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L. Mendel Rivers | |
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromSouth Carolina's1st district | |
| In office January 3, 1941 – December 28, 1970 | |
| Preceded by | Clara G. McMillan |
| Succeeded by | Mendel Jackson Davis |
| Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives fromCharleston County | |
| In office January 9, 1934 – June 6, 1936 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 28, 1905 Gumville, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | December 28, 1970(1970-12-28) (aged 65) Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Margaret Middleton Rivers (1938–1970) |
| Children | 3, includingL. Mendel Rivers, Jr. |
Lucius Mendel Rivers (September 28, 1905 – December 28, 1970) was aDemocraticU.S. representative fromSouth Carolina, representing theCharleston-based1st congressional district for nearly 30 years. As chair of theHouse Armed Services Committee, Rivers developed a reputation for his unwavering support of American involvement in theVietnam War. His reputation suffered as the American public at large turned against further escalation in the Vietnam War. In 1968, Rivers condemned American servicemen who attempted to stop theMy Lai massacre, labeling them as "traitors".[1] Rivers served in the House until his death in 1970.
Mendel Rivers was born inGumville, South Carolina, to Lucius Hampton Rivers and Henrietta Marion McCay. The family moved to a farm inSt. Stephen in 1907 and lived comfortably until 1915. That year the father Lucius died from pneumonia. Mendel's older brother Earle was put in charge of running the farm, but was not interested in agriculture. At the same time, agriculture suffered financial pressures and the family's assets declined. Eventually, they moved toNorth Charleston, where they opened a boarding house on O'Hear Avenue.[citation needed]
Rivers attended local public schools. He took six years to graduate from Charleston High School in 1926. He attended theCollege of Charleston for three years and theUniversity of South Carolina School of Law for two years, graduating from neither. The law school dean at the University of South Carolina advised Rivers to take up another profession because, although he knew the assignments, he suffered fromstage fright.[citation needed] Rivers was determined to become a lawyer so he returned to College of Charleston, took classes to prepare himself for the bar examination.[citation needed]
After passing the bar exam in 1932, he was unable to find work inCharleston law firms during theGreat Depression, so he started his own practice.
Rivers first became involved in politics in 1930 when he participated in Ed Pritchard's unsuccessful campaign for thestate legislature against Russell McGowan. He was an active member of the Charleston Young Democrats club and shortly after passing the bar, Rivers decided to run for one of the twelvestate representative spots fromCharleston County. County politics in the 1930s were controlled by the political machine ofCharleston mayorBurnet R. Maybank, and gaining his endorsement was crucial to winning an election. Rivers sought the mayor's blessing, but was rejected because he was an unknown candidate from North Charleston. He ran as anIndependent Democrat and was defeated in his bid for election.
A vacancy on the Charleston County delegation arose in 1933 when Ben Scott Whaley resigned to join the staff ofSenatorJames Francis Byrnes. Rivers won the special election by running against Charleston and campaigning on the slogan "Give the Northern End of the County Representation."[2] In 1934, Rivers ran for re-election and received the most votes of any state House candidate on the Charleston County ticket, making him chairman of the county delegation. As a state Representative, Rivers served on the Judiciary and Education committees. He became the state president of the Young Democrats in 1935 and was a delegate to the1936 Democratic National Convention.
The rapid ascendancy of Rivers attracted the attention of1st district CongressmanThomas S. McMillan who became worried when Rivers requested papers from the state Democratic secretary in 1936 to run for office. McMillan arranged a meeting with Rivers and offered him a position as a Special Assistant to theAttorney General of the United States. Rivers accepted and worked throughout the South collecting unpaid criminal fines and forfeited bail bonds.
