Kenneth Keating | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Keating in 1964 | |
| 6th United States Ambassador to Israel | |
| In office August 28, 1973 – May 5, 1975 | |
| President | Richard Nixon Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | Walworth Barbour |
| Succeeded by | Malcolm Toon |
| 8th United States Ambassador to India | |
| In office May 1, 1969 – July 26, 1972 | |
| President | Richard Nixon |
| Preceded by | Chester Bowles |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Patrick Moynihan |
| Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals | |
| In office January 1, 1966 – May 20, 1969 | |
| Preceded by | Marvin R. Dye |
| Succeeded by | James Gibson |
| United States Senator fromNew York | |
| In office January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1965 | |
| Preceded by | Irving Ives |
| Succeeded by | Robert F. Kennedy |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew York | |
| In office January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1959 | |
| Preceded by | George F. Rogers |
| Succeeded by | Jessica M. Weis |
| Constituency | 40th district (1947–1953) 38th district (1953–1959) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1900-05-18)May 18, 1900 Lima, New York, U.S. |
| Died | May 5, 1975(1975-05-05) (aged 74) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 1 |
| Parents |
|
| Alma mater | University of Rochester (BA) Harvard University (LLB) |
| Occupation | |
| Civilian awards | Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Officer) Grand Cross of Merit of theSovereign Military Order of Malta |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army Reserve Corps |
| Years of service | 1918 (SATC) 1942–1946 (Army) 1946–1963 (Reserve) |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Unit | South East Asia Command (Army) Staff and Administrative Reserve Corps (Reserve) |
| Conflict(s) | World War I World War II |
| Military awards | Legion of Merit (2) Order of the British Empire (Officer) |
Kenneth Barnard Keating (May 18, 1900 – May 5, 1975) was an American politician, diplomat, and judge who served as aUnited States senator representingNew York from 1959 until 1965. A member of theRepublican Party, he also served in theUnited States House of Representatives, representing New York's40th and38thcongressional districts from 1947 until 1959. Additionally, he served as a judge of theNew York State Court of Appeals from 1966 until 1969 and was U.S.ambassador to India from 1969 until 1972 andIsrael from 1973 until 1975.
A native ofLima, New York, Keating graduated fromGenesee Wesleyan Seminary in 1915, before continuing to theUniversity of Rochester where he graduated in 1919. He briefly became a teacher atEast High School, before beginning attendance atHarvard Law School. After graduating in 1923, Keating practiced law in Rochester and became active in Republican Party politics. DuringWorld War I, Keating served with theStudent Army Training Corps (SATC) at the University of Rochester. He joined theUnited States Army forWorld War II, and was commissioned as amajor. He served inIndia as head of the U.S. office that managed theLend-Lease Program for theChina Burma India Theater and was promoted tocolonel before the end of the war. Following the end of his wartime service, he continued to serve in theOrganized Reserve Corps. He was promoted tobrigadier general in 1948, and continued to serve until he retired in 1963.
In 1946, Keating successfully ran for a seat in the U.S. House, representing the Rochester-based 40th district. In 1952, he wasredistricted to the 38th district. During his time in the House, Keating was re-elected five times and developed a reputation as a moderate on many issues, though he adopted conservative positions on theCold War andanti-communism, as well as the fight againstorganized crime. In1958, he successfully ran for a U.S. Senate seat from New York, and he served from 1959 to 1965. In the senate, Keating was an advocate ofdesegregation, and played a key role in breaking the filibuster that enabled passage of theCivil Rights Act of 1964. During the1964 United States presidential election, he refused to endorse the conservative Republican nomineeBarry Goldwater. Keating ran for re-election later that year but was defeated byDemocratRobert F. Kennedy. After leaving the senate, Keating briefly practiced law before becoming a judge of the New York Court of Appeals. He served until 1969, when he resigned to becomeU.S. Ambassador to India. He served as ambassador until 1972, when he resigned to campaign for there-election of PresidentRichard Nixon. In 1973, Nixon appointed KeatingU.S. Ambassador to Israel, and Keating remained in this position until his death in 1975.
