In the early 20^th century, a progressive wave swept the nation, a belief that government could, in some way or another, be used to improve society and reform politics. This wave far from missed Oregon and one of the most significant reformers in the state was Harry Lane (1855-1917). Lane was well-positioned to push reform, being a member of one of the state’s foremost political families: his grandfather, Joseph Lane, was a Confederate sympathizer who was briefly senator and candidate for vice president on the Southern Democratic ticket in 1860, and Lane County, Oregon, is named after him. His uncle, Lafayette Lane, was a Democratic member of the House from 1875 to 1877.

Attending Willamette University in Salem, he graduated in 1876 and two years later earned a medical degree from Williamette University College of Medicine. His postgrad work was with the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. After Lane’s time there, he returned to Portland and opened up a prestigious medical practice, becoming the president of several medical societies.

In 1887, Governor Sylvester Pennoyer appointed Lane to head up the Oregon State Insane Asylum, and there he soon made waves as he as horrified by the deplorable conditions there and the abuse inmates suffered. His efforts to ferret out corruption in the system did not win him friends in the political realm and Pennoyer eventually forced him to step down in 1891. He became an advocate for public health, seeking to reduce the spread of contagious diseases, especially tuberculosis and would provide medical care free of charge for indigent patients, which won him a good deal of support for a political career. In 1902, Lane ran for the Oregon State Senate as an independent who supported direct democracy measures including initiative, referendum, and recall. Although unsuccessful, in 1904, Lane ran for mayor of Portland and won, serving two terms. During this time, he frequently battled with the Portland City Council, often at best serving as a veto pen. Lane notably proposed the creation of the annual Portland Rose Festival in 1907, which happens to this day, and was an advocate for the advancement of women. In 1905, Lane hosted a national convention for women’s suffrage and in 1908, he appointed Lola Baldwin as the first female police officer in American history. In 1912, Lane ran for the Senate, and a non-binding popular referendum between six candidates placed him in first at 30% of the vote, defeating conservative Republican Ben Selling by a little over a point.

Although the Oregon State Legislature in 1913 was solidly Republican, they saw fit to honor the result of the referendum. This was praised in the Cincinnati Post (1913), “Again take off your hat to Oregon!Again that State stands forth as a splendid example of government by the people. Again she puts her heel on the snake vile partizanism [the author’s word for what we call “partisanship”]. Again she demonstrates that there is honor in politics and thereby refutes the declaration that aims cannot be attained save through violence and anarchy.

In a popular primary the people of Oregon declared for a Democrat for U.S. Senator, Harry Lane. Oregon’s Legislature is strongly Republican, but that body almost unanimously voted the Democrat, Lane, into the Senate.

Whether Lane proves good, bad, or indifferent, the people of Oregon have got what they want, which is self-government” (4).

Senator Lane

As a senator, Lane was a supporter of numerous progressive causes. He was an early supporter of women’s suffrage as were many politicians of the West, and supported Prohibition. Lane staunchly supported breaking up monopolies, government ownership of utilities, and opposed imperialism. He also sought to reform relations between Americans and American Indians, him regarding trying to make them farmers a fundamentally flawed plan and deploring past and present ill-treatment, in this case much in contrast to his grandfather. A lot of President Wilson’s agenda got his approval in the first two years, although the same could be said for most of his Democratic colleagues. However, Lane had a conservative side to him and this was in his opposition to high taxes and high spending, and he detested waste. The Edgerton Earth (1916) described his opposition, “Senator Harry Lane of Oregon has an abhorrence of waste that amounts to almost an obsession. A needless expenditure of money gets under his cuticle like a woodtick and makes his life a burden. It isn’t that he is a tightwad either. In his personal affairs he spends with as little heed as anybody; but when it comes to wasting government funds – the very funds that a great many great legislators love to spend with much reckless abandon – Lane is a miser, watching every penny like a terrier dog watching a rat hole” (4). An example of this was on February 24, 1917, he was one of three Democrats to vote against a measure increasing the pay of government employees. In 1914, he was one of only two Senate Democrats to join a unified GOP in opposition to the Emergency Internal Revenue Tax Act, which raised numerous domestic taxes in response to declining tariff revenues from the outbreak of World War I. Lane expressed his opposition, “I think that more than $100,000,000 could easily be chopped off and the affairs of the Government conducted just as well as they are now. I do not feel we have the right to levy additional taxes as though we were in the midst of unexampled prosperity. I believe it is unbusinesslike and unpatriotic. I think it is gross carelessness” (The Cincinnati Enquirer, 5). There were also numerous other occasions in which he voted with the Republicans on tax issues, such as when he was the only Democrat to vote for Senator Lodge’s (R-Mass.) unsuccessful amendment on February 28, 1917, assessing the highest tariffs on nations in which their goods were produced with child labor not in comport with the Keating-Owen Act of 1916. Indeed, Lane’s independence was admired by many but by the end of his life he became reviled for it.

