Leslie C. Arends

Leslie Cornelius Arends (September 27, 1895 – July 17, 1985) was a Republican statesman from Illinois. Born in Melvin, Illinois, Arends was the longest-serving whip in U.S. House of Representatives history, alternately serving as majority whip and minority whip for House Republicans from 1943 to 1974. Arends was noted for his generally conservative voting record, his successful re-election as whip amid Republican in-fighting after the 1964 election, and his unwavering loyalty to President Richard M. Nixon at all stages of the Watergate scandal.

Arends represented a heavily Republican, largely rural downstate Illinois district in the US Congress from 1935 to 1975. A conservative but pragmatic Republican, he opposed much of the New Deal and remained a staunch isolationist until the American entry into World War II. Becoming minority whip in 1943, Arends helped create the powerful Conservative Coalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats that controlled the domestic agenda from 1937 to 1964. He supported Robert A. Taft over Dwight D. Eisenhower for the 1952 Republican presidential nomination, and was an early supporter of the party's nominees Richard M. Nixon and Barry Goldwater in the campaigns of the 1960s. He organized the GOP opposition to Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society. Arends, however, supported civil rights legislation. He defended Richard Nixon throughout the Watergate affair; his close personal friendship with Gerald R. Ford ensured a good relationship with Nixon's successor.

Bibliography

• Lichtenstein, Nelson et al. Political Profiles. Volume 3, "The Kennedy Years." pg 14. New York: Facts On File, Inc, 1976.
• Schapsmeier, Edward L. and Frederick H. Schapsmeier, "Serving under Seven Presidents: Les Arends and His Forty Years in Congress." Illinois Historical Journal 1992 85(2): 105-118. Issn: 0748-8149

External links

• Leslie C. Arends at Find a Grave
• Leslie C. Arends at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

v • d • e Majority Whips of the United States House of Representatives Tawney • Watson • Dwight • Bell • Knutson • Vestal • McDuffie • Greenwood • Boland • Ramspeck • Sparkman • Arends • Priest • Arends • Albert • Boggs • O'Neill • McFall • Brademas • Foley • Coelho • Gray • Bonior • DeLay • Blunt • Clyburn

v • d • e Minority Whips of the United States House of Representatives Underwood • Lloyd • Dwight • Burke • Hamilton • Oldfield • McDuffie • Bachmann • Englebright • Arends • McCormack • Arends • McCormack • Arends • Michel • Lott • Cheney • Gingrich • Bonior • Pelosi • Hoyer • Blunt • Cantor