1974 was a dreadful year for the GOP. They took fallout from the Watergate scandal and numerous incumbents lost. However, one gain for the GOP was in Florida’s 5^th district, which had Disney World, the winner being Richard Kelly (1924-2005). However, his behavior as a judge on the sixth judicial circuit in Florida, a position he served in from 1960 to 1974, made people question his stability, with allegations that he was arrogant, paranoid, and psychotic and his behavior (Orlando Sentinel). He was reported to have engaged in unprofessional conduct by harassing lawyers and judges and berating witnesses and there were two efforts in the Florida legislature to impeach him in 1963. The first failed by seven votes, and although the second one succeeded, he was acquitted in the Senate. However, the Florida judicial qualifications commission later ordered him to undergo a psychiatric examination, but instead of going to someone the commission wanted him to, he went independently to a psychiatrist and he was ruled to be sane. Kelly publicized this finding on his campaign and once elected, he touted, “I’m the only member certified to be sane” (Time Magazine).

Congressman Kelly

Kelly’s record was down-the-line conservative, being so on nearly every hot-button issue. He was a prominent critic of food stamps and notably condemned Congressional pay raises, refusing to accept the 1976 increase, donating some of the money to churches and returning some to the US Treasury. Kelly also was dead set against federal bailouts, opposing bailing out New York City in 1975 as well as the Chrysler Corporation in 1979. He attributed New York City’s fiscal problems to unions and welfare recipients, stating, “The unions have forced industry out of the city. The uniformed services are the highest-paid in the U.S. of A. And welfare? City politicians keep jacking up the rates to get the ghetto vote. No doubt about it” (Hamill and Lerer, 10). Kelly was critical of both the Democratic and Republican leaderships and sided with the liberal Americans for Democratic Action a mere 3% of the time, the conservative Americans for Constitutional Action a whopping 97% of the time, and his DW-Nominate score is a 0.504. Kelly strikes me as a Freedom Caucus member way before his time. For a while, his future seemed bright as President Carter’s popularity was declining and Ronald Reagan, a far more agreeable man for him, was on the rise. However…

Downfall!

On January 8, 1980, Kelly met with two representatives of two wealthy Arab sheiks who sought permanent residence in the United States and offered him $25,000 to introduce private legislation for this purpose. Kelly stuffed the money in his pockets, asking, “Does it show?” It turns out that he needn’t have worried about that, as this transaction was caught on tape and The two representatives were none other than FBI agent Anthony Ambrosio and FBI informant Melvin Weinberg. He was one of several public officials, including a senator, caught in the Abscam Sting. Kelly was the only Republican to be snagged, and he claimed that he was doing an undercover operation of his own to uncover corruption, and the reason for him not reporting illegal activity to the FBI right away is that it would blow his cover. The voters didn’t buy this and he was defeated for renomination by Bill McCollum. The jury didn’t buy it either, and he was convicted in 1981. However, in 1982, US District Judge William Bryant overturned the conviction on the grounds of entrapment, but a three judge panel reviewing the case reinstated the conviction the next year. In 1984, he was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment by Judge Bryant, of which he served 13.

In his case, crime really didn’t pay as by the time he started his imprisonment he was broke and deep in debt in legal fees at 61. Kelly stuck to his story about trying to conduct his own investigation but avoided the limelight after serving time, living the remainder of his days in the small town of Stevensville, Montana, and died on August 22, 2005 at the age of 81. Kelly overall seems to have been a rather difficult person; in addition to having a reputation for lack of collegiality on the bench, he was also married five times.

References

ADA Voting Records. Americans for Democratic Action.

Retrieved from

Hamill, D & Lerer, K. (1979, January 9). The Congressman from Disney World. New York Magazine, 10.

Kelly, Richard. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/14243/richard-kelly

Nation: Among the Accused. (1980, February 17). Time Magazine.