Lane and World War I

Another way in which Lane was independent was him being one of six senators to vote against declaring war on Germany for their resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. Only two of the six senators would be reelected. Lane had cast his vote on April 4, 1917, against doctor’s orders as by this time he had for years been suffering from chronic kidney disease and by this time had advanced arteriosclerosis (Johnston, 42). An editorial in The Oregonian blasted him, “Next to being ashamed of Harry Lane for what he has done … the people of Oregon are ashamed of themselves for having sent Harry Lane to the United States Senate” (MacColl, 137-138). There were loud calls for his recall, but his foes would not get to have the pleasure of voting against him, as he died only seven weeks after his vote, on May 23^rd while recuperating in San Francisco at the age of 61 from a stroke. His vote against declaring war was the last he cast and the last vote that Lane made his position known on was in support of Senator Hiram Johnson’s (R-Calif.) amendment to the Espionage Act to strike a section prescribing rules for publicizing information regarding U.S. military operations in wartime on May 12th. His DW-Nominate score is a -0.154, which is quite a bit less liberal than you might have thought. Lane would be succeeded by Republican Charles McNary, who would become one of the most prominent national politicians from Oregon as Senate Republican leader and nominee for vice president in 1940.

References

Jensen, K. (2022, June 29). Oregon Encyclopedia.

Retrieved from

https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/lane_harry_1855_1917_

Johnston, R.D. (2003). The radical middle class: populist democracy and the question of capitalism in progressive era Portland, Oregon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Kennedy, T.G. (2021, October 18). Portland Mayor Harry Lane. Medium.

Retrieved from

View at Medium.com

Lane Abhors Waste. (1916, March 24). The Edgerton Earth, 4.

Retrieved from

www.newspapers.com/image/1095809210/

Lane, Harry. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/5441/harry-lane

MacColl, E.K. (1979). “7: Patriotism and fear, 1917-1923”. The growth of a city. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press Company.

One More For Oregon. (1913, January 31). The Cincinnati Post, 4.

Retrieved from

www.newspapers.com/image761244334/

Volley Is Fired By Lane. (1914, October 14). The Cincinnati Enquirer, 5.

Retrieved from

www.newspapers.com/image/33466459/








p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent }em { font-style: italic }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }

There was a certain ethos in the political scene of the Progressive Era that was strongly geared towards reform and a strong sense of right and wrong. This was characteristic of Michigan’s Louis Convers Cramton (1875-1966), who frequently stood for reform in his day, albeit in a Republican framework.

Cramton graduated with a law degree from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1899 and was admitted to the bar that year, but moved away from law in 1905 to take up journalism, publishing the Lapeer County Clarion until 1923. He also served as law clerk of the Michigan Senate for three terms as well as Michigan deputy commissioner of railroads in 1907 and secretary of the Michigan Railroad Commission from 1907 to 1909. These roles in state government got him a sufficient resume to run for state office. In 1909, Cramton was elected to the Michigan State House, where he served a term. In 1910, he ran for the Republican nomination for Congress from the 7^th district, but lost. Cramton tried again in 1912 when incumbent Henry McMorran was retiring and prevailed as well as won the election.

Congressman Cramton

As a member of Congress, the newly elected Cramton found himself to sometimes be in support of President Wilson’s New Freedom agenda. For instance, he voted for the Federal Reserve Act, the first version of the Clayton Anti-Trust Act (although he voted against the final version), curbing speculation in cotton futures, and legislation expanding the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Cramton was also an early supporter of women’s suffrage. However, to the consternation of organized labor, he supported bonuses in Navy funding bills to encourage efficiency and again crossed them in his opposition to the Howell-Barkley bill in 1924. He was also a loyal Republican on the issues of tariffs and income taxes, and his record did seem to get more conservative after the Wilson Administration. Cramton nonetheless consistently supported veterans’ bonus measures. In 1920, he managed California Senator Hiram Johnson’s unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination (Port Huron Times Herald). In 1922, he voted for the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill and was known as a strong proponent of funding for the historically black Howard University, which would award him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1945. Cramton’s foremost achievements in Congress were the establishment of several national parks, including Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. He also wrote legislation establishing the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia and Maryland and the restoration of historical monuments at Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown, Virginia. Cramton also lent his strong support to the creation of the National Park Service in 1916, thus becoming known as the “godfather of national parks” (Detroit Free Press).

