John Bricker | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bricker in 1944 | |
| United States Senator fromOhio | |
| In office January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1959 | |
| Preceded by | Kingsley A. Taft |
| Succeeded by | Stephen M. Young |
| 54thGovernor of Ohio | |
| In office January 9, 1939 – January 8, 1945 | |
| Lieutenant | Paul M. Herbert |
| Preceded by | Martin L. Davey |
| Succeeded by | Frank Lausche |
| 32ndAttorney General of Ohio | |
| In office January 9, 1933 – January 11, 1937 | |
| Governor | George White Martin L. Davey |
| Preceded by | Gilbert Bettman |
| Succeeded by | Herbert S. Duffy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John William Bricker (1893-09-06)September 6, 1893 Mount Sterling, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | March 22, 1986(1986-03-22) (aged 92) Columbus, Ohio, U.S. |
| Resting place | Green Lawn Cemetery |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Alma mater | Ohio State University (BA,LLB) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1917-1918 |
| Rank | First Lieutenant |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
John William Bricker (September 6, 1893 – March 22, 1986) was an American politician and attorney who served as aUnited States senator and the 54thgovernor of Ohio. He was also theRepublican nominee forVice President in1944.
Born inMadison County, Ohio, Bricker attendedOhio State University and began a legal practice inColumbus, Ohio. He also served in theUnited States Army duringWorld War I. He held various public offices between 1920 and 1937, including the position ofOhio Attorney General. Bricker served three terms as the governor of Ohio from 1939 to 1945. In 1944, Bricker unsuccessfully soughtthe Republican presidential nomination.[1] He was defeated for the nomination byThomas E. Dewey, and was instead nominated for vice president as Dewey’s running mate. In the general election, Bricker focused much of his critiques of incumbent presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt (who was nominated for re-election by theDemocratic Party) on arguing in opposition to Roosevelt's signatureNew Deal programs and offering criticisms of the president's judicial nominees. Dewey and Bricker were defeated by the ticket (on which Roosevelt's running mate was SenatorHarry S. Truman).
Bricker won election to the Senate in1946. He introduced theBricker Amendment, which would have created limitations of the scope of the president's power to enact treaties and executive agreements with foreign governments. Though the Bricker Amendment received support from some members of both parties, it was not passed by Congress. Bricker won re-election in 1952 but was narrowly defeated byStephen M. Young in 1958. After leaving office, Bricker resumed the practice of law and died in 1986.
Bricker was born on afarm nearMount Sterling inMadison County in south centralOhio. He was the son of Laura (née King) and Lemuel Spencer Bricker.[2] He attendedOhio State University atColumbus, where he divided his time between thedebating team, the varsitybaseball team,[3] and theDelta Chi fraternity. After graduating with aBachelor of Arts from Ohio State in 1916 and fromits law school in 1920, he was admitted to thebar in 1917 and began his legal practice in Columbus in 1920.[4]
DuringWorld War I, Bricker served asfirst lieutenant andchaplain in theUnited States Army in 1917 and 1918. He was subsequently thesolicitor forGrandview Heights, Ohio, from 1920 to 1928, assistant Attorney General of Ohio from 1923 to 1927, a member of thePublic Utilities Commission of Ohio from 1929 to 1932, andAttorney General of Ohio from 1933 to 1937.
He was elected governor for three two-year terms, serving from 1939 to 1945, each time winning with a greater margin of victory.[3] Bricker espoused a stance against centralized government, preferring to increase involvement in state and local governments, and made this known in his inaugural address as Governor:
There must be a revitalization of state and local governments throughout the nation. The individual citizen must again be conscious of his responsibility to his government and alert to the preservation of his rights as a citizen under it. That cannot be done by taking government further away, but by keeping it at home.
— John W. Bricker, inaugural gubernatorial address, January 9, 1939.[3]
Bricker was the1944 Republican nominee for vice president, running withpresidential nomineeThomas E. Dewey, thegovernor of New York who was nine years Bricker's junior. The Republicans lost handily to the Democratic ticket ofFranklin D. Roosevelt andHarry S. Truman. In that campaign, Bricker proved to be a tireless campaigner, visiting thirty-one states and making 173 speeches, including 28 over a six-day period. His final remarks came on radio on election eve from the governor's office in Columbus, when he declared: "Not only has theNew Deal depleted our resources, recklessly spent our money, but it has undermined the very spiritual foundations of our government."[5] Though most of his campaigning was inNew England, theMidwest, and theWest, Bricker even visited the then-historically and -heavily Democratic state ofTexas, where inDallas, he called Franklin Roosevelt "a front for theHillman-Browder Communist Party," referring to the respective leaders of theCongress of Industrial Organizations and theCommunist Party of the United States of America.[6]
In 1946, Bricker was elected to theUnited States Senate. He was re-elected in 1952, serving from January 3, 1947, to January 3, 1959.
Governor Dewey was the Republican presidential nominee again in 1948, but Senator Bricker was not his running mate. Dewey chose insteadGovernorEarl Warren ofCalifornia in the hope that the 1948 ticket would carry California, which the Dewey-Bricker ticket had failed to do. The Dewey-Warren ticket also lost California, and the absence of Bricker on the second ticket may have been a factor in Dewey's failure to win Bricker's home state of Ohio again.[citation needed] Bricker campaigned with Warren in 1944 inSacramento, where Bricker attacked the politics of war-timerationing; then inSan Francisco Bricker charged that Roosevelt had packed the U.S. judiciary withliberal jurists hostile to theConstitution.[6] However, even if Dewey had carried both California and Ohio in 1948, the two large states would have been insufficient to elect him president in that second campaign.
Bricker's Senate service is best remembered for his attempts to amend theUnited States Constitution to limit the President'streaty-making powers (theBricker Amendment). He was the chairman of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce during the83rd Congress.
On July 12, 1947, a former Capitol police officer, William Louis Kaiser, fired shots at Senator Bricker as he boarded theunderground subway from the Senate office building to the Capitol. The two shots, fired at close range, narrowly missed their target.[7] Kaiser stated he was "trying to refresh" Bricker's memory. Kaiser had served on the police force as a protege of Bricker's predecessor in the Senate and had complained of losing substantial money on Columbus real estate. An investigation concluded that Kaiser may have fired blanks or else purposely missed Bricker.[8]
Bricker voted in favor of theCivil Rights Act of 1957.[9] In1958, former U.S. representativeStephen M. Young ran against Bricker. Bricker seemed invincible, but Young capitalized on widespread public opposition to the proposed "right to work" amendment to Ohio's constitution, which Bricker had endorsed. Few thought that Young, 69 at the time, could win; even members of his own party had doubts, particularly Ohio's other senator, DemocratFrank J. Lausche. In an upset amid a national Democratic trend, Young defeated Bricker 52% to 48%. Bricker then retired from public life.[citation needed]
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In 1945, Bricker founded the Columbus law firm now known asBricker & Eckler. The firm now has additional offices inCleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Marietta, Barnesville, and Lebanon. It is now one of the ten largest firms in the state of Ohio. The firm has maintained an office and conference room in Bricker's honor in its Columbus office featuring memorabilia from Bricker's political career.
He was married to the former Harriet Day.
After leaving the Senate, John Bricker resumed the practice of law. He died in Columbus on March 22, 1986, at the age of 92 and is interred atGreen Lawn Cemetery.
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