Ken Hechler | |
|---|---|
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| 26thSecretary of State of West Virginia | |
| In office January 14, 1985 – January 15, 2001 | |
| Governor | Arch A. Moore, Jr. Gaston Caperton Cecil H. Underwood |
| Preceded by | A. James Manchin |
| Succeeded by | Joe Manchin |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWest Virginia's4th district | |
| In office January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1977 | |
| Preceded by | Will E. Neal |
| Succeeded by | Nick Rahall |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Kenneth William Hechler (1914-09-20)September 20, 1914 Roslyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | December 10, 2016(2016-12-10) (aged 102) Romney, West Virginia, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Residence(s) | Slanesville, West Virginia, U.S.[1] |
| Alma mater | Swarthmore College Columbia University |
| Website | www.kenhechler.us/ |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1942–1945 |
| Rank |  Major |
| Unit | 9th Armored Division |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards |  Bronze Star |
| [2] | |
Kenneth William Hechler (September 20, 1914 – December 10, 2016) was an American politician. A member of theDemocratic Party, he representedWest Virginia's 4th congressional district in theU.S. House of Representatives from 1959 to 1977 and wasWest Virginia Secretary of State from 1985 to 2001.
Of German-American descent, Hechler was born inRoslyn, New York, on September 20, 1914, to Charles Henry and Catherine Elizabeth (Hauhart) Hechler.[3] He held a BA fromSwarthmore College,[4] and an MA and PhD fromColumbia University in history and government. Hechler served on the faculty of Columbia University,Princeton University, andBarnard College in the years leading up to World War II.
Hechler held a series of minor appointed positions in the federal civil service until he was drafted into theUnited States Army duringWorld War II in July, 1942.[5] After graduation from Armored Force Officer Candidate School, he was assigned as a combat historian in theEuropean Theater of Operations. Hechler helped chronicle theliberation of France, the 1944Normandy invasion,Battle of the Bulge, and entrance into Nazi Germany. He was attached to the9th Armored Division when an armored and infantry task force, part of Combat Command B, unexpectedly captured theLudendorff Bridge spanning theRhine River during theBattle of Remagen. He interviewed both U.S. and German soldiers involved at the time. He was awarded a Bronze Star and 5 battle stars. He returned after the war twice to interview Germans who took part in the battle. He found Captain Willi Bratge, whom a German military court had sentenced to deathin absentia because he had been captured, and spent a week with him in the Remagen area learning about details of the battle. In 1957 he published the bookThe Bridge at Remagen: The Amazing Story of March 7, 1945, which wasadapted into a film in 1969.[6]
After the war ended, he was assigned to interview many of the defendants prior to theNuremberg Trials, includingHermann Göring. (Hechler recorded him making a delusional offer to join the American side and "knock hell out of the Russians.")[7]
Next Hechler was aWhite House assistant toHarry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953 and Research Director forAdlai Stevenson's 1956 Presidential campaign. From 1953 to 1957 he was associate director of the American Political Science Association in Washington, DC. Hechler then was appointed to the faculty atMarshall University inHuntington, West Virginia. He ran for theUnited States House of Representatives from West Virginia's Fourth Congressional District, which then included Huntington and many unionized mill towns along theOhio River north of that industrial city, in 1958. He won a narrow victory by 3,500 votes. He never faced another general election contest anywhere near that close.
In Congress, he earned a reputation as a liberal Democrat and in 1965, he was the only member of Congress to joinMartin Luther King Jr. on theSelma to Montgomery marches.[4] Hechler voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1960,[9]1964,[10] and1968,[11] and theVoting Rights Act of 1965.[12] In 1971, Hechler was the sole member in the state's congressional delegation to vote for theEqual Employment Opportunity Act.[13] He was the principal architect[citation needed] of theCoal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969, which for the first time put a ceiling on the amount of respirablecoal dust allowed incoal mines, and stipulated stringent safety regulations. Though an opponent of the state Democratic machine, he faced little opposition in Democratic primaries and was reelected eight times.