Retrieved from

https://time.com/archive/6855680/nation-among-the-accused

Pudlow, J. (2005, February 1). House panel reminded of its impeachment powers. Florida Bar News.

Retrieved from

The Life and Times of Richard Kelly – Will it Sell? (1985, October 21). Orlando Sentinel.

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One of the most memorable politicians in America’s history who never became president was Huey Pierce Long (1893-1935). He even has fans on the internet today who hail from both the right and left. Yet, his time of prominence was relatively short and he was only 42 at the time of his death. Although his philosophy is often seen as to the left of FDR, he in truth is something of an enigma. There were some ways in which Long was indeed to his left, but there were other ways in which Long was to Roosevelt’s right. Huey Long had his own views on himself when asked:

“Oh, hell, say that I’m sui generis [unique] and let it go at that” (Huey Long).

To determine Long’s place on the political spectrum we must look both at his record in the state of Louisiana and in the Senate. Long was elected governor in 1928 on a populist platform against Standard Oil and other large companies. Unlike many politicians in Louisiana, when Long made grand promises, he kept them. During his administration, extensive infrastructure was built, including over 9700 miles of new roads. He also had numerous bridges and natural gas pipelines created, and did so efficiently by bypassing local bosses and machines. Long funded these improvements by raising taxes on Standard Oil and other large corporations while reducing the tax burden on the common people. One of the ways he did so was reducing the personal property tax. He also eliminated the poll tax and provided relief for debt and foreclosures during the Great Depression. All of Long’s programs dd cost money, and the state’s debt dramatically increased. However, many states were spending money back then to fight the Great Depression, and the state’s operating expenses during Long’s time was $41.97 per capita, the third lowest of the 25 states that tracked such data and taxes rose an average of 2.2% as opposed to the average of 4.7% among states (Huey Long). He also proposed national minimum and maximum levels of income with every family getting an estate and a guaranteed minimum income, funded by increases in income and inheritance taxes with his “Share Our Wealth” plan. When asked if his Share Our Wealth plan was communist, he responded, “Communism? Hell no! … This plan is the only defense this country’s got against communism” (Huey Long). Long and others were willing to consider some significant alternative ideas to try and bat back a potential communist revolt. In 1930, he engineered his election to the Senate, and although once a senator he was officially no longer governor, his successor, Oscar K. Allen, was a figurehead. Thus, Long was in all but name still governor of Louisiana.

The Senate

Long described his own record during the Roosevelt Administration thus, “Whenever this administration has gone to the left I have voted for it, and whenever it has gone to the right I have voted against it” (Huey Long). However, his record is actually a bit more complicated than that. Long did vote for a lot of the Roosevelt Administration’s First 100 Days legislation, such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the Tennessee Valley Authority. He also voted for FDR’s currency legislation and work relief. In 1935, Long supported extending the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Public Utilities Holding Company Act, and the Bituminous Coal Act. There were certainly some ways in which Long went to FDR’s left, for example, he strongly supported veterans bonus legislation while Roosevelt was in opposition due to its budgetary impact and was supportive of Frazier-Lemke farm mortgage relief legislation. However, there are reasons to see Long as both right and left. He took a stance that was long associated with the right while in the Senate; he consistently opposed tariff reduction. Part of this was that Louisiana’s sugar industry had interest in keeping sugar tariffs high. However, he was one of the few Southerners to vote against the Reciprocal Trade Act in 1934, and the only other Louisianan to follow his lead on this was Congressman Numa Montet of the 3^rd district. This was a law that all Republicans of the party’s conservative wing voted against. In 1935, Long opposed US entry into the World Court (which suggests non-interventionist politics come World War II) including sponsoring a reservation that the Monroe Doctrine would apply, supported the Clark Amendment to the Social Security bill that would permit exemption from the program by companies that either had pension plans that met or exceeded Social Security or agreed to adopt such plans, Although this amendment passed the Senate, it was deleted in conference. Long also opposed the final version of the National Industrial Recovery Act and voted against its extension in 1935. Long also opposed and voted to recommit legislation to create a Farmers Home Corporation, a motion that among Republicans was only opposed by George Norris of Nebraska and Lynn Frazier of North Dakota, among the most liberal of Republicans. Also something strange to note about Long is that he has one of the highest DW-Nominate scores of anyone who has ever served in Congress as a Democrat at 0.251. Some of Long’s opposition to the Roosevelt Administration, however, was based on self-interest. He held one of the longest solo filibusters in Senate history at 15 hours and 35 minutes, which was the second longest at the time, to retain a provision in the extension of the National Industrial Recovery Act that mandated Senate confirmation of senior officials of the National Recovery Administration. This was to prevent Roosevelt from appointing political rivals to these positions. However, this proved unsuccessful and the proposal, backed primarily by New Deal critics, failed in a roll call vote. Another interesting matter to examine when assessing Long’s ideology is that of those people who strongly supported him and how their records turned out after Long’s death.