Cramton and 1920s Law Enforcement

If there was an individual in the House who stood strongest for Prohibition on the Republican side of the aisle, it was Cramton, known as a Congressional spokesman for the Anti-Saloon League. In 1926, he sponsored a bill to establish bureaus of prohibition and customs in the Treasury Department. However, by 1930, support for Prohibition had dried up considerably, and Cramton faced a strong primary challenger in Jesse P. Wolcott, who ran as an opponent of Prohibition. Wolcott narrowly edged out Cramton in an anti-Prohibition wave that swept the state, with a recount occurring in Lansing before the result was finalized. Cramton’s DW-Nominate score stands at a 0.49, which is quite a bit more conservative than you might have thought given my description of his record.

Out of Office

President Hoover found use for Cramton, appointing him to be a special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior, where he conducted studies that resulted in the creation of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. In 1934, Cramton was elected a state circuit judge, where he served until his loss of reelection in November 1941. Although Cramton was out of the national political picture during the Roosevelt years, he did reminisce in retirement, “As a Republican, I never cared for Franklin D. Roosevelt, but if it wasn’t for his social security program I would be worse off today” (Detroit Free Press). Indeed, in his last years, Cramton was not a wealthy man, his only income being from Social Security and a small pension for his service in Michigan’s state House. Speaking of…

Second Act

In 1948, Cramton made a comeback when at the age of 73 he was again elected to the Michigan State House. In 1951, he succeeded in getting a key anti-crime tool reinstated in Michigan law, the one-man grand jury rather than the three-man jury that got tried and proved ineffective, and he had the support of most Republicans and some Democrats (Kulsea). He was quite the active legislator and strongly pushed for an anti-discrimination law in 1952, but was troubled when many of his fellow Republicans were unwilling to give him the backing that he had received for his anti-crime measure in the previous year, with half of them walking out when he rose up to speak on the matter. Cramton teared up at this, “I am becoming more at home on this side (Democratic) of the House than on the Republican. I have supported the Republican party for half a century. I never thought I would wee the time that Republicans would leave their seats rather than hear a Republican discuss the vital question of human rights” (Kulsea). His great concern for civil rights was interesting given that his district was almost entirely white. In 1955, Cramton succeeded in getting his state’s Fair Employment Practices Act into law, which he authored. Although Cramton had not always agreed with Senator Robert La Follette during his lifetime, he did admire the man and stated to a newsman regarding the senator’s autobiography, “Read it and enjoy it and remember that this country and this government came from the work of men like LaFollette. Everyone should struggle for more representative government, and cheer on those fighting for that cause” (Kulsea). By the time Cramton was 84 in 1960, his health was declining so he finally retired from politics. The following year, Howard University dedicated a school after him for his strong advocacy for the university and black education. Cramton lived just long enough to see passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, dying on June 23, 1966 at the age of 90. Although in some ways, he was distinctly conservative, he had a certain social awareness and moral certitude that was characteristic of the Progressive Era, making him a bit of a mixed figure. His son, Louis K. Cramton, also served in the Michigan House as a Republican, from 1971 to 1981.

References

Cramton, Louis Convers. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/2144/louis-convers-cramton

Ex-Congressman Louis Cramton Is Dead At 90. (1966, June 24). Port Huron Times Herald, 1.

Retrieved from

https://www.newspapers.com/image/209694394

Kulsea, W.C. (1966, June 29). Louis C. Cramton: Man Far Ahead Of His Time. The Saginaw News, 18.

Retrieved from

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1108860225

Louis C. Cramton. (1966, June 29). Detroit Free Press, 6.

Retrieved from

https://www.newspapers.com/image/97895591

Louis C. Cramton; Was Called The Godfather of U.S. Parks. (1966, June 25). Detroit Free Press, 2.

Retrieved from

https://www.newspapers.com/image/97883361

In 1936, liberal Marion Zioncheck of Seattle, perhaps having cracked under the strain of hard work in Congress, began displaying numerous symptoms of mental illness. However, he knew that the public would not be interested in him having another term, thus he chose not to run and endorsed his friend, Warren Grant Magnuson (1905-1989). Sadly, Zioncheck committed suicide before the end of his term. Magnuson picked up where his friend left off.

Interestingly, although Magnuson’s official birth date is April 12, 1905, he was born to parents that he never knew, and it is possible that this isn’t his real birth date. As an infant he was adopted by William and Emma Magnuson, who named him Warren. He would play football in high school and earned a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Washington School of Law. He was always a Democrat, campaigning for Al Smith in 1928 and backing A. Scott Bullitt’s run for governor, but the time for Democrats had not quite come yet. With the Great Depression, Magnuson and the Democrats soared, with him serving as as special prosecutor of King County, and from 1933 to 1935 he was in the Washington State House, and from 1934 to 1936 was elected prosecutor of King County.