Keating was born inLima,New York on May 18, 1900, the son of Louise (Barnard) Keating, a schoolteacher, and Thomas Mosgrove Keating, a grocer.[1] He was tutored by his mother until age seven, when he began attending the Lima public schools as a sixth grader.[2] He graduated from high school at age 13[2] and attendedGenesee Wesleyan Seminary, from which he graduated in 1915 as the class valedictorian.[3] He graduated from theUniversity of Rochester in 1919,[4] and was a member of theDelta Upsilon fraternity[5] andPhi Beta Kappa.[6] He taught Latin and Greek for a year at Rochester'sEast High School, then began attendance atHarvard Law School.[4] He graduated in 1923, wasadmitted to the bar, and commenced practice inRochester.[4] Keating's early forays into politics and government included service as town attorney for the town ofBrighton, where he resided while practicing law in Rochester.[2]
DuringWorld War I, Keating served in theStudent Army Training Corps (SATC) at the University of Rochester, where he attained the rank ofsergeant.[7] In April, 1942 Keating joined the Army forWorld War II and was commissioned as amajor.[8] He served initially as chief of the assignments branch in the international division of theArmy Service Forces headquarters, and was promoted tolieutenant colonel in October, 1942.[8][9]
In 1943, Keating was assigned to India as head of the Army Service Forces international office that administered theLend-Lease Program for theChina Burma India Theater, part of theSouth East Asia Command commanded byLord Louis Mountbatten.[10] He was promoted tocolonel in February 1944[9] and in July 1944 he made an assessment tour of the theater's front lines with GeneralAlbert Coady Wedemeyer, Mountbatten's chief of staff, which took him to sixteen countries, includingCeylon,Burma,Indochina, andJava.[11] Keating later served as executive assistant to Mountbatten's U.S. deputy, Lieutenant GeneralRaymond Albert Wheeler, and was the senior American officer at the South East Asia Command's rear headquarters in India.[11] In November 1945, Mountbatten dispatched Keating toLondon to provideBritish Parliament information on the post-war rebuilding of India.[11] Keating closed out his wartime service as a liaison between the Army Services Forces and the British military office inWashington, D.C., and was awarded theLegion of Merit withOak Leaf Cluster and theOrder of the British Empire (Officer).[11][12][13]
Keating remained in theOrganized Reserve Corps after the war, and was promoted tobrigadier general in 1948.[14] He continued to serve until retiring from the military in 1963.[15][16]
ARepublican, Keating was a member of the New York delegation to everyRepublican National Convention from 1940 to 1964 with the exception of1944, when he was overseas with theU.S. Army duringWorld War II.[6] On returning to the United States after the war, Keating ran successfully for a Rochester-area seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1946 election.[6] He was reelected five times, and served in the80th,81st,82nd,83rd,84th and85th United States Congresses (January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1959).[6]
Keating was regarded as a liberal Republican on many issues, but adopted conservative positions on anticommunism during theCold War and fighting organized crime.[4] He supported theTruman Doctrine andMarshall Plan and sponsored an early civil rights bill.[4] He opposeddiplomatic recognition of "Red China" after theChinese Civil War, and supported allowing theFederal Bureau of Investigation to use tactics including wiretaps on organized crime figures and suspectedCommunist sympathizers.[4] As a senior member of the HouseJudiciary Committee, Keating was active in shepherding theCivil Rights Act of 1957 to passage.[17] Keating also enhanced his public profile by creating a semi-monthly Rochester-area television show in which he discussed current events with government officials including fellowmembers of Congress, which increased his personal popularity among his House colleagues, who appreciated the opportunity to publicize their activities.[4]
In 1958, Keating was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat of the retiringIrving Ives, and defeated DemocratFrank Hogan, theNew York County District Attorney.[4] He served from January 3, 1959, to January 3, 1965 (the86th,87th and88th Congresses) and was defeated for reelectionin 1964 byRobert F. Kennedy.[18] During his Senate term, Keating served onthe Judiciary andRules committees.[19][20]
In 1960, Keating introduced theTwenty-Third Amendment to the United States Constitution, which allowed residents of theDistrict of Columbia to vote inpresidential elections.[6] In 1962, before theCuban Missile Crisis that began in October, Keating publicly cited a source who had informed him that theSoviet Union andCuba had constructedintercontinental ballistic missile facilities in Cuba that could target the United States, and urged PresidentJohn F. Kennedy to take action.[4][6] After theCIA presentedU-2 reconnaissance photographs of Sovietmedium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba to theNational Security Council, President Kennedy told his secretaryKenny O'Donnell "Ken Keating will probably be the nextPresident of the United States."[21] In April 1962, he joined SenatorHugh Scott of Pennsylvania in denouncing a UN resolution condemning Israeli retaliation against Syrian gun positions firing on Israeli fishermen on Lake Tiberias. They criticized the action as a form of evenhandedness that "looks like the palm of the hand for the Arabs and the back of the hand for the Israelis."[22] He also worked with the bipartisan coalition that achieved passage of theCivil Rights Act of 1964 after it broke the filibuster organized by segregationist Democrats.[6]
During the1964 Republican National Convention, Keating staged a walkout of the majority of the New York delegation after conservativeBarry Goldwater won the presidential nomination.[6] In thegeneral election campaign, Keating refused to endorse Goldwater, and did not campaign for him in New York.[23] Keating outperformed Goldwater on election day, but was defeated for reelection by theDemocratic nominee,Robert F. Kennedy, who had established residency in New York shortly before becoming a candidate.[6] Keating accused Kennedy of "carpetbagging", but Democratic strength in what proved to be awave election nationwide was sufficient to propel Kennedy to victory.[18]
In1965, Keating was elected to theNew York Court of Appeals.[4][6] He served until resigning in 1969.[4][6] Though elected to a 14-year term, New York required judges to retire at age 70.[6] Because he was in his 60s when elected, Keating desired to make a mark in what he anticipated would be a short tenure.[6] As a result, in his brief time on the bench, he authored more than 100 opinions.[6]