Two key people in support of Long who went to the Senate were John H. Overton and Allen J. Ellender. The former was Long’s attorney who defended him during impeachment proceedings and joined Long in the Senate in 1932 while Ellender was floor leader for Long in the state House and succeeded him. Overton’s DW-Nominate score is a -0.053 and Ellender’s DW-Nominate score is -0.089, so not generally considered to be strongly ideologically left although it should be noted that the latter started as a firm supporter of the New Deal who backed FDR’s court packing plan. The predecessor to the liberal Americans for Democratic Action, Union for Democratic Action, released ratings in 1944 and 1945, and cumulatively, Ellender sided with them on counted votes 64% of the time while Overton only did so 25% of the time. The latter would side with ADA during the 80^th Congress 59% of the time. These are not indicative of strong left-wing politics. Later on, Ellender would be quite a bit less liberal; he sided with the conservative Americans for Constitutional Action 57% of the time and the liberal Americans for Democratic Action 26% of the time. Although of course it is true that Ellender and Overton are different people than Long, they were among his closest and most powerful allies thus it stands to reason that they are much more alike than different. He also had a brother, George Long, with a Congressional record in the 1950s and also his son, Russell, who served in the Senate from 1949 to 1987. Neither were considered leading lights of left-wing politics, although Russell was more supportive of the Great Society than many of his fellow Southern Democrats. Yet, Russell Long also endorsed the Reagan tax cuts and was considered one of the more conservative Democrats by the 1980s. Had Huey Long simply remained a senator and lived a long life, it is absolutely conceivable to see him in postwar be in opposition to foreign aid, supportive of domestic anti-communist measures, and opposed to civil rights legislation (his son, Russell, opposed all of the major civil rights laws of the 1960s except the 24^th Amendment).

Something also to bear in mind is that Long’s anti-corporate stance certainly rhymes with the left, but being anti-corporate isn’t always inherently left. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a man no one considers a left-winger, is also by attitude anti-corporate. Furthermore, most socialists opposed Long as he opposed organized labor in Louisiana and also used state government to crack down on communist groups. He did nonetheless vote for the Wagner Act as senator. It is true that Long’s politics do not fit cleanly with conservatism given his support for many significant New Deal programs as well as using extensive deficit spending as governor but it is also true that they do not fit cleanly with liberalism. His reduction of property taxes I don’t think translates well on that front and nor do his opposition to the World Court, his opposition to Reciprocal Trade Agreements, and his opposition to the National Industrial Recovery Act. Although he often is categorized as populist left, I think he is populist but a bit more syncretic in philosophy than commonly thought. We may just have to accept Long saying that he was “sui generis”.

References

A Congress to Win the War and the Peace. (1944, May 5). The New Republic, 110 (19), 643-58.

Retrieved from

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1143419115

ADA Voting Records. Americans for Democratic Action.