As noted in previous posts, Washington was a state particularly associated with the political left in the 1930s, even radically so. After his election to Congress in 1936, Magnuson was almost entirely faithful to the New Deal and to FDR’s foreign policy with the sole exception of his vote against military conscription in 1940. He also voted against the Reciprocal Trade Act extension that year, and he was not alone among Washington Democrats in regarding trade policy as harming the state’s lumber industry. Magnuson was also quick to have an achievement while in office; in 1937, he was a one of the sponsors of the National Cancer Institute Act. Magnuson briefly served his country in the Navy during World War II, but chose to stay in office after President Roosevelt in 1942 ordered legislators to either choose to serve in Congress or the military. In 1943, Magnuson sponsored the law repealing the Chinese Exclusion Act after Madame Kai Shek delivered a speech before Congress in which she noted the contradiction of having China as an ally while refusing to admit its people. On November 13, 1944, Senator Homer T. Bone resigned as he had been confirmed for a federal judgeship and Magnuson was elected in a special election to finish his term on December 14, 1944. He had faced Tacoma Mayor Harry P. Cain, would join him in the Senate with his victory in the 1946 election. Magnuson proved a strong supporter of President Truman and the Fair Deal and was a firm friend of organized labor and a foe of Republican-backed tax reduction. However, he would differ in his support of a wool tariff in 1947.

In 1955, Magnuson became the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. In this post he weighed in heavily on regulating the market, pushing for consumer protection laws, auto safety laws, and other measures. He was critical in limiting oil tankers traveling through the Puget Sound. Even though President Eisenhower won Washington in his reelection bid, Magnuson was so popular at the time that he won all counties against former Republican Governor Arthur B. Langlie. He was not only popular with the voters, but also his colleagues given his amiable and agreeable nature. Magnuson also was a bit of a party guy, having being a hard drinker and having numerous girlfriends since his divorce from his first wife in 1935 until settling in 1964. His colleague, Scoop Jackson, would from time to time lecture him, “Maggie, you gotta live a better life!” (Scott) From 1955 to 1959, the conservative Americans for Constitutional Action gave him a 15% for how often he sided with their positions. His strongest area of conservatism was his support for some foreign aid cuts and an occasional anti-communist amendment in foreign policy.

Magnuson was a strong supporter of the New Frontier, and although he was no less or more liberal by 1962, he attracted a strong challenge in Republican Richard G. Christensen, a Lutheran minister, who held him to less than a five point margin. He also proved a strong supporter of the Great Society, and played a significant role in the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. Magnuson was, unsurprisingly, a strong supporter of civil rights and helped get the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to passage. In 1968, Magnuson faced Republican State Senator and future Congressman Jack Metcalf for reelection, but he won by nearly 30 points. The following ad certainly helped:

A Power Team: Maggie and Scoop

Magnuson was commonly nicknamed “Maggie”, which dated to his high school football football, but he was not fond of the nickname and friends would not refer to him by that name. He and Henry “Scoop” Jackson represented Washington together for 28 years, and although the two men roughly shared the same ideological space, they could have some differences. For instance, on the Vietnam War, Magnuson differed from Jackson as he was a dove, voting for the Cooper-Church Amendment and the McGovern-Hatfield “End the War” Amendment in 1970. During the Eisenhower Administration, Magnuson had been more likely to favor foreign aid cuts than Jackson, but largely agreed with him on getting tough on crime, voting with him on “no knock” warrants in 1970 as well as reinstatement of the death penalty in 1974. Both of them also strongly aligned on keeping federal funding for the Supersonic Transport, a Boeing project.

The Apex of Power

In 1974, Magnuson won reelection by over 24 points, once again against Jack Metcalf. The following year, he would collaborate with Senator Frank Moss (D-Utah) to pass the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which sets certain standards for products that have warranties to prevent warranties that are misleading to consumers. In the next year, he collaborated with Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to pass the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Management Act, With the election of President Jimmy Carter, Magnuson would reach the height of his power; after Senator John McClellan (D-Ark.) died in 1977, he moved from Commerce to Appropriations. As chairman of the Appropriations Committee, he steered a lot of federal money to Washington, as senators usually do for their home states. Vice President Walter Mondale joked, “He is scrupulously fair with federal funds; one half for Washington state, one half for the rest of the country” (Scott). He was also President Pro Tem after the retirement of James Eastland (D-Miss.). In 1980, Magnuson opposed the scope of trucking deregulation proposed by the Carter Administration, and wanted to maintain stronger standards for trucking certificates to be given out, but his effort to do so failed.