Keating's judicial philosophy was that precedent was binding, but only to the extent that it made sense in the context of the current case and times; he disagreed with following precedent for its own sake.[6] He also disagreed with the concept ofdistinguishing cases if the effect of the court's decision was to overrule them.[6] In Keating's view, if a precedent was to be overturned, it should simply be overturned; attempts to distinguish cases by parsing language or selectively picking and choosing case details were confusing to attorneys and judges because they amounted to dishonest reasoning.[6]
InLiberty National Bank v. Buscaglia, Keating rejected the argument thatnational banks should be exempt from payingstate taxes on the grounds that they were instruments of thefederal government.[6] In Keating's view, national banks had changed so much since the 1819McCulloch v. Maryland decision gave them the exemption from state taxes that theMcCulloch precedent no longer applied.[6] InGallagher v. St. Raymond's Roman Catholic Church, Keating's opinion overturned the precedent that the owner of a building to which the public was invited had no duty to illuminate the building's outside stairway.[6] Keating argued that while the precedent made sense in the eras ofcandles,lanterns andgas lighting, which were not universally accessible, the availability ofelectric lighting nearly everywhere had rendered it obsolete.[6] InFlanagan v. Mount Eden General Hospital, the court overruled thecommon law tradition that the statute of limitations inmedical malpractice actions which involved instruments left inside a patient began to run from the commission of the act.[6] Keating's opinion argued that logically, the statute of limitations should begin at the point where the patient first became aware of the instrument that had not been retrieved.[6]
In 1969, Keating was appointed U.S. Ambassador to India, which enabled him to make use of the goodwill and contacts he had established during his World War II military service.[4] His tenure was regarded as a success forU.S.-India relations until its last few months, when the Nixon Administration tacitly supportedPakistan in theBangladesh Liberation War.[4]India conducted asuccessful war against Pakistan which lasted two weeks and resulted in the transformation ofEast Pakistan into the independent state ofBangladesh.[4]
As a result of U.S. support for Pakistan in the conflict, America suspendedeconomic aid to India, and India closed five American cultural centers.[4] Keating remained in India until 1972, when he returned to the United States to campaign for the reelection of President Richard M. Nixon.[4]
He served as Ambassador toIsrael from August 1973 until his death.[4] Keating's ambassadorship was high profile; he built a network of contacts and conducted one on one diplomacy by entertaining frequently at his home in theTel Aviv suburbs.[4] Despite his efforts, members of the Israeli government were reportedly unhappy with his work, and expressed skepticism about the quality of the reports he sent to theU.S. State Department in Washington.[4] In one instance, Israel's government claimed Keating had misinformed U.S. Secretary of StateHenry Kissinger about the effects of public opinion in Israel on how much compromising its government could do in attempting to reach agreement withEgypt on theIsraeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula.[4]
Keating suffered a heart attack on April 17, 1975, while visiting his daughter inNew Jersey, and was admitted toColumbia-Presbyterian Medical Center inNew York City.[24] He died in the hospital on May 5.[4] Keating's funeral was held atSt. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, and he was buried atArlington National Cemetery.[25]
In 1928, Keating was married to Louise DePuy, who died in 1968.[4] In 1974, he married Mary Leet Pitcairn (d. 2009), the former wife ofWilliam Harding Jackson and former secretary for GeneralOmar N. Bradley.[26] She was the widow of attorney Wendell Davis, who had been a law school classmate of Keating.[4][26] In addition to his second wife, Keating was survived by his daughter, Judith Keating Howe ofShort Hills, New Jersey.[4]
Keating was a member ofAmerican Bar Association,New York State Bar Association, and Rochester Bar Association.[27] He belonged to theAmerican Legion,Veterans of Foreign Wars,Association of the United States Army, andReserve Officers Association.[27] He was also a member of theSons of the American Revolution andSons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.[27] Keating was active inFreemasonry, and attained the 33rd Degree of theScottish Rite.[27] In addition, his fraternal memberships included theKiwanis,Elks,Moose, andEagles.[27] Keating belonged to theAmerican Political Science Association, and received the organization's first Congressional Distinguished Service Award.[27]
In 1959, Keating received theOrder of Merit of the Italian Republic (Officer) to recognize his work on behalf of post-World War II Italian immigrants.[28] In 1961, Keating was awarded the Grand Cross of Merit of theSovereign Military Order of Malta, an award presented by the order to recognize non-Catholics who whose personal and professional lives espouse goodwill towards theCatholic Church.[29]
The federal building in Rochester is named for Keating.[30]Brooklyn Law School awards the annual Judge Kenneth B. Keating Memorial Prize to a member of each graduating class who demonstrates exceptional achievement in the field ofconflict of laws.[6] The Kenneth Barnard Keating Papers are part of the Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation holdings at the University of Rochester.[31] Senator Keating Boulevard in the town of Brighton, a road which was constructed in the late 1990s, is named for Keating.[32]
Keating received severalhonorary degrees, to include:
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromNew York (Class 1) 1958,1964 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's 40th congressional district 1947–1953 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's 38th congressional district 1953–1959 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ranking Member of theHouse Judiciary Committee 1956–1959 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 1) from New York 1959–1965 Served alongside:Jacob K. Javits | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to India 1969–1972 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Israel 1973–1975 | Succeeded by |
| Class 1 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
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