Retrieved from

Ellender, Allen Joseph. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/2901/allen-joseph-ellender

Huey Long As Louisiana Governor. HueyLong.com.

Retrieved from

https://www.hueylong.com/life-times/governor

Huey Long Quotes. HueyLong.com.

Retrieved from

https://www.hueylong.com/perspectives/huey-long-quotes

Huey Long Filibusters New Deal Legislation. U.S. Senate.

Retrieved from

https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/filibusters-cloture/huey-long-filibusters.htm

Long, Huey Pierce. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/5758/huey-pierce-long

Overton, John Holmes. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/7126/john-holmes-overton

Patton, J.G. & Loeb, J. (1945, February 5). Challenge to Progressives. The New Republic, 112 (6), 21-42.

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https://www.newspapers.com/image/1143339882

The 1932 election constituted the nadir of the Republican Party in Indiana; the delegation to Congress was entirely Democratic and change was in the air from the days of Hoover. However, in 1934, there was one bright spot in the election of former Congressman Frederick Landis, brother of baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, to the 2^nd district, defeating Democratic incumbent George Durgan. However, the 62-year-old Landis dropped dead only nine days after being elected. To succeed him, the voters elected instead 34-year-old attorney Charles Abraham Halleck (1900-1986).

Halleck came out early and often against the New Deal, including voting against the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. However, he did vote for Social Security. He was soon noticed by Republican leadership, and in 1940 he delivered the nominating speech for fellow Hoosier Wendell Willkie, in which he addressed criticisms of him as having only recently become a Republican and defended his commitment to the cause. He later recalled that this was his most divisive speech among Republicans and that he had as many brickbats as bouquets thrown at him. Halleck was, however, considerably more conservative than Willkie and the two would later part ways. Before World War II, he was non-interventionist, thus voted against major legislation for war preparation. However, Halleck also embraced the post-war international consensus and voted for aid to Greece and Turkey and the Marshall Plan. On domestic policy, he remained quite conservative and repeatedly voted against price and rent controls. In 1946, the Republicans won back Congress and Halleck was elevated to the post of majority leader, where he played a significant role in passing key measures such as tax reduction and the Taft-Hartley Act. With the 1948 election, the Republicans were again in the minority. During Truman’s second term, Halleck stood as a strong opponent of his administration, with the liberal Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) only finding him voting their position on killing a 1951 bill to create a segregated veterans hospital. In 1952, Halleck was on a list of candidates Dwight Eisenhower considered an acceptable choice as vice president, and although he didn’t get this role, he still proved of great help to him.

Halleck’s Golden Years: 1953-1965

During the first two years of the Eisenhower Administration, Halleck was once again majority leader and in this post he was highly successful in getting the president’s agenda through. He was a legislative tactician par excellence, and he got favorable mentions on multiple occasions from President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon. This did require him to compromise a bit on his anti-New Deal views; although Halleck had voted against public housing repeatedly during the Truman Administration, he supported a public housing increase in 1954 to accommodate the Eisenhower Administration’s wishes. However, his primary source of compromise was on foreign aid. He backed foreign aid increases, and this accommodation did extend to Democratic administrations.

Ouster of Martin

The 1958 midterms proved a disaster for the Republicans, and many of the younger conservatives were interested in changing out the old for the new; Minority Leader Joe Martin, at this time 74 years old, had been the leader of the House Republicans for 20 years. Although Martin had many friends among older Republicans, the insurgents chose Halleck as their next leader and the White House was officially neutral. Had the White House stepped up and favored Martin, he likely would have kept his post.