Although Magnuson had overwhelmingly won in 1974, six years and a Republican officeholder made a difference. By 1980, he was a 75-year-old diabetic and he looked it, but worse was this time it was the Democrats who were saddled with an unpopular president; Carter had not won Washington in 1976. Although he got advice to retire, he did not heed it (Saxon). The result was Republican Slade Gorton, who was quite a contrast to Magnuson, being thin and 23 years younger, defeating him by over seven points. From 1947 to 1980, Magnuson sided with the liberal Americans for Democratic Action 78% of the time and the conservative Americans for Constitutional Action 13% of the time from 1955 to 1980. His DW-Nominate score stands at -0.325, thus he overall stands as a little bit more liberal than his colleague, Scoop Jackson. Despite Magnuson’s apparently worse health than Scoop’s with his diabetes causing him increasing health problems in his last years, he’d outlive him by six years, succumbing to advanced diabetes and heart failure on May 20, 1989 at the age of 84. To this day, Magnuson is Washington’s longest serving senator and also the longest serving incumbent to be defeated for reelection.

References

ADA Voting Records. Americans for Democratic Action.

Retrieved from

Magnuson, Warren Grant. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/5913/warren-grant-magnuson

Saxon, W. (1989, May 21). Warren G. Magnuson Dies at 84; Held Powerful Positions in Senate. The New York Times.

Retrieved from

Scott, K. (2017, August 9). Opinion: Our Senior-Junior Senator. The Wenatchee World.

Retrieved from

Van Dyk, T. (2005, April 13). Warren Magnuson was one of a kind. Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Retrieved from

On July 11^th, Senator Lindsey Graham died unexpectedly of an aortic dissection, and he was, among other things, known for being a lifelong bachelor. This has long led to rumors and a few men claiming to have had sexual encounters with him. He denied it, and confirmation of these claims has yet to arise. Graham is not alone in American history among those who have been unmarried for either all or most of their lives. Ten prominent bachelors or bachelorettes included:

James Buchanan – The most famous of all of them, Buchanan is the only president to never have married. Although he was at one time engaged to Anne C. Coleman, but they broke up and she not too long after committed suicide. He was known for his close friendship with Senator William Rufus King of Alabama (and shortly VP), a friendship that has been the source of tremendous historical speculation. I personally don’t know why some gay people have clamored for Buchanan to have been one of them, as he was one of the worst presidents. Is it better to have no or terrible representation?

William Rufus King – King was a longtime senator from Alabama and was vice president for 45 days, as he died from tuberculosis. He was known for his support of slavery and his opposition to secession but also known for his effeminate mannerisms and close friendship with fellow bachelor James Buchanan, which has contributed to historical speculations about his sexuality.

Samuel J. Tilden – Tilden, a reformer Democratic Governor of New York, he is the only person in history to win the majority (as opposed to plurality) of votes and still not be elected president, which happened in the earthquake that was the 1876 election. Had he been elected, he would have been the second president to never have been married.

Frank Brandegee – Brandegee was a conservative stalwart from Connecticut, who served in the House from 1901 to 1905, and then in the Senate from 1905 until his suicide in 1924. He was known for his skills in debate, irreconcilable opposition to the Versailles Treaty, and his staunch opposition to women’s suffrage and from what I’ve read of him I get the impression that he was afraid of women.

Sam Rayburn – Rayburn was the longest-serving House Speaker in American history, serving in Congress from Texas from 1913 to his death in 1961, he was only married for three months before separation, with divorce official a year after the marriage. His wife disagreed with his lifestyle of drinking whiskey and playing cards with friends. Rayburn never remarried and LBJ saw great advantage in acting as a son he never had, including having him over for dinner every Sunday.

David I. Walsh – Massachusetts senator from 1919 to 1925 and again from 1926 to 1947. Walsh was a pioneer for Irish Catholic Democrats in the state but his bachelor life led to many questions, and indeed of all the individuals on the list, the claim that he was actually gay has the strongest support and although he never admitted it publicly, it was considered an open secret in Washington.

Joe Martin – Martin was the leader of the House Republicans from 1939 to 1959 and served in Congress from 1925 to 1967. He never married and indeed had few focuses in his life other than caring for his mother, politics, and collecting elephant figurines. There hasn’t been any speculation about his sexuality, and from what I’ve read about him he was painfully shy around women.

Richard Russell – Russell was a powerful Georgia senator and unofficial leader of the Senate’s Southern Democrats, serving in the Senate from 1933 until his death in 1971. Although he dated, he never married and saw LBJ as the son he never had. However, the two ultimately parted ways over Russell’s refusal to support Abe Fortas for chief justice.

