American politician
Fred Schwengel
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|
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In office
January 3, 1967 ? January 3, 1973
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Preceded by
| John Schmidhauser
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Succeeded by
| Edward Mezvinsky
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In office
January 3, 1955 ? January 3, 1965
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Preceded by
| Thomas E. Martin
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Succeeded by
| John Schmidhauser
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In office
1945?1955
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Born
| Frederick Delbert Schwengel
May 28, 1906
Sheffield
,
Iowa
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Died
| April 1, 1993
(
1993-05
)
(aged 86)
Arlington County
,
Virginia
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Political party
| Republican
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Residence
| Sheffield, Iowa
|
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Alma mater
| Northeast Missouri Teachers College
,
University of Iowa
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|
Frederick Delbert Schwengel
(May 28, 1906 – April 1, 1993) was a Republican
U.S. Representative
from southeastern
Iowa
.
Personal background
[
edit
]
Born on a farm near
Sheffield, Iowa
, to
German
immigrants,
[1]
Schwengel attended the rural schools in West Fork Township and high schools in
Chapin
and Sheffield. He graduated from
Northeast Missouri Teachers College
at
Kirksville, Missouri
, in 1930 where he was an undergraduate member of
Phi Sigma Epsilon
fraternity, and attended graduate school at the
University of Iowa
in
Iowa City
from 1933 to 1935.
To this day,
Truman State University
displays a collection of Schwengel's personal collection of Abraham Lincoln historical artifacts that were donated by Schwengel's wife, Ethel, after his death in 1993.
Schwengel had founded the
United States Capitol Historical Society
in 1962, and continued to serve as its president after his defeat, until 1993. Early in his career, he served as national president of
Phi Sigma Epsilon
fraternity.
[2]
He also was a founder and president of the Republican Heritage Foundation. He also served as the President of the Iowa Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the National Civil War Centennial Commission and the Joint Sessions of Congress for the Lincoln Sesquicentennial.
[3]
He served in the
Missouri National Guard
from 1929 to 1936.
[4]
He served as athletic coach and instructor of history and political science in public schools of
Shelbina, Missouri
, and Kirksville, Missouri, from 1930 to 1937. He engaged in the insurance business in
Davenport, Iowa
, from 1937 to 1954.
State offices
[
edit
]
Schwengel was elected to the
Iowa House of Representatives
in 1944, serving five consecutive terms, from 1945 to 1955. He also served as member of the Iowa Development Commission from 1949 to 1955. As a member of the U.S. House, Schwengel was a member of the Public Works Committee, District of Columbia and House Administration, Republican Task Force on Minority Staffing, and the Wednesday Group.
[5]
Congress
[
edit
]
In 1954, the Congressman in
Iowa's 1st congressional district
,
Thomas E. Martin
, ran for the
U.S. Senate
. Schwengel ran and won the Republican nomination for the seat,
[6]
and easily defeated John J. O'Connor in the general election. He won re-election in the following four elections. However, in the 1964 Democratic landslide, Schwengel (like all but one of Iowa's Republican U.S. House members) was defeated. He lost to University of Iowa political science Professor
John R. Schmidhauser
by fewer than 4,000 votes. But Schmidhauser, like many members of the 1964 freshman class, served only one term; in 1966 Schwengel ran again for his former seat and defeated Schmidhauser by fewer than 5,000 votes, then defeated him again in 1968 by a wider margin. In all, Schwengel served eight terms in Congress.
In 1970 Schwengel narrowly defeated Iowa legislator
Edward Mezvinsky
by only 765 votes. Redistricting before the 1972 election shifted several Republican areas out of the 1st district, so when Mezvinsky ran against Schwengel a second time in 1972, he won with 53 percent of the vote.
While in Congress, Schwengel was known as one of the more moderate members of the Republican House caucus. While conservative on fiscal issues, he was very pro-labor and pro-civil rights, and was a strong supporter of separation of church and state.
[7]
Schwengel voted in favor of the
Civil Rights Acts of 1957
,
[8]
1960
,
[9]
1964
,
[10]
and
1968
,
[11]
as well as the
24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
.
[12]
Reportedly, his opposition to school prayer contributed to his 1974 defeat.
[13]
After Congress
[
edit
]
Schwengel had founded the Capitol Historical Society in 1962, and continued to serve as its president after his defeat, until 1993. He also was a founder and president of the Republican Heritage Foundation.
Schwengel received the first JM Dawson Award from the
Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty
in 1986
[15]
for, among other things, his stance against school prayer in 1970 that eventually led to his defeat from Congress.
[13]
His collegiate fraternity,
Phi Sigma Epsilon
, participated in a merger with
Phi Sigma Kappa
in 1985. At the onset, Schwengel was strongly supportive of this merger, and influential in the decision as a much-loved past president and ritual author for Phi Sigma Epsilon. At its completion, Schwengel agreed to serve as a historian for the combined fraternity and as a trustee of the PSK Foundation.
[2]
Schwengel died on April 1, 1993, in
Arlington, Virginia
. The
Interstate 80 bridge
crossing the
Mississippi River
near
Davenport, Iowa
is named in his honor.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"United States Census, 1910"
,
FamilySearch
, retrieved
March 20,
2018
- ^
a
b
Rand, Frank Prentice; Ralph Watts; James E. Sefton (1993).
All The Phi Sigs - A History
. Self-published. p. 237.
- ^
Palen, Kathy (October 8, 1986).
"BJCPA Honors Two Baptists With Inaugural Dawson Awards"
(PDF)
. Baptist Press
. Retrieved
July 13,
2010
.
- ^
Onofrio, Jan (January 1, 2000).
Iowa Biographical Dictionary
. Somerset Publishers, Inc. pp. 631?632.
ISBN
9780403093045
.
- ^
"SCHWENGEL LINCOLN COLLECTION"
.
library.truman.edu
.
- ^
"Schwengel is Winner in Close Race," Muscatine Journal and News-Tribune, 1954-06-08 at 1.
- ^
Raffensperger, Gene; Norman, Jane (April 3, 1993).
"Schwengel dies at 86; served in U.S. House"
.
Des Moines Register
.
- ^
"HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957"
.
GovTrack.us
.
- ^
"HR 8601. PASSAGE"
.
- ^
"H.R. 7152. PASSAGE"
.
- ^
"TO PASS H.R. 2516, A BILL TO ESTABLISH PENALTIES FOR INTERFERENCE WITH CIVIL RIGHTS. INTERFERENCE WITH A PERSON ENGAGED IN ONE OF THE 8 ACTIVITIES PROTECTED UNDER THIS BILL MUST BE RACIALLY MOTIVATED TO INCUR THE BILL'S PENALTIES"
.
- ^
"S.J. RES. 29. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO BAN THE USE OF POLL TAX AS A REQUIREMENT FOR VOTING IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS"
.
GovTrack.us
.
- ^
a
b
Tiller, Carl (1994).
At Calvary: A history of the first 125 years of Calvary Baptist Church, Washington, D.C., 1862-1987 : with glimpses of the years 1988-94
. Trinity Rivers Pub.
- ^
"Historic Auto Trails: Fred Schwengel Memorial Bridge"
.
Iowa Department of Transportation
. Retrieved
2019-10-22
.
- ^
"BJC Awards"
. Retrieved
13 July
2010
.
External links
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International
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National
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People
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Other
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