Now the new minority leader, Halleck had a daunting task before him as Republican numbers were majorly reduced and Democrats were keen on passing numerous spending bills, which contrasted with President Eisenhower wanting to move towards a balanced budget. To this end, Halleck closely worked with Rules Committee Chairman Howard W. Smith (D-Va.), a conservative, to block liberal legislation, greatly frustrating Democratic leadership. Democratic spending bills either met with significant cuts to pass or fell victim to Eisenhower’s veto pen. As Time Magazine (1959) noted, “As one of the roughest, most highly skilled infighters in U.S. politics, Republican Halleck, in less than six months as the House minority leader, has given his party its most effective legislative leadership in years, and in the process spotlighted one of the most professional of personalities among the battle-scarred old pros in Congress.

He has done it under almost impossible circumstances. He took over the leadership job after the worst Republican defeat since the sunflower campaign of Kansas’ Alf Landon went to seed in 1936. Dwight Eisenhower, barred from seeking a third term, looked like lame-duck soup to the lopsided Democratic majority in Congress. House and Senate Republicans were fighting among themselves, seemed incapable of forming a line of defense against the war-dancing Democrats”. He also hosted what was called “The Clinic” in his office, in which he and his allies would strategize and socialize over bourbon and ranch water (Time Magazine, 1954).

The Halleck and Smith combination once again demonstrated the power of the Conservative Coalition, however, the victory of John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election, although close, was interpreted as a mandate. In order for Kennedy’s agenda to have easier passage, Speaker Sam Rayburn (D-Tex.) initiated a resolution adding two Democrats and one Republican to the House Rules Committee. Rayburn’s and Halleck’s and Smith’s forces had a close battle on this measure, but Rayburn had an ace of up his sleeve in none other than Halleck’s predecessor, Martin, who paid Halleck back for his loss by helping marshal enough Republicans to expand the Rules Committee, with it passing 217-212 on January 31^st. Not long after this loss, Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.) and Halleck had a weekly press conference in contrast to the that became colloquially known as the “Ev and Charlie Show” for the rather humorous contrast between the two, with hammy and gregarious Dirksen and the gruff Halleck. Although Dirksen, who always loved the limelight, took it in stride, Halleck disapproved, stating, “I’m no clown” (U.S. Senate). These press conferences, although meant to publicize the minority, which it did successfully, they also helped with unity during national crises. One historian stated, “It was primarily due to Dirksen and Halleck that Republicans solidly backed Kennedy during the missile crisis in Cuba and during the period of extreme tension when East Germans built the Berlin Wall.”

Halleck and Dirksen

Although Halleck frequently led opposition to the Kennedy Administration, he and Dirksen gave backing to President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis and they agreed to support a pending civil rights bill, which would become known as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was one area in which Halleck differed from Chairman Smith of the Rules Committee. Unfortunately for Halleck, 1964 was another bad election for the Republicans and a group within the party known as “The Young Turks” thought new leadership was needed. They got enough votes to oust Halleck in favor of Michigan’s Gerald Ford.

Backbencher and Retirement

After his 1964 ouster, Halleck remained in Congress as a conservative backbencher, where he seldom cooperated with President Johnson’s agenda. He voted against Medicare, federal aid to education, and funding for the arts. However, like all other Indiana representatives, he voted for the Voting Rights Act.

Halleck did not stay in office as long as Martin after being booted, and chose to retire in 1968, with his seat being won by the far more conservative Earl Landgrebe who became most known for defending Nixon after the release of the Watergate tapes. Halleck’s DW-Nominate score is 0.272, but it probably is this low due to his support for the postwar foreign consensus. Conservatives and liberals agreed with where he stood on the political spectrum, with him siding with the conservative Americans for Constitutional Action 86% of the time and ADA 15% of the time. Halleck succumbed to pneumonia on March 3, 1986 at 85.

References

ADA Voting Records. Americans for Democratic Action.

Retrieved from

Address of Representative Charles A. Halleck, of Indiana, nominating for the Presidency, Wendell Lewis Willkie, before the Republican National Committee, June, 1940. (1940, June 26). Republican National Committee.

Retrieved

Click to access wilkie_nominating_speech_40-1.pdf

Franklin, B.A. (1986, March 4). Charles Halleck, a G.O.P. House Leader Dies. The New York Times.