In 1972, Hechler faced a strong primary challenge for the first time since his initial run for the seat. Following the1970 United States census, West Virginia's declining population cost it a congressional district. The state legislature merged Hechler's district with most of the old 5th District, comprising several coal-mining counties aroundBluefield andBeckley. The 5th had been represented by DemocratJames Kee of Bluefield since 1965, and had been in the hands of the Kee family without interruption since 1933. While the new district retained Hechler's district number–the 4th–it was geographically and demographically more Kee's district. Kee retained 65 percent of his former territory. Hechler had been a longtime opponent of the state Democratic machine, and the legislature responded by attempting to draw his seat out from under him. However, Hechler made the most of his union ties and routed Kee in the Democratic primary by almost 26 points. He easily won reelection in November, and was unopposed for reelection in 1974.
In 1976, he entered a multi-candidate primary forgovernor, but lost that statewide race by a large margin. He then attempted awrite-in campaign in his old district against the Democratic nominee,Nick Rahall. Rahall was a follower and former staffer forRobert Byrd. He lost to Rahall in a close election, taking 36 percent of the vote and pushing the Republican candidate into third place, and lost again to Rahall in the Democratic primary of 1978. Following these unsuccessful political bids, Hechler resumed his teaching career at Marshall University, theUniversity of Charleston andWest Virginia State University.
In 1984 Hechler ran forWest Virginia Secretary of State and won. He was re-elected in 1988, 1992, and 1996. In 1990, he again ran, in the middle of his Secretarial term, for his old Congressional seat, but was defeated by Rahall in the primary. His term as Secretary of State is most known for his successful prosecution of Johnie Owens, who sold his position as Sheriff ofMingo County for $100,000 and was sentenced to fourteen years in federal prison. He also persuaded the West Virginia State Legislature to require that candidates publicly register loans, with specific terms of repayment. There was a growing rift between him and union leaders over his support of tough environmental laws, thought by union leaders to be at the cost of jobs.
As secretary of state, in 1985 he moved his legal residence toCharleston. Charleston is located in the 2nd District, which was vacated in 2000 by nine-term DemocratBob Wise, who was running for governor. Hechler lost a three-way Democratic primary bid for that seat. In 2000, at the age of 85, he walked 530 miles in joiningDoris "Granny D" Haddock in her cross country walk on behalf of campaign finance reform, shortly before the passage of theMcCain–Feingold Act.
In 2004 he ran yet again for his old post as secretary of state. This time, he won the Democratic primary by a plurality, but lost the general election to RepublicanBetty Ireland.
Beginning in 2004, Hechler campaigned againstmountaintop removal mining. On June 23, 2009, Hechler, then aged 94, participated in a protest nearmountaintop removal mining sites in the West Virginia coalfields in the Coal River valley along with others.[14] He was one of 29 protesters arrested for trespass.
On July 21, 2010, Hechler filed to run in thespecial election to succeed the late SenatorRobert Byrd, running in the primary against Gov.Joe Manchin.[15][16] Hechler indicated that his primary goal in entering the race was to draw attention to what he viewed as the devastating impact ofmountaintop removal mining in West Virginia.[17] Hechler lost to Manchin, with less than 20% of the vote.[1] He then endorsedJesse Johnson of theMountain Party for the Senate seat in the general election.[18]
One of his last public political endorsements was ofCharlotte Pritt forGovernor of West Virginia in 2016. Pritt, whom Hechler often publicly referred to as one of his protege's, was running this time as the nominee of theMountain Party. Hechler had supported Pritt in her two other bids for Governor as aDemocrat in 1992 and 1996 (when she was the nominee.)[19] Pritt later gave one of the eulogies at his Memorial Service after his death.[20]
On August 12, 2013, Hechler, at the age of 98, married his long-time companion, Carol Kitzmiller, in Winchester, Virginia. On September 20, 2014, he turned 100. "The secret of longevity is to exercise," Hechler said. "I always exercised on the tennis court until I had to give that up, but I've got a new hip."[1] In July 2016, Hechler was placed into hospice care inRomney, West Virginia, after suffering from a recurring lung infection.[21] Hechler died on December 10, 2016, at his home in Romney from astroke at the age of 102.[22]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forSecretary of State of West Virginia 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Joe Manchin | Democratic nominee forSecretary of State of West Virginia 2004 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWest Virginia's 4th congressional district 1959–1977 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary of State of West Virginia 1985–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Oldest living United States representative (Sitting or former) October 25, 2011 – December 10, 2016 | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
