American politician (1900?1986)
Charles A. Halleck
|
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Halleck in 1939
|
|
|
In office
January 3, 1959 ? January 3, 1965
|
Deputy
| Leslie C. Arends
|
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Preceded by
| Joseph W. Martin Jr.
|
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Succeeded by
| Gerald Ford
|
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|
In office
January 3, 1959 ? January 3, 1965
|
Preceded by
| Joseph W. Martin Jr.
|
---|
Succeeded by
| Gerald Ford
|
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|
In office
January 3, 1947 ? January 3, 1949
|
Speaker
| Joseph W. Martin Jr.
|
---|
Preceded by
| John W. McCormack
|
---|
Succeeded by
| John W. McCormack
|
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In office
January 3, 1953 ? January 3, 1955
|
Speaker
| Joseph W. Martin Jr.
|
---|
Preceded by
| John W. McCormack
|
---|
Succeeded by
| John W. McCormack
|
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|
In office
January 29, 1935 ? January 3, 1969
|
Preceded by
| George R. Durgan
|
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Succeeded by
| Earl Landgrebe
|
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|
|
Born
| (
1900-08-22
)
August 22, 1900
DeMotte, Indiana
, U.S.
|
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Died
| March 3, 1986
(1986-03-03)
(aged 85)
Lafayette, Indiana
, U.S.
|
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Political party
| Republican
|
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Spouse
|
Blanche Annette White
(
m.
1927; died 1973)
|
---|
Children
| 2, including Charles W. Halleck
|
---|
Parents
| - Abraham Halleck (father)
- Lura Luce (mother)
|
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Alma mater
| Indiana University, Bloomington
(AB, LLB)
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Occupation
| |
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|
Allegiance
| United States
|
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Branch
| United States Army
|
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Conflict
| World War I
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Charles Abraham Halleck
(August 22, 1900 ? March 3, 1986) was an American politician. He was the
Republican
leader of the
United States House of Representatives
from the
second district of Indiana
.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Halleck was born near
DeMotte
, in
Jasper County
, Indiana, the son of Abraham and Lura (nee Luce) Halleck. He served in the infantry of the
United States Army
in
World War I
. After military service, Halleck attended
Indiana University
at
Bloomington
. In 1924, Halleck was admitted to the bar and began practicing in
Rensselaer, Indiana
. From 1924 to 1934, he was the prosecuting attorney for the 13th district court.
Career
[
edit
]
In 1935, Halleck was elected to fill the House vacancy created by the death of Congressman-elect
Frederick Landis
, and remained in that position until 1969. A prominent member of the
conservative coalition
, he served as the
House Majority Leader
after the elections of 1946 and 1952. He was
House Minority Leader
from 1959 to 1964. As Minority Leader he was in charge of
House Republicans
Halleck noted that a highlight of his career came at the
1940 Republican National Convention
, when he nominated another person from Indiana,
Wendell Willkie
. Noting the mixed reception he got, Halleck said, "I got more brickbats and more bouquets over that speech than any other I've ever made."
[1]
In 1944, even before
Thomas Dewey
was named as the Republican presidential nominee, Halleck, as the new chairman of the
National Republican Congressional Committee
, addressed a party gathering in
Chicago
. He rejected the Democratic "don't-change-horses-while-crossing-the-stream" mantra and declared that a Republican president would retain
George C. Marshall
,
Dwight Eisenhower
,
Douglas MacArthur
, and
William F. Halsey
in their military positions. He attacked what he called the
New Deal
"snooping into our ice boxes," a reference to the
Office of Price Administration
and
rationing
. Halleck said that Americans should "live again as God meant us to live and not as some
bureaucrat
in Washington... would like us to live."
[2]
According to Halleck, he was rumored to be Thomas Dewey's vice-presidential nominee in Dewey's second general election campaign in 1948 if Halleck guaranteed the support of the Indiana delegation at the
1948 Republican National Convention
. In the end, Dewey selected the
governor of California
,
Earl Warren
. The Dewey-Warren ticket surprisingly narrowly lost that November, to the Democratic
Truman
-
Barkley
ticket.
[3]
In 1959, with the declining popularity of Eisenhower enabling Democrats to maintain their hold on the House, Halleck parlayed his following among Congressional Republicans and the frequent public approval of Eisenhower and
Richard Nixon
into a successful challenge to the 20-year reign of
Joseph W. Martin Jr.
as the leader of House Republicans,
[4]
beginning a three-term stint as the official
Minority Leader
of the
United States House of Representatives
.
[5]
He was a strong opponent of the liberal social proposals of Democrats
John F. Kennedy
and
Lyndon Johnson
and supported the
Vietnam War
, but voted in favor of the
Civil Rights Acts of 1957
,
[6]
[7]
1960
,
[8]
[9]
and
1964
,
[10]
[11]
as well as the
24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
and the
Voting Rights Act of 1965
.
[12]
[13]
[14]
Halleck voted in favor of the initial House resolution for the
Civil Rights Act of 1968
on August 16, 1967,
[15]
but voted against the Senate amendment to the bill on April 10, 1968.
[16]
Along with Senator
Everett Dirksen
, he was the face of the
Republican Party
in most of the 1960s, and both made frequent appearances on television news and talk programs. The press jocularly nicknamed his joint appearances with Everett Dirksen as "The Ev & Charlie Show."