Retrieved from

Halleck, Charles Abraham. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/3963/charles-abraham-halleck

National Affairs: Lord of the Citadel. (1954, August 9). Time Magazine, 4.

Retrieved from

https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,936250-4,00.html

Senate Stories – The Ev and Charlie Show. U.S. Senate.

Retrieved from

https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/senate-stories/the-ev-and-charlie-show.htm

The Congress: The Gut Fighter. (1959, June 7). Time Magazine.

Retrieved from

https://time.com/archive/6827585/the-congress-the-gut-fighter

Milton Young in his early years in the Senate.

Although for much of its history, like today, North Dakota was dominated by the Republican Party, what it meant to be a Republican varied. This variation first came to pass with the establishment of the Non-Partisan League in 1915 by Arthur C. Townley, a man who had previously run for public office as a member of the Socialist Party. The Non-Partisan League constituted the progressive wing of the state’s Republican Party, while its conservative counterpart, established in 1918, was the Independent Voters’ Association. For a while, the Non-Partisan League had a major impact on the state’s GOP, indeed, progressive Republicanism had representation up until the late 1950s, concluding with the death of Senator William Langer in 1959. Milton Ruben Young (1897-1983) was among the leaders of the movement against the Non-Partisan League, which dominated the GOP during the Great Depression. Young would in retrospect describe the Non-Partisan League as “too far out. They had some socialists in there. That’s what turned me the other way” (Jacobs). Young, who was a farmer like many in his state, had held public office since 1924 and in 1932 was elected to the state House, followed by the state Senate in 1934, where he would serve as majority leader from 1943 to 1945 and co-founded the Republican Organizing Committee. He successfully managed the campaign to elect Fred Aandahl governor in 1944, taking control of the state Republican Party from the Non-Partisan League. Aandahl represented a conservative change in the Republican leadership of the state, and Young would soon himself politically benefit from this success. That year, non-interventionist Senator Gerald Nye lost reelection to Democrat John Moses. There were several things going on here. First, conservative critics of the New Deal had not forgotten Nye’s earlier votes in favor. Second, Moses was considered a conservative Democrat. And third, a third party candidate, Lynn Stambaugh, had entered the race. Third party candidates tend to harm the incumbent more often than harm the challenger. However, John Moses only lived two months in office; rumors of his ill health had plagued his campaign and they had turned out to be true. A special election was held to determine who would serve the rest of the term. Governor Aandahl tapped Young to serve, and he won the June 25, 1946 special election to serve the rest of the term, in part by forming a temporary alliance with his old rival, Langer.

Unlike Langer, Young was not a die-hard non-interventionist and supported aid to Greece and Turkey as well as the Marshall Plan. He supported tax reduction and the Taft-Hartley Act during the 80^th Congress, and he considered himself to be “slight to the right of center” (Jacobs). On major, attention-grabbing issues, Young’s record was more conservative, but on certain more under-the-surface issues, he proved one of the less conservative Republicans; if Republicans opposed a policy he considered beneficial to his state, he’d vote for the policy. Indeed, Young regarded himself as a farmer first and a Republican second. Although not flamboyant like Langer and not a skilled speaker, he was no less of a skilled politician. One cause he took up that was non-ideological was the restoration of Ford’s Theatre.

Restoring Ford’s Theatre

Soon after joining the Senate, Young visited Ford’s Theatre, the site of the Lincoln assassination, and noted its dire state of disrepair. He thus championed the cause of restoring and preserving Ford’s Theatre. In 1955, Young sponsored legislation signed into law to study its restoration, and funding for its restoration came in 1964. In 1981, Young was awarded the first Ford’s Theatre Lincoln Medal for his efforts.

