L. J. Dickinson | |
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| United States Senator fromIowa | |
| In office March 4, 1931 – January 3, 1937 | |
| Preceded by | Daniel F. Steck |
| Succeeded by | Clyde L. Herring |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIowa's10th district | |
| In office March 4, 1919 – March 3, 1931 | |
| Preceded by | Frank P. Woods |
| Succeeded by | Fred C. Gilchrist |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1873-10-29)October 29, 1873 Derby, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | June 4, 1968(1968-06-04) (aged 94) Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education | Cornell College (BA) University of Iowa (LLB) |
Lester Jesse ("L. J." or "Dick") Dickinson (October 29, 1873 – June 4, 1968) was a RepublicanUnited States Representative andSenator fromIowa. He was, in the words ofTime magazine, "a big, friendly, white-thatched Iowa lawyer."[1] In early 1936, he dreamed of winning the presidency. However, the only race he would enter that year would be for his own seat in the Senate which he lost.
Dickinson was born on a farm nearDerby, Iowa inLucas County, to Levi and Willimine Morton Dickinson.[2] When he was five, his family moved to another farm outsideDanbury, Iowa, inWoodbury County.[2] As a boy, he worked on his father's farm, peddled milk from the dairy, practiced orations behindthe barn, and clerked in a hardware store.[2] He graduated from Danbury High School in 1892,Cornell College (inMount Vernon, Iowa) in 1898, and fromUniversity of Iowa College of Law atIowa City in 1899. He was admitted to thebar in 1899 and commenced practice inAlgona, Iowa,Kossuth County in the north-central part of the state. He was a second lieutenant in the 52nd Infantry,Iowa National Guard, from 1900 to 1902 and wascity clerk of Algona from 1900 to 1904. He was County Attorney forKossuth County from 1909 to 1913.
In 1910, he made an unsuccessful run for the Republican nomination for a seat in theIowa House of Representatives.[2]
He married Myrtle Call, daughter of Ambrose A. Call, one of the founders of Algona, in 1901.[2]
According toTime, he did not "drink, smoke, [or] take part in sports or society."[1]
In 1918, Dickinson ran for Congress, challenging incumbentFrank P. Woods in the Republican primary for the seat inIowa's 10th congressional district in north-central Iowa (made up of Boone, Calhoun, Carroll, Emmet, Greene, Hamilton, Humboldt, Hancock, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Winnebago, and Webster counties). Woods was then Chairman of theNational Republican Congressional Committee, but had voted against the 1917declaration of war on theGerman Empire,[3] creating a great political liability in 1918.[4] After defeating Woods in the primary,[5] Dickinson defeated the Democratic nominee (as didevery Republican nominee in every general election race during the existence of that district, from 1882 to 1931).
Dickinson became the House's "leader of that body's first, historic Farm Bloc."[1] He was a strong advocate for theMcNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill, an effort to maintain pre-war price levels by increasing federal purchases of farm products for sales overseas.[2] He was re-elected in 1920, 1922, 1924, 1926, and 1928, serving in the House from March 4, 1919 – March 3, 1931. Dickinson's cousin,Fred Dickinson Letts, was a U.S. Representative fromIowa's 2nd congressional district for the last six of those years (from March 1925 to March 1931).
Dickinson was adark horse candidate for the Republican nomination for vice president in 1924.[2] But after PresidentCalvin Coolidge sent the convention a message that he would accept a different Iowan—Judge and former SenatorWilliam Squire Kenyon—as his running mate, Dickinson's name disappeared from the discussions and voting, and on the third ballot the convention settled onCharles G. Dawes.[6]
Democratic U.S. SenatorDaniel F. Steck's seat was up in 1930. Steck, the first Democratic senator from Iowa since theAmerican Civil War, had reached the Senate with the assistance of many conservative Republican voters (who refused to support the 1924 Republican primary victor,Smith W. Brookhart, because of his anti-business, pro-labor views) and an unprecedented vote by the Senate in 1926 to overturn its original choice to seat Brookhart in 1925. Thus, Steck's "election" was viewed as an anomaly, and several Republicans fought for the chance to run for his seat in 1930.[7] Running as a supporter of the controversialSmoot-Hawley Tariff Act, Dickinson defeated sitting Iowa GovernorJohn Hammill and two others in the Republican primary, and easily defeated Steck in the general election.