On September 29, 1939, McMillan died and Rivers immediately made plans to run for Congress. He quit his federal job in February 1940 and opened a law practice in Charleston to provide a base for his campaign. His opponent in the Democraticprimary was Alfred von Kolnitz, who had the backing of the Charleston political establishment and Thomas McMillan's widow,Clara. Rivers knew that he was not going to win the vote in Charleston, so he tried to maximize his vote outside of Charleston by making the theme of his campaign about the chicanery of the city. Furthermore, withWorld War II raging in Europe, Rivers played up von Kolnitz's German name to make him appear as if aNazi sympathizer. He was aided in this effort by the fact that von Kolnitz was outspokenly antisemitic, and was in favor of isolationism (von Kolnitz advocated that the U.S. not help theUnited Kingdom in the British war effort against the Nazis). On August 27, Rivers won theDemocratic primary election by running up a huge margin in the counties outside of Charleston, which offset his loss in Charleston County. In those days, victory in the Democratic primary wastantamount to election in South Carolina, and Rivers took office on January 3, 1941. Making good on his pro-British campaign rhetoric, Rivers voted in favor of the first Lend Lease Act in 1941 to lend material military aid to theBritish Army andRoyal Navy, as well as food aid for British soldiers and civilians.[3] He then voted to extend the lend lease act in 1944.[4]
Once in Congress, Rivers sought a seat on theAgriculture committee, but it was full and he was instead placed on theMerchant Marine and Fisheries committee. In March, he was appointed to theNaval Affairs committee which was later combined with the Military Affairs committee to form theHouse Armed Services Committee. His first legislative success was in 1942 when he authored a bill to build an oil pipeline from Mississippi to the Southeast coast to reduce the transportation costs of the product. The bill was passed by Congress and signed by PresidentRoosevelt, butSecretary of the InteriorHarold L. Ickes refused to construct the pipeline because of the opposition byBig Oil.[5]
Rivers's first major success was the repeal of the federal tax on coloredoleomargarine. The tax was first implemented because margarine was a much cheaper substitute of butter which threatened the interests of the dairy farmers. When Rivers first introduced the bill in 1944 to repeal the tax, it was vigorously opposed by Midwestern Representatives and the bill died in the agriculture committee. Undeterred, Rivers reintroduced the bill every year and made so many speeches in favor of the repeal of the tax that he was nicknamed "Oleo" Rivers.[6] In 1949, he circulated a petition in the House to force the bill out of the agriculture committee and to the full House for a vote. The bill passed the House and then the Senate and was signed into law by PresidentTruman in 1950. The manufacturers of margarine were forever grateful to Rivers and sent him complimentary boxes of oleo until the day he died.[7]
Like most South Carolinian Democrats from his era, Rivers, who became of member of theCitizens' Councils, was an ardentsegregationist.[8] Rivers and the entire South Carolina delegation signed theSouthern Manifesto[9] in 1956. Rivers voted against theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,[10] theCivil Rights Acts of 1960,[11] theCivil Rights Acts of 1964,[12] and theCivil Rights Acts of 1968[13] as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution[14] and theVoting Rights Act of 1965.[15]
Rivers attempted to have Charleston federal district court judgeJ. Waties Waring impeached for having ruled that blacks had to be allowed to vote in the Democratic primary and that segregated schools were unconstitutional.[16] In South Carolina in the 1940s the Democratic Party had all-white primary elections, which was contested in the court caseElmore v. Rice where George Elmore was represented by Harold Boulware andThurgood Marshall and the NAACP. Judge Waring ruled in favor of Elmore in 1947, but the ruling was rebuffed by South Carolina outside of Richland County. In a second caseBrown v. Baskin (1948), Judge Waring once again ruled that the South Carolina Democratic Party must hold primaries that are "freely open to all parties... without discrimination of race, color or creed."[17] Judge Waring was eventually forced to leave South Carolina after his dissenting opinion inBriggs v. Elliot (1951), which challenged segregation in public schools, eventually becoming one of five cases that was seen by the U.S. Supreme Court inBrown v. Board of Education. Despite Rivers' fundraising campaign against him, Judge Waring was not impeached, but he eventually moved to New York to continue his work as a federal judge where he died in 1968. Judge Waring was buried in Magnolia Cemetery on Meeting Street in Charleston and his funeral was attended by more than 200 blacks and less than a dozen whites.[18] When President Trumanintegrated the U.S. Army in 1948, Rivers called him a "dead chicken" and a "bankrupt politician".[19] Rivers was so incensed by Truman that he supportedStrom Thurmond in the1948 Presidential election. After Truman's victory, he lost his patronage privileges and was lucky to retain his seat on the Armed Services Committee.
Rivers attended the1952 Democratic National Convention and believed thatAdlai Stevenson would reverse the policies of Truman by returning to traditional Democratic principles. However, Rivers became disillusioned with Stevenson and he openly supported RepublicanDwight D. Eisenhower in the1952 Presidential election because he said that he would be sensitive to Southern concerns.[20][21] Rivers's long-held distrust of Republicans was reinforced shortly after Eisenhower became president when he ordered the desegregation of all schools on military bases and did not grant Rivers patronage privileges, despite Rivers being the only Democrat to support Eisenhower in 1952.[22] Eisenhower's continual push for integration infuriated Rivers. When asked if he would back Eisenhower again in 1956, Rivers later claimed to have responded "Hell no! Ain't no education in the second kick of a mule."[21]
In the 1960s, Rivers softened his vocal opposition to civil rights legislation. He had risen in the ranks and his power in the House depended upon the continual support of national Democrats. Rivers shifted his approach from defending segregation to the maintenance oflaw and order. He found a kindred spirit inGeorge Wallace and he attended one of Wallace's fundraising dinners in 1968. Wallace asked Rivers in July to be his running mate for the1968 Presidential election, but Rivers dared not risk losing his chairmanship of the House Armed Services Committee and declined the offer.[23]
Rivers became the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in 1965 following the retirement ofCarl Vinson. Upon moving into theRayburn House Office Building, Rivers placed a plaque ofArticle 1, Section 8 of theUnited States Constitution that specified the role of the legislative process with the military. He felt that the Congress should not delegate its powers to the President nor the Secretary of Defense, and that a vigorous Congress would make the President perform his job better.[24] As Rivers inspected the committee room, he became incensed when he discovered there were cloakrooms adjoining the chamber for use by Democratic and Republican Party members to discuss their strategies. Viewing national defense as a non-partisan issue, Rivers had the cloakrooms turned into offices.[24]
By the time Rivers became the chairman, he was well known for being a strong supporter of the American military in general, and of enlisted military service members in particular. In 1963 he established, through the vehicle of the House–Senate Conference Committee, the principle of linking military retired pay to increases in theConsumer Price Index (CPI), similar to the practice for retired federal civil servants. In 1964 he championed the cause of "hospital rights," guaranteeing medical care in military hospitals for military retirees and their dependents.