The 1950s and 1960s

In 1952, Young caused a minor controversy within his party when he announced that if Senator Richard Russell (D-Ga.) won his party’s nomination that he would support him for president. Russell did not win his party’s nomination, thus Young supported Eisenhower and this little entertaining of voting for a Democrat for president never harmed Young’s career in North Dakota. Indeed, Russell was a conservative Democrat and North Dakota farmers knew that Young was a foremost advocate for them, to the degree that he was known as “Mr. Wheat” for his commitment to making sure that federal policy on wheat, the state’s leading crop, was favorable to the state’s farmers. Indeed, Young himself revealed the secret to his success, “I have always tried to stay close to the people. In North Dakota to be elected and to stay on, you have to know the farmers and stay close to them. They are loyal to a fault” (Hill). This being said, he had some differences with President Dwight Eisenhower. He opposed Ike’s agricultural policy, which was free-market oriented, and he opposed his increases in foreign aid. Young also voted against the censure of Joseph McCarthy, something the White House had been supporting behind the scenes. On anti-communism, Young supported domestic measures, including keeping the student loyalty oath and state anti-subversive laws.

Young’s exceptions in conservatism for agriculture, although not registering much in how the liberal Americans for Democratic Action viewed him, they did harm his standing with the conservative Americans for Constitutional Action, which in this author’s opinion, was correct in not exempting economic controls on agriculture from evaluating political ideology. Young differing from his party was especially clear on the subject of agriculture. In 1962, he was the only Senate Republican to support the initial version of the Food and Agriculture Act which contained supply management controls and was defeated in the House. Young also opposed Republican efforts to block sales of wheat to the USSR and Hungary facilitated by the Export-Import Bank in 1963. His dissents from conservative positions made him a target of invective from members of a new organization: the John Birch Society.

In 1961, the North Dakota House voted to ratify a Constitutional amendment known as the “Liberty Amendment” backed by the Committee for Economic Freedom, which was endorsed by the John Birch Society and if enacted would have repealed the 16th Amendment (income tax) and ended the Federal Reserve as well as numerous federal agencies, including some that helped North Dakota farmers and veterans (Baker). Young, alarmed by this amendment, wrote to several state senators advising against this amendment, and it was defeated. He did not know it then, but he had crossed the John Birch Society and its members and he started receiving a stream of hostile letters. After researching the John Birch Society, in March 1961 Young read a report on the John Birch Society on the floor of the Senate and denounced them as well as Robert Welch’s assertion that former President Eisenhower was a “dedicated conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy” (Baker). Responses were militant. One voter from Blue Grass wrote him, “I will take it up with our Liberty League board, and see if we will circulate petitions to have you recalled from office, impeached or indicted for treason” (Baker). However, Young was both renominated and reelected in 1962. The John Birch Society was also opposed to civil rights legislation, but was Young as well?

Young and Civil Rights

Milton Young’s record on civil rights was a bit mixed; while he was one of only two Senate Republicans on record against the 24^th Amendment banning the poll tax in federal elections, he voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. On the former, he supported retention of the provision against discrimination in public accommodations but voted to strike the employment discrimination section. While he voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1957, Young also supported two key limiting amendments; the Kefauver-Church-O’Mahoney Jury Trial Amendment and the Anderson-Aiken-Case Amendment to bar federal initiation of 14^th Amendment lawsuits. He was less favorable to the Great Society.

The Great Society

Milton Young was opposed to most Great Society legislation, including the Economic Opportunity Act, Medicare, and federal aid to education. He also supported Constitutional amendments to counter Supreme Court decisions on school prayer and legislative reapportionment. However, he did support the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act in 1966 and supported lowering the minimum age to receive Social Security in 1967. However, during the Johnson Administration his primary dissents from conservatism were as they had been before, on agricultural policy.