In 1932, he was chosen to deliver the keynote speech at the1932 Republican National Convention, where fellow Iowa nativeHerbert Hoover was re-nominated for his failed re-election bid.[2]
OnceFranklin D. Roosevelt replaced Hoover in 1933, Dickinson distinguished himself by coming out early and often against theNew Deal.[1] In a 1934 speech, he argued that the only beneficiaries of the newAgricultural Adjustment Act were the "brain trusters" behind the new programs, sneering that, "taken from their dismal classrooms, chicken farms, editorial rooms and law offices, they now loiter behind mahogany desks solving problems of the world."[2]Time commented in 1936 that he "demands 'sane, honest industrial and agricultural programs' and a return 'to the ideas of our New England forefathers.'"[1]
In May 1936,Time reported that Dickinson was interested in the chance to run against President Roosevelt, speculating that "the buzzing in his large, well-shaped head" was the question, "'IfWarren Harding could get the Republican Presidential nomination in 1920, why can't I get it in 1936?'"[1] It explained:
Like Harding, he would personify a return tonormalcy after a hectic Democratic regime. Fordark horse Dickinson, oldtime Harding supporters have been quietly conducting the same kind of preconvention campaign thatHarry Daugherty put on for his Dark Horse in 1920—unobtrusively making friends, taking care not to offend leading candidates, building up a man on whom irreconcilably opposed factions could unite after a convention deadlock.[1]
In the1936 Republican National Convention, there was no deadlock, so Dickinson's aspiration to play in 1936 the role that Harding played in 1920 never came to pass.[2] Instead, Kansas GovernorAlfred Landon was the only viable candidate, and was nominated on the first ballot.
Meanwhile, in his race for re-election, Dickinson faced a strong primary challenge from a crowded field of other Republicans that included Brookhart. While Dickinson did not receive a majority of the vote, he won with a percentage great enough to automatically advance to the general election. His Democratic opponent was sitting Iowa GovernorClyde Herring. Herring defeated Dickinson by fewer than 36,000 votes. Dickinson had served in the Senate from March 4, 1931, to January 3, 1937.
After 1936, Iowans' support for Roosevelt and the New Deal noticeably faded, and a bitter split developed in the Iowa Democratic Party between New Dealers and independent-minded Democrats such as incumbent U.S. SenatorGuy Gillette. In this setting, Dickinson ran for Gillette's seat. However, his experience in the 1938 election was much like his 1936 election experience. After a strong battle in the Republican primary (in which he defeated U.S. RepresentativeLloyd Thurston), Dickinson again lost in the general election, this time by fewer than 3,000 votes.
After leaving the Senate, Dickinson initially returned to Algona.[2]
In June 1939, he joined a Des Moines firm that his son, L. Call Dickinson, had started in 1936.[2][8] The former senator's involvement bolstered the young firm's reputation, and it became one of the leading business law firms in Des Moines and the state. Known informally for decades as "the Dickinson firm," it is currently known as Dickinson, Mackaman, Tyler & Hagen, P.C.[8]
Dickinson died on June 4, 1968.
Media related toLester J. Dickinson at Wikimedia Commons| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIowa's 10th congressional district 1919–1931 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromIowa (Class 2) 1930,1936 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Keynote Speaker of theRepublican National Convention 1932 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Berry F. Halden | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromIowa (Class 3) 1938 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Iowa 1931–1937 Served alongside:Smith W. Brookhart,Richard L. Murphy,Guy Gillette | Succeeded by |
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| Class 3 | ||
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| National | |
| People | |
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