Joel Broyhill | |
|---|---|
 Broyhillc. 1969 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's10th district | |
| In office January 3, 1953 – December 31, 1974 | |
| Preceded by | District established |
| Succeeded by | Joseph L. Fisher |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joel Thomas Broyhill November 4, 1919 Hopewell, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | September 24, 2006(2006-09-24) (aged 86) Arlington, Virginia, U.S. |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Political party | Republican |
Joel Thomas Broyhill (November 4, 1919 – September 24, 2006) was anAmerican politician aligned with theRepublican Party who served as aCongressman from Virginia for 11 terms, from 1953 to 1974. He representedVirginia's 10th congressional district, consisting of suburbs of Arlington, Falls Church and sections of Fairfax County and Alexandria, and became known for his advocacy for federal workers (and constituent services) as well as his opposition tointegration in the 1950s and 1960s.[1]
Although according to family genealogy, the first Broyhill emigrated toHalifax County, Virginia, in the 18th century, Joel Broyhill's grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Broyhill (1852–1935) had been born nearMoravian Falls inWilkes County, North Carolina, the son of William Broyhill, a farmer and miller who also taught school following the Civil War. Thomas Broyhill became a carpenter and millwright, then leading citizen of the area as he established sawmills and other businesses. Joel's father Marvin Talmadge Broyhill Sr. moved his family toHopewell, Virginia, to follow an uncle who worked for the DuPont Powder Company. M.T. Broyhill occasionally worked for DuPont, as well as established a real estate business which thrived until the plant closed.[2] At the age of eighteen, Broyhill moved toArlington, Virginia, when his father relocated his building and real estate firm,M.T. Broyhill & Sons Corporation (in part developing housing nearFront Royal, Virginia, where DuPont established a cellulose factory). He then attendedGeorge Washington University from 1939 to 1941.
In February 1942, Joel Broyhill enlisted in theUnited States Army. He served inEuropean Theater as acaptain in the106th Infantry Division. He narrowly escaped death when Allied planes bombed theNazis, and suffered what proved to be lifetime partial hearing loss from the explosions. Captured by the Germans during theBattle of the Bulge, Broyhill escaped six months later from aprisoner-of-war camp and rejoined advancing U.S. forces. He was released from active duty November 1, 1945. Among his military awards was aBronze Star Medal.
After the war, Broyhill and his brother M.T. Broyhill Jr. returned from military service and rejoined their father's real estate firm, where Joel became partner and general manager. By 1952, the firm was building three thousand homes a year, and became the second largest customer for General Electric appliances. The parents, Joel's family and M.T. Jr.'s family lived in three houses next door to each other inArlington, Virginia near North 26th and Vermont Streets, although this man moved his family to a mansion on Old Dominion Drive in 1967.[3]
He was president of the Arlington County Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Arlington County Planning Commission. In 1950 he was elected president of the ArlingtonRepublican Club.
In 1952 he ran for Congress in a bid to become the first representative of Virginia's new10th district, located in the inner suburbs of Washington, D.C. Broyhill won on his 33rd birthday, defeatingDemocratEdmund D. Campbell by 322 votes and riding the coattails of theDwight D. Eisenhower and Republican Party landslide that year. He won his next ten elections but lost during the Democratic landslide in 1974 in the wake of theWatergate scandal and the resignation of PresidentRichard Nixon. Broyhill's district had been carved out of the old8th district, then represented byHoward W. "Judge" Smith, a legendary and powerful Democrat who controlled legislation through his chairmanship of theHouse Rules Committee.The Washington Post wrote[4]
Although of different political parties, Mr. Broyhill and Smith shared a conservative political ideology, and the veteran Rules Committee chairman took an avuncular interest in the new congressman, teaching him many tricks of the legislative trade. In this relationship, the two men reflected a trend that in years to come would be of singular significance in the politics of the South: the passing of the conservative mantle and the power that went with it from Old Guard Democrats to a new generation of Southern Republicans.