Other Issues

On social issues, Milton Young was the usual conservative in supporting school prayer and the death penalty while opposing busing and abortion. On treaties, although he supported a reservation to the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963, he did vote for the treaty, but also opposed the 1967 Consular Treaty. Young was also supportive of conservative policies regarding oil, including development of the Alaska Pipeline in 1973 and lifting price controls on oil. On organized labor, Young was not reflexively opposed to their positions; although he voted against the proposed repeal of the “right to work” clause of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1965 and against the Common Site Picketing bill in the 1970s, he had voted against all major anti-organized labor amendments in the 1958 debates on labor reform but had supported most of the major ones in 1959, with the exception of requiring unions to hold secret ballots before agreeing to a strike.

Young and Nixon

In 1968, it was speculated that liberal broadcaster Eric Sevareid might return home to North Dakota to run against Young. When asked about this possibility, Young responded, “What does Eric Sevareid know about wheat?” (UPI). He won easily his biggest reelection that year. In 1972, Young strongly supported wheat sales to Russia to reduce wheat surplus and to increase the price of wheat. He was also strongly supportive of Nixon Administration efforts to curb crime as well as his Supreme Court nominations. He stood in support of President Nixon’s policies on the Vietnam War up until 1973, when he voted to bar further funds for military action in or over Cambodia and Laos. Young also was consistently supportive of increasing military spending. Contrary to President Nixon’s position, he supported public funding of presidential campaigns in 1974.

Final Term

In 1974, Young faced a difficult reelection; he was 77 years old and had refrained from retiring as he didn’t like his most likely successor, Congressman Mark Andrews. His reelection was also difficult due to Watergate and his competitor being the popular Democratic Governor William L. Guy, but to dispel the age issue he had an ad filmed of him karate chopping a wooden board, and he was reelected, albeit by only 186 votes.

In his final term, Young contended with the Ford and Carter presidencies, where he continued his moderate conservatism. In 1977, he accommodated the Carter Administration in his vote to confirm Paul Warnke as the chief negotiator for the SALT II talks. However, Young also voted against the Panama Canal Treaties the next year. Despite that, he supported legislation implementing the treaties the following year. Young also supported Carter’s sales of military aircraft to Middle Eastern nations in 1978.

In 1979, Young announced that he would not be running for another term. To honor him, in 1980 he was allowed by the lame duck Democratic Senate to serve for one day as President Pro Tem. Young had been around so long that he was the last person born in the 19^th century to serve in Washington D.C. Despite his dislike of Mark Andrews, he succeeded him in the Senate. Ideologically, differing perceptions of Milton Young are primarily dependent on the focus on agriculture. Young was willing to go rather liberal on the subject. While Young only sided with ADA 16% of the time from 1947 to 1980, ACA only found him in agreement with their positions 67% of the time from 1955 to 1980. Young’s DW-Nominate score of 0.172 is more in alignment with the view of ACA than ADA. Indeed, Young’s own self-assessment throughout his career, as well as him saying “I’m kind of a middle-of-the-roader myself”, lend credence to ACA and DW-Nominate’s interpretations of his record (Jacobs) Young subsequently retired to Sun City, Arizona, where he died of prostate cancer on May 31, 1983, at the age of 85. To this day, Young is the longest serving senator from North Dakota and at the time of his death was the longest serving Republican senator in history.

References

ADA Voting Records. Americans for Democratic Action.

Retrieved from

Baker, R. (1961, April 18). Senator Who Brought Birch Unit To Public Notice Fears Reprisal. The New York Times.

Retrieved from

Former Sen. Milton R. Young of North Dakota. (1983, June 1). UPI.

Retrieved from

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/01/Former-Sen-Milton-R-Young-of-North-Dakota-who/6524423288000

Hill, R. (2021, July 5). Milton R. Young of North Dakota. The Knoxville Focus.

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Jacobs, M. (1983, June 1). Sen. Milton Young dies in Arizona at 85. Grand Forks Herald, 1.

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https://www.newspapers.com/image/1134134962

Young, Milton Ruben. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/10450/milton-ruben-young