Barbara Jordan – The first black representative from Texas, Jordan represented Houston from 1973 to 1979 as a prominent member of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party and although she never publicly acknowledged her sexuality, she had a live-in domestic partner, Nancy Earl, for 20 years until her death in 1996. As she was unmarried, Jordan was technically a

Condoleeza Rice – National security advisor and Secretary of State during the second Bush Administration. She has dated men and was once engaged to Denver Broncos wide receiver Rick Upchurch.

As noted in my post on Wesley Jones, the Republicans used to be the dominant party in Washington. The first figure to really stand out as changing this status quo was Clarence Cleveland Dill (1884-1978). Like many early Washingtonians, Dill was not born in the state, having been born and raised in Ohio. After attending Ohio Wesleyan University and finished his undergraduate degree at the University of Delaware in 1907. The following year, Dill moved to Spokane, Washington, where he taught English, was a journalist, and pursued a career in law. As a prominent citizen, he was sufficiently known to run for public office.

In 1914, Dill was elected to the newly created 5^th district, which was based in Spokane and unlike today, was the most amenable district to electing Democrats at the time. In 1916, Dill won reelection while the state’s other Republicans were returned to office. Washington, however, like all western states except Oregon, voted to reelect President Wilson. Dill supported both Prohibition and women’s suffrage, as did other Washingtonians in Congress. However, a critical decision in the next year would change this for Dill: World War I.

In 1917, he was one of 50 representatives to vote against American entrance into World War I, and defended the civil liberties of war dissenters. His vote against World War I was deeply controversial, including with the Spokane Democratic Party, which considered censuring him for the vote, but declined to do so (Kershner). Although the Democrats did not censure him, his vote cost him reelection to Republican J. Stanley Webster, justice of the Washington Supreme Court. Although down, Dill was not out of the game, not by a long shot.

By 1922, the issue of having voted against World War I was passe, which was most unfortunate for Senator Miles Poindexter, whose use of the vote against Dill proved insufficient to keep him in office. Clarence Dill, who campaigned to repeal the Esch-Cummins Act (a law returning the railroads to the private sector that included favorable terms for the railroads and an anti-strike clause) and for the Columbia Basin Project defeated Poindexter by less than two points, the margin of victory certainly being lessened by the presence of Farmer-Labor candidate James A. Duncan. This was the first time in Washington’s history that its voters had elected a Democrat.

Dill stood as a progressive in the Senate like he had in the House, and he joked that the North Pole should be renamed to “Coolidgeland” as “it is so cold and silent” (Hill). However, he was inclined to side with the GOP on the issue of tariffs, being especially supportive of lumber tariffs, and played a key role in enacting a significant law of the Coolidge era. In 1927, Senator Dill sponsored with Rep. Wallace White (R-Me.) the Radio Act of 1927. Since radio was a fairly young technology back then, few politicians knew the ins-and-outs, and thus it was up to Dill and White to craft a law to effectively regulate the at-the-time chaotic airwaves and end signal interference, a law that created the Federal Radio Commission and was satisfactory to the conservatism of President Coolidge, who signed the measure on February 23, 1927. The following year, he won reelection against Washington Chief Justice Kenneth Mackintosh by seven points in what was an excellent year for Republicans, including in Washington. What’s more, Dill prevailed despite being from a region not favored by the press establishment of Washington, which was concentrated in the Puget Sound, and from a party not favored by its establishment, the latter being quite the reversal from what it is today (Irish, 7).

In 1932, Dill extracted a promise from Democratic presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt to support the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River. The Dam would be constructed between 1933 and 1942, with Dill becoming known as the “Father of the Grand Coulee Dam”. This dam would have great importance for war production during World War II, as the power generated from it resulted in the production of 60% of the aluminum for the nation’s planes (Irish, 6). Although Dlll proved a strong supporter of the New Deal and supported the First 100 Days legislation, he made a few exceptions in his support for Roosevelt. In 1934, he voted against the Reciprocal Trade Act as he believed it would harm the local fishing and lumber industries and that year he also voted against the confirmation of New Deal Brain Truster Rexford G. Tugwell as Secretary of Agriculture. The death of Dill’s colleague, Wesley Jones, had a strong impact on his interest in the Senate, with him choosing not to run for a third term in 1934. However, Dill did not leave before having one more accomplishment: the sponsoring of the Communications Act of 1934 with Rep. Sam Rayburn (D-Tex.), which replaced the Federal Radio Commission with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and moved regulation of telephone companies from the Interstate Commerce Commission to the FCC (Hill). It is interesting to think that Dill, the pioneer of the Democratic rise in Washington, was leaving just as Washington Democrats had become the undisputed power in the state. Despite the perception of him as a progressive and his numerous votes for such positions, his DW-Nominate score is a surprisingly high -0.022, which may have been due to, among a few other things, his favorable stance on tariffs, which admittedly was quite a pillar of Republican politics of his day.