After the heavy election setbacks of 1964, Halleck was defeated in his bid to remain Minority Leader by
Gerald Ford
, who was the nominee of the
Young Turks
.
[17]
Legacy
[
edit
]
In 1983, U.S. President
Ronald Reagan
signed a bill renaming the Federal District Court building in
Lafayette
, Indiana, the Charles A. Halleck Federal Building.
[18]
The
Charles Halleck Student Center
at
Saint Joseph's College in Indiana
was named after him.
[19]
It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
in 2016.
[20]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Halleck married Blanche Annetta White in 1927, and she died in 1973. They had two children, Charles W. and Patricia.
[21]
His son,
Charles W. Halleck
, became an attorney in
Washington, D.C.
, and was a judge of the
Superior Court of the District of Columbia
.
Death
[
edit
]
Halleck died in Lafayette, Indiana, on March 3, 1986, and is buried next to his wife in Rensselaer.
In popular culture
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Charles Halleck Obituary"
.
Toledo Blade
. Mar 4, 1986
. Retrieved
Jun 11,
2014
.
- ^
David M. Jordan,
FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944
(Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2011), p. 78,
ISBN
978-0-253-00562-5
- ^
Heise, Kenan (March 4, 1986).
"Ex-GOP House Boss Charles Halleck, 85"
.
Chicago Tribune
.
- ^
Franklin, Ben A. (Mar 4, 1986).
"CHARLES HALLECK, A G.O.P. HOUSE LEADER, DIES"
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
Jun 11,
2014
.
- ^
"Minority Leaders of the House (1899 to present)"
.
History, Art & Archives
. US House of Representatives
. Retrieved
3 September
2021
.
86th, 87th, 88th Congress (1959-1965) HALLECK, Charles Abraham, Republican (IN)
- ^
"House ? June 18, 1957"
(PDF)
.
Congressional Record
.
103
(7).
U.S. Government Printing Office
: 9518
. Retrieved
February 27,
2022
.
- ^
"House ? August 27, 1957"
(PDF)
.
Congressional Record
.
103
(12).
U.S. Government Printing Office
: 16112?16113
. Retrieved
February 27,
2022
.
- ^
"House ? March 24, 1960"
.
Congressional Record
.
106
(5).
U.S. Government Printing Office
: 6512
. Retrieved
February 27,
2022
.
- ^
"House ? April 21, 1960"
(PDF)
.
Congressional Record
.
106
(7).
U.S. Government Printing Office
: 8507?8508
. Retrieved
February 27,
2022
.
- ^
"House ? February 10, 1964"
(PDF)
.
Congressional Record
.
110
(2).
U.S. Government Printing Office
: 2804?2805
. Retrieved
February 27,
2022
.
- ^
"House ? July 2, 1964"
(PDF)
.
Congressional Record
.
110
(12).
U.S. Government Printing Office
: 15897
. Retrieved
February 27,
2022
.
- ^
"House ? August 27, 1962"
(PDF)
.
Congressional Record
.
108
(13).
U.S. Government Printing Office
: 17670
. Retrieved
February 27,
2022
.
- ^
"House ? July 9, 1965"
(PDF)
.
Congressional Record
.
111
(12).
U.S. Government Printing Office
: 16285?16286
. Retrieved
February 27,
2022
.
- ^
"House ? August 3, 1965"
(PDF)
.
Congressional Record
.
111
(14).
U.S. Government Printing Office
: 19201
. Retrieved
February 27,
2022
.
- ^
"House ? August 16, 1967"
(PDF)
.
Congressional Record
.
113
(17).
U.S. Government Printing Office
: 22778
. Retrieved
February 27,
2022
.
- ^
"House ? April 10, 1968"
(PDF)
.
Congressional Record
.
114
(8).
U.S. Government Printing Office
: 9621
. Retrieved
February 27,
2022
.
- ^
Friedersdorf, Max (30 January 2009).
"Gerald R. Ford Oral History Project, interview by Richard Norton Smith"
. Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation
. Retrieved
3 September
2021
.
Smith: What was the beef against Halleck? Friedersdorf: It's a combination of the age thing and minority status... You had a group of Young Turks like Gerald R. Ford and Melvin Laird and Donald Rumsfeld and Bob Griffin, and they were up and coming. It was a generational difference and it was after the '64 election which was such a debacle. We lost a lot of seats in the Goldwater election. The house members felt it was time for Charlie to go.
- ^
"Divisional Offices - Hammond Division at Lafayette"
. Archived from
the original
on 2013-06-01.
- ^
Article, Submitted.
"SJC to celebrate Halleck Center's 50th"
.
newsbug.info
. Retrieved
9 April
2018
.
- ^
"National Register of Historic Places Listings"
.
Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 6/06/16 through 6/10/16
. National Park Service. 2016-06-17.
- ^
"Republican Charles H. Halleck"
.
Mirror News (Los Angeles)
. 1960-05-27
. Retrieved
2022-01-16
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Peabody, Robert L.
The Ford-Halleck Minority Leadership Contest
1966;
- Scheele, Henry Z.
Charlie Halleck: A Political Biography
. Exposition Press, 1966.
External links
[
edit
]
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International
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National
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People
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Other
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