After taking office, Broyhill developed a reputation for assisting federal employees,[5] as well as constituent service that became legendary. A messenger came to his office every 30 minutes to pick up theWestern Union telegrams his office would fire off to government agencies on behalf of constituents.[6]
The Washington Post wrote:[4]
As a lawmaker, Mr. Broyhill was best known for local matters. He sponsored legislation that led to the construction of theRoosevelt andWoodrow Wilson bridges across thePotomac River and the second span of the14th Street Bridge. He also sponsored a measure that led to the widening ofShirley Highway. He fought for better pay and working conditions for federal employees, federal aid to local school systems and financial support forMetro. He was an unrelenting and outspoken opponent ofhome rule for the District, arguing that theU.S. Constitution placed ultimate responsibility for the nation's capital with Congress, and he battled for years against measures to increase the authority of city residents to manage D.C. affairs. For these efforts he was bitterly criticized by D.C. leaders, who ascribed racial motives to his opposition to self-government for the majority-black city. But he won widespread support in Northern Virginia, where his stand was interpreted as a first line of defense against any attempt by the city to levytaxes on suburban commuters. He supported the23rd Amendment to the Constitution, which allowed D.C. residents to vote for president and vice president, and the26th Amendment, which gave 18-year-olds the right to vote. He also backed aid to grandparents who cared for their grandchildren.
Broyhill served on the powerfulHouse Ways and Means Committee, as well as theHouse Post Office and Civil Service Committee. In 1963, he was joined in the House by his distant cousinJim Broyhill, also a Republican and who had won an unexpected victory inNorth Carolina's 9th congressional district, and who would also become known for his constituent services. CongressmanFrank Wolf later noted:[7]
According to the Almanac of American Politics in 1972, and I quote, they said, "There were few offices that took care of constituents' needs and complaints with more efficiency." Congressman Broyhill estimated that he aided more than 100,000 10th Congressional District residents in his 20-plus year service in office. The almanac also describes Congressman Broyhill as a Member of Congress and says that he "should be credited with voting his conscience".
On national issues, Broyhill supported the Republican legislative programs of Eisenhower and Nixon. In the Democratic administrations ofJohn F. Kennedy andLyndon B. Johnson, he opposed programs of theNew Frontier and theGreat Society.
Broyhill also became known as a strident opponent of integration. In 1955, he was one 81 US Representatives who vowed to oppose by "every lawful means", theU.S. Supreme Court holding inBrown v. Board of Education which outlawedsegregation. He andRichard Harding Poff of Virginia were the only two Republicans to sign theSouthern Manifesto. Broyhill voted against theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,[8]1960,[9]1964,[10] and1968,[11] and theVoting Rights Act of 1965,[12] but voted in favor of the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[13] As a longtime member of the committee overseeing theDistrict of Columbia he, along with three other members of Congress,[5] recommended that schools in the District reinstitute segregation.[1]
Broyhill in 1972 voiced opposition towards the federal subsidization of housing in Washington, D.C. suburbs, lamenting that it "smacks of forced integration".[6]
In 1974 he announced his intention to retire, but was persuaded to seek another term at the request of Vice PresidentGerald R. Ford. He ended up losing to DemocratJoseph L. Fisher, as the GOP suffered landslide defeats in reaction to theWatergate scandal. His defeat was considered one of the biggest upsets nationally that year.[6]
After leaving office, he served as campaign manager for RepublicanJohn W. Warner's successful first run for U.S. Senate in the1978 election,[14] but primarily he was involved with real estate. His firm developed several neighborhoods in Northern Virginia, including Broyhill McLean Estates, Broyhill Forest, and Sterling Park.
Broyhill died at his home in Arlington, Virginia, of congestive heart failure and pneumonia on September 24, 2006. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[15] In 2000, Congress named the postal building at 8409 Lee Hwy. inMerrifield, Virginia, after Broyhill, though no plaque remains in public areas. His papers are held among the special collections of George Mason University.[5]
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| New district | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's 10th congressional district January 3, 1953 – December 31, 1974 | Succeeded by |
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