In 1940, Dill wanted to get back into the game and ran for governor, campaigning as “The Builder” and with good reason with his successes as senator with the Radio Act and the Federal Communications Act and the Grand Coulee Dam, but despite many Democratic successes in Washington that year, he was narrowly defeated by Seattle Mayor Arthur B. Langlie (yes, Seattle once did elect Republican mayors) by less than a point. He tried again for public office in 1942, when he attempted to return to his old district, but Republican Walt Horan defeated him by 25 points; the Spokane-based district he had once represented had shifted decisively to the GOP, where it is today. Dill hadn’t known it when he left the Senate, but at 50 his time in elected office was over. He never again ran for public office, but he did serve on two posts during the Truman Administration: on the Columbia Basin Commission from 1945 to 1948, and as special assistant to the Attorney General from 1946 to 1953. Although Dill was blessed with long life, living for 43 years after his retirement from the Senate and 25 years after his retirement from politics, Professor Kerry Irish (2002) notes the downside of this, “Clarence Dill retired too early from the Senate and lived too long afterward for his death to receive a great amount of attention” (3). He died on January 14, 1978, at the age of 93. Much had changed in the world since Dill’s birth, and he had been part of it. He had been born during the era of the horse and buggy and died at the height of Disco.

Correction, 7/26: Washington was not won by Charles Evans Hughes in 1916, it was won by Woodrow Wilson. I regret the error.

References

Dill, Clarence Cleveland. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/2595/clarence-cleveland-dill

Hill, R. (2025). The Evergreen State’s Visionary: Clarence C. Dill. The Knoxville Focus.

Retrieved from

Irish, K.E. (2002). Clarence Dill’s West: Building Dams and Dreams. Columbia.

Retrieved from

https://npshistory.com/publications/laro/c-v16n3-2002-1.pdf

Kershner, J. (2018, March 17). 100 years ago in Spokane: County Democrats come to near blows. The Spokesman-Review.

Retrieved from

In 2022, Washington Republicans thought they just might have a shot in winning a Senate seat from Washington with Tiffany Smiley, but she was defeated by 15 points. Indeed, Republicans have not won a Senate seat from the state since 1994. However, at one time, Republicans were the status quo of Washington, and the foremost representative of this status quo was Wesley Livsey Jones (1863-1932).

An Illinoisan by birth, Jones found his way to the Republican Party before he found his way to Washington. He studied law and with this came an an enthusiasm for politics. In 1884, he energetically campaigned for James G. Blaine and did likewise for Benjamin Harrison in 1888 (Forth, 3). The following year, Washington was admitted, and he moved to North Yakima to establish his law practice. Jones continued to be active in the Republican Party, and although Republicans had a bit of a hiccup with Democrat William Jennings Bryan winning the state in 1896 over the currency issue, the 1898 midterms proved to be better for them, and Jones went head to head against Congressman J. Hamilton Lewis, who would do the opposite of Jones by moving to Illinois for his later political career. Dubbing him “Yakima Jones”, he was described in the press as “a plain solid looking sort of man…of medium height, broad shouldered and strong, he looks what he is, a man of intelligence” (Papavizas). Although a debate between him and Lewis was reported by some sources as a disaster for him, others thought that Jones had trounced Lewis, and Jones ultimately benefited from the US victory in the Spanish-American War and was elected. This was the start of a long, successful career in Washington. Lewis would serve as a senator from Illinois from 1913 to 1919 and again from 1931 to 1939.

Congressman Jones

Jones regarded himself as a “conservative progressive”, meaning that he supported reform pushes he considered to be moderate while rejecting radicalism, thus he was seen as a moderate during the Progressive Era (Papavizas). This was pretty safe for Washington’s politics, which although they were inclined towards Republicans at the time, Washingtonians were strongly supportive of certain progressive era pushes, such as for Prohibition and women’s suffrage, as was Jones. In an age in which hypocrisy was rife on Prohibition, he was certainly the ideal figure to push for it. One historian described Jones as “…a tall, sincere, devout former lawyer from Yakima. He did not drink, gamble, smoke, or swear. He was dedicated to middle-class American values and to the Republican party, both of which he in many ways personified” (Papavizas). On women’s suffrage, he expressed his support for it early. In 1914, he asked his colleagues rhetorically, “What peculiar sexual difference is there that entitles man to vote and prevents woman? Can anyone point out any such peculiarity? No one has ever done so” (Papavizas). In 1909, the state legislature sent Jones to the Senate.