After becoming chairman, in 1965 he helped secure the first military pay raise since 1952, despite opposition from the Secretary of DefenseMcNamara and PresidentJohnson. Rivers was instrumental in establishing the additional enlisted pay grade of E-9, and he helped secure mobile home allowances and cheap air fares for soldiers returning from Vietnam.[25]
Rivers strongly supported the constant upgrading of US military preparedness, regardless of the cost. He supported making all US Navy ships nuclear powered,[26] and he championed development of the US Air Force'sC-5A Galaxy military airlift jet, despite huge cost overruns.[27] In his last speech to his colleagues in the US House of Representatives on December 7, 1970, delivered just before he departed for Birmingham, Alabama to have heart surgery, he stated, "While we debate the question of maintaining our military capability, the Soviet Union forges ahead. We seem hell-bent on national suicide....We cannot as a nation afford to spend one penny less on national defense than that amount which is required to insure that you and I, and our children, can convince the Soviets they dare not pull the trigger when a Soviet gun is placed against our heads."[28]
In that same speech, he delivered the quote for which he is best remembered: "The final measure of our ability to survive as a nation in a hostile world will not be how well we have managed our domestic resources and domestic programs, but whether or not we have avoided and frustrated the forces of evil which would draw us into the crucible of war with theSoviet Union. If we fail in that endeavor, we will have failed in everything."[28]
Rivers was initially skeptical of the administration's escalation of the Vietnam War and its decision to send combat troops to Vietnam, but later became one of the strongest Congressional supporters of the war. He enjoyed referring to himself as "The Granddaddy of the War Hawks."[29] He urged the President to use nuclear weapons against the North Vietnamese and to invade and occupy Hanoi,[30] and once said that the United States should "flatten Hanoi and tell world opinion to go fly a kite."[31]
During a Congressional investigation of the 1968My Lai massacre, Rivers criticized Army helicopter pilotCW2 (laterMajor)Hugh Thompson, Jr. for giving the order to his men to fire upon American soldiers at Mỹ Lai if they continued to shoot unarmed Vietnamese civilians, calling him a traitor and saying he should be prosecuted.[32] Rivers was unable to believe that American soldiers would do such a thing and denied that any massacre ever happened. He attempted to protect Army 2nd Lt.William Calley, later convicted of 22 killings at Mỹ Lai, by quickly holding hearings of his subcommittee on Mỹ Lai. He called every major witness to the event (including Thompson) before the subcommittee, and then refused to release the transcripts of the testimony. This meant that military prosecutors would be prohibited from calling those persons as witnesses at Calley'scourt martial.[33] For this, Rivers is remembered as a Congressman who tried to cover up a massacre in the Vietnam war and court-martial the man who stopped it.[citation needed]
In November 1970, Rivers was elected to his 16th term in Congress. He died of heart failure inBirmingham, Alabama, on December 28, 1970. It was 17 days after he had undergone surgery to replace a leakingmitral valve at theUniversity of Alabama Hospital.[34] He was buried at St. Stephen Episcopal Church Cemetery inSt. Stephen, South Carolina.
Rivers married Margaret Middleton (called Marguerite by Mendel, but Marwee by family and friends) on September 1, 1938. They had first met in 1930 atCamp Kanuga, nearHendersonville, North Carolina. Mendel had impressed Marwee by being elected Best Boy Camper, although he was a 24-year-old law student.[35] The couple had three children: Peggy in 1939, Marion in 1943, andMendel Jr. in 1947.
Rivers belonged to theEpiscopal Church. In fraternal societies, he was a member of theFreemasons (Landmark Lodge No. 76, A.F.M.), theBenevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and theExchange Club. He was an enthusiast ofboxing, and was friends with bothJack Dempsey andGene Tunney.[36] He enjoyed playing baseball and he batted well over .300 in theCongressional Baseball Games.
According tojournalists, Rivers struggled withalcoholism for much of his life.[37] He was said to be the "binger" variety of alcoholic, one who is generally sober but relapses periodically. Washington syndicated columnistDrew Pearson called him a "security risk" because of this. He devoted eight pages to Rivers in his bookThe Case Against Congress (1968).[38]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link){{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromSouth Carolina's 1st congressional district 1941–1970 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Carl Vinson Georgia | Chairman ofHouse Armed Services Committee 1965–1970 | Succeeded by Philip J. Philbin Massachusetts |
Chairs of theUnited States House Committee on Armed Services | ||
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| Military Affairs Committee (1822–1947) |  | |
| Naval Affairs Committee (1822–1947) | ||
| Armed Services Committee* (from 1947) | ||
*Alternately namedNational Security in 104th and 105th Congresses. | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
