoken Word
• Instrument: Main Performer, ?
• Representative Albums: "Gallant Men," "Man Is Not Alone," "Everett McKinley Dirksen at Christmas Time"

Biography

With his deep, robust, voice and heartwarming demeanor, Everett McKinley Dirksen was one of the most-loved politicians in the history of the United States. During a career as a senator, that spanned thirty-five years and six presidents, he used his talents to, not only help secure the passage of the nuclear test ban treaty and civil rights act, but, to charm and inform the nation. He is remembered for his off-the-cuff statement, "a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money."

Affectionately known as "the silver throated Socrates" and "the good old king of the Senate," Dirksen lent his voice to three spoken word albums in which he told stories and shared his unique vision. His Profiles In Courage-like album, Gallant Men received a Grammy award as "best documentary recording of 1967."

Raised on a small farm in the small Illinois city of Pekin, one hundred and twenty miles southwest of Chicago, Dirksen studied at the University of Minnesota. Enlisting in the United States Army, during World War One, he attained the rank of second lieutenant 328th field artillery.

A lifelong Republican, Dirksen began his political career when he was elected Commissioner of Finance for the city of Pekins in 1926. A year later, he ran successfully for the Pekin City Council. Although he was defeated when he ran for the House of Representatives, in 1929, he succeeded three years later. He remained at the House of Representatives until 1946 when an eye ailment forced him to step down.

Resuming his career, following his recuperation, Dirksen was elected to the United States Senate in 1950. Chosen the Senate Minority Whip in 1953, he became minority leader four years later. He served as a senator until his death during lung surgery on September 7, 1969. His efforts to make the marigold the national floral emblem, in 1960, caused Richard Nixon to claim, "We shall always remember Everett Dirksen in the terms he used to describe his beloved marigolds ---hardy, vivid and uniquely American." ~ Craig Harris, All Music Guide

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