Senator Jones

Jones was supportive of the Taft Administration on a number of issues, but he did embrace some progressive Constitutional pushes, such as for direct election of senators and for abolishing the Electoral College. During the Wilson Administration, Jones flew the Lincoln flag in his opposition to the institution of segregation in numerous departments of the federal government. However, he in truth was sometimes in support and sometimes in opposition to Wilson’s agenda. Jones kept up protectionism with his vote against the Underwood Tariff and strongly supported expanded naval construction. However, he also supported the creation of the Federal Reserve and during World War I he was one of a minority of Republican senators to strongly support the Sedition Act, including opposing the France Amendment for free speech protections for telling the truth with good motives. As William Forth (1962) writes in his dissertation, “Until after the World War he supported liberal legislation as often as he opposed it although alarmed at the divisive nature of the emotions such actions had on his party” (v). Although Jones was supportive of the advancement of blacks, he was also strongly supportive of blocking Japanese immigration, consistent with the views of many laboring white men of Western states at the time. Neither he nor them wanted Asian labor competition and subscribed to the belief that they could not assimilate in society. Jones had initially opposed American involvement in World War I, stating in 1916 that an American who “persists in travelling for pleasure or profit in the danger zone and in a belligerent ship shows that he is utterly lacking in patriotism” (Papavizas). The following year, he attempted to find a middle ground on arming merchant vessels, but this met with great criticism. The Seattle Star went as far as to condemn him for having “failed pathetically on the one big thing in his generation” (Papavizas).

In 1920, Jones sponsored the Jones Act, which was designed to revitalize the shipbuilding industry in the US by requiring that all ships moving from US port to US port be built by Americans, owned by American citizens, and crewed by Americans. Jones was considered a diligent and hard worker, and he worked incredibly hard to win passage of this legislation, including holding 37 hearings in 51 days, hearing testimony from over 100 witnesses (Papavizas). This was in keeping with the protectionist stance of the GOP of his day.

From 1924 to 1929, Jones served as Majority Whip. He was a good figure for this role as he could appeal to both the conservative and progressive wings of the GOP. Jones supported basic conservative policies on taxes and tariffs in the 1920s while still sometimes siding with the progressive wing. His colleague, Democrat Clarence Dill, commented, “Senator Jones never knocks any flies. He bunts and always plays low ball. That is why he is always safe” (Papavizas). Although he played it safe, Jones did have a bit of a close race in 1926, winning reelection by 5 points.

In the later part of his career, became foremost known for what was called the “five and ten law” in 1929, which made certain Prohibition violations felonies to curb professional bootleggers and provided for five years’ imprisonment or a $10,000 fine (or both) for first-time violations. He did not author this law, rather introduced it on behalf of the Coolidge Administration. This was in keeping with his fundamental moral stances as well as state voter preferences, as Prohibition had come into effect in the state before the nation adopted it. However, this also hurt him as Prohibition’s popularity began to decline not long after this law’s adoption.

In 1932, the Great Depression was severely impacting the nation and killing the confidence of the nation in President Hoover and the Republican Party. Washington was no exception, and radicalism dramatically increased in the state and support for Prohibition had declined. The Democrats selected Homer T. Bone, a former member of the Socialist Party, to run against Jones. Not only did the national environment harm Jones, his poor health following abdominal operations in 1928 and 1929 precluded his campaigning effectively. While in the past he had consistently been able to win, this time around he lost reelection by a whopping 28 points and lost all counties. The ailing senator did not have much time to mourn his loss, as the day after he entered a sanitarium in grave condition and died a mere eleven days after the election of heart failure at 69. His time, and the time of his brand of Republicanism having appeal in the state, was over. Jones’ DW-Nominate score stands at 0.319, making him moderately conservative. No Republican would be elected to Congress from Washington until 1942, and the Commonwealth Federation of Washington, a communist-dominated faction of the Democratic Party, would have substantial sway for years on the state’s politics. In all, Jones was an honest figure in the GOP who struck a careful balance in his positions, and that worked for him up until his final days.

References

Forth, W.S. (1962). Wesley L. Jones: A Political Biography [Doctoral Dissertation, University of Washington]. ProQuest.

Retrieved from

Jones, Wesley. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/5065/wesley-livsey-jones

Papavizas, C. (2024). The Man Behind the Jones Act. Marine News.

Retrieved from

https://www.maritimemagazines.com/marine-news/202401/the-man-behind-the-jones-act

Senator Jones Dies. (1932, November 20). The New York Times.

Retrieved from