Guy Gillette | |
|---|---|
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| United States Senator fromIowa | |
| In office January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1955 | |
| Preceded by | George A. Wilson |
| Succeeded by | Thomas E. Martin |
| In office November 4, 1936 – January 3, 1945 | |
| Preceded by | Richard L. Murphy |
| Succeeded by | Bourke B. Hickenlooper |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIowa's9th district | |
| In office March 4, 1933 – November 3, 1936 | |
| Preceded by | Ed H. Campbell (redistricting) |
| Succeeded by | Vincent F. Harrington |
| Member of theIowa Senate | |
| In office January 13, 1913 – January 7, 1917 | |
| Constituency | 46th district |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Guy Mark Gillette (1879-02-03)February 3, 1879 Cherokee, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | March 3, 1973(1973-03-03) (aged 94) Cherokee, Iowa, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | Drake University Law School |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Rank | Captain |
| Unit | 52nd Iowa Infantry Regiment |
| Battles/wars | |
Guy Mark Gillette (February 3, 1879 – March 3, 1973) was an American politician and lawyer who served as aDemocraticU.S. representative (1933–1936) andsenator (1936–1945; 1949–1955) fromIowa. Throughout his Senate service, Gillette was elected, re-elected, defeated, elected again, and defeated again.
Born inCherokee, Iowa, he attended public school and graduated fromDrake University Law School inDes Moines in 1900.[1] He was admitted to the bar in 1900 and commenced practice in Cherokee. During theSpanish–American War, he served as a sergeant in the Fifty-second Iowa Regiment in theUnited States Army, but never saw combat.[2] He volunteered to fight alongside theBoers in theSecond Boer War (1898–1902), but was turned down.[2]
Returning to Iowa, he engaged in agricultural pursuits and was the city attorney of Cherokee in 1906–1907. He became the prosecuting attorney ofCherokee County from 1907 to 1909 and a member of theIowa State Senate from 1912 to 1916.
During theFirst World War, he served as a captain in the United States Army. He ran unsuccessfully forIowa State Auditor in 1918, and returned to Cherokee to farm.[3]
In1932, inthe Roosevelt landslide, he was elected as a Democrat to representIowa's 9th congressional district, in heavily Republican northwest Iowa. He was easilyre-elected in 1934, and served nearly all of that term. He resigned upon his election to the United States Senate onNovember 3, 1936, to serve out the remainder of the term of SenatorRichard Louis Murphy, who had died in an auto accident. Nearly two years remained in Murphy's term, which would end January 3, 1939. Although he generally supported theNew Deal, he opposed the new wage and hours bill, a new farm bill, and aspects of theSocial Security system.[3]
In1938 the Roosevelt administration targeted Gillette for replacement because of Gillette's vote against Roosevelt's plan to expand the Supreme Court and other positions.[4] He nevertheless defeated Roosevelt's choice for the Democratic nomination, CongressmanOtha D. Wearin, and was re-elected to his first full Senate term by 2,805 votes. During that term, his conflicts with the Roosevelt administration expanded, on topics as diverse as the terms of the Neutrality Act,[5] Roosevelt's pursuit of third and fourth terms,[3] and choices for judgeships.[6]
After the Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbor (where, coincidentally, Gillette's brother Captain Claude Gillette managed the Navy yard), Gillette became "more of an internationalist".[3] Nevertheless, he used his chairmanship on a Senate subcommittee to aggressively challenge the Roosevelt administration's failure to prepare for the prospect of a Japanese seizure of the source of the nation's rubber imports by developing synthetic farm-based alternatives.[3] In April 1943 a confidential analysis by British scholarIsaiah Berlin of theSenate Foreign Relations Committee for theForeign Office succinctly characterized Gillette:
[He] resemblesVan Nuys in that he is a typical Mid-Western Senator with a moderately steady Isolationist voting record, although he is not an articulate opponent of the Administration's policy. Unlike Van Nuys, he is a supporter of reciprocal trade pacts but shares his suspicion of the President. A simple, confused, but very honest Presbyterian of considerable character, he views the corn interest, which he represents, with an almost religious devotion. He leads the Senate Lobby interested in producing synthetic rubber out of corn, and coming from the Republican corn belt, is virtually a Republican in sentiment and conduct. He is not at all anti-British, but as isolationist as his general environment. His speeches in Congress take the form of thinking aloud. On foreign policy he is not a bigoted anti-Rooseveltite but is exceedingly uncertain.[7]
Like several others who had opposed Roosevelt's efforts to aid theUnited Kingdom before Pearl Harbor but faced wartime elections, Gillette lost his seat in1944, to RepublicanGovernorBourke Hickenlooper by 29,734 votes.[8][1]
Within days of Gillette's first defeat, Roosevelt nominated him as the chairman of the three-memberSurplus Property Board, promptingThe Washington Post and aLife editorial to quip that the president was confusing the problem of surplus property with the problem of surplus politicians.[9] He took an early dislike to the job,[10] and complained that he was often outvoted by the two other members.[11] After resigning from the Surplus Board in May 1945, he became president of the American League for a Free Palestine, serving until the committee's work ended with the establishment of the state ofIsrael in 1948.
In1948, Gillette attempted a political comeback, campaigning for Iowa's other U. S. Senate seat held by former RepublicanGovernorGeorge Wilson, Gillette appealed to farmers, hammering home the prices of crops falling, at a campaign event with PresidentHarry Truman who wasseeking re-election himself, Truman said to the voters of Iowa “if they failed to return Guy Gillette to the U. S. Senate there was something wrong with them”.[2]
Gillette would end up defeating Wilson by 162,448 votes, in theconcurrent presidential race Trumancarried Iowa en route to re-election nationwide. Gillette’s Seat was one ofnine Republican senate seats that flipped to Democrats in 1948.[3]
Gillette was sworn back into the Senate on January 3rd 1949,[4] In 1951, his Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections conducted an investigation ofWisconsin SenatorJoseph McCarthy's campaign practices.[3] Gillette was one of the first senators to call for a North Atlantic Assembly. In 1952, he was selected by the District of Columbia Democratic Club to chair theBarkley for President effort.[12] Gillette served until January 3, 1955, after losing hisreelection bid toU.S. RepresentativeThomas E. Martin by 39,697 votes. His defeat was considered anupset because it conflicted with polls.[13] It also meant that Iowa's congressional delegation would be entirely composed of Republicans, which would not happen again until 2023.
Following his second defeat, Gillette initially remained on Capitol Hill, serving as counsel with the Senate Post Office and Civil Service Committee (from 1955 to 1956) and theSenate Judiciary Committee (from 1956 to 1961).
Gillette and former U.S. SenatorHenry F. Ashurst hadcameo appearances as U.S. Senators in the filmAdvise & Consent.[14]
He retired and resided in Cherokee until his death at age 94 on March 3, 1973.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromIowa (Class 3) 1936,1938,1944 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromIowa (Class 2) 1948,1954 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromIowa's 9th congressional district 1933–1936 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 3) from Iowa 1936–1945 Served alongside:Lester J. Dickinson,Clyde L. Herring,George A. Wilson | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by George A. Wilson | U.S. senator (Class 2) from Iowa 1949–1955 Served alongside:Bourke Hickenlooper | Succeeded by |
| Class 2 |  | |
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| Class 3 | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
