Richard H. Poff | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court | |
| In office August 31, 1972 – December 31, 1988 | |
| Appointed by | Linwood Holton |
| Preceded by | Thomas Gordon |
| Succeeded by | Elizabeth Lacy |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's6th district | |
| In office January 3, 1953 – August 29, 1972 | |
| Preceded by | Clarence Burton |
| Succeeded by | Caldwell Butler |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1923-10-19)October 19, 1923 Radford, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | June 27, 2011(2011-06-27) (aged 87) Tullahoma, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Roanoke College (BA) University of Virginia, Charlottesville (LLB) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1943–1945 |
| Rank |  First lieutenant |
| Unit | U.S. Army Air Forces • Eighth Air Force |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross |
Richard Harding "Dick" Poff (October 19, 1923 – June 27, 2011) was an American politician and judge. He was first elected to theUnited States House of Representatives in 1952 fromVirginia's 6th congressional district.[1] Anattorney and aRepublican, he was given strong consideration for theUnited States Supreme Court byPresidentRichard M. Nixon and was later appointed as a justice (later senior justice) of theVirginia Supreme Court.
Born inRadford,Montgomery County, Virginia, Poff attended the local public schools and graduated fromChristiansburg High School. He then traveled toSalem, Virginia for studies atRoanoke College. After his military service below, Poff used hisGI bill benefits, he earned a law degree (LL.B.) in 1948 from theUniversity of Virginia School of Law atCharlottesville.[2]
During theSecond World War, Poff served as a bomber pilot with theEighth Air Force inEngland; flew thirty-five successful missions overEurope; awarded theDistinguished Flying Cross; was inactivated from the service as a first lieutenant serving from February 1943 to August 1945.
Poff was first elected to Congress in 1952, defeating incumbentDemocratClarence G. Burton. He was the first Republican to represent this part of Virginia sinceReconstruction, and likely owed his victory toDwight Eisenhower carrying the state in that year's presidential election. However, the 6th district had been shifting away from its Democratic roots for some time. TheByrd Democrats in western Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley had begun splitting their tickets as early as the 1930s. He would never face another contest nearly as close as his first one, and was reelected nine times.
Poff had his share of controversy during his decades in the House of Representatives. He andJoel Broyhill of Virginia were the only two Republicans, along with the rest of Virginia's entire Congressional delegation, and nearly all members from Southern states, to sign theSouthern Manifesto protesting the Supreme Court's mandate inBrown v. Board of Education todesegregate public schools.Linwood Holton, formerGovernor of Virginia (1970–1974), and the Commonwealth's firstpost-Reconstruction Republican Governor, suggests that Poff likely could not have been reelected unless he had signed the manifesto.[3] Despite that controversial decision, he was well liked by most of his constituents, most of whom had never been represented by a Republican before. This included manyAfrican Americans, who in anABC News report on his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court described him as having a great interest in individuals; only one person in that report described him as aracist despite having signed theSouthern Manifesto.[citation needed] Consistent with his signing of the Manifesto, Poff voted against theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,[4]1960,[5]1964,[6] and1968,[7] and theVoting Rights Act of 1965,[8] but voted in favor of the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[9] In 1971, he voted for theEqual Employment Opportunity Act[10] and supported federal aid to accelerate the desegregation process. He was the only member of the House Republican leadership who did not support President Eisenhower's proposal to increase theminimum wage and widen its coverage. According toJohn Dean, he was also the author of most of theTwenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution while serving on theJudiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.[11]
Before President Richard Nixon could formally nominate him for the U.S. Supreme Court, Poff withdrew (before nomination reached the Senate).John Dean wrote that Poff actually made that decision based on concerns that he would thus be forced to reveal to his then-12-year-old son that he had been adopted. Poff's concern was that the child would be negatively affected by that kind of information if revealed before he was old enough to understand.[12][13] Nevertheless, according toThe New York Times, within weeks after he withdrew from consideration that sensitive personal information was revealed inJack Anderson's column, and he was forced to inform the child of his adoption anyway.[14] By then, it was too late for reconsideration, and eventuallyLewis Powell, another Virginian, was confirmed to the Supreme Court in Poff's place.
In 1971, when under consideration for the Supreme Court, Poff said in a newspaper interview that he had supported theSouthern Manifesto and opposed desegregation because he believed he would have otherwise been defeated for reelection to the U.S. House. He voiced regret over his opposition to past civil rights measures. Within a year of those comments, he resigned from the House to join the Virginia Supreme Court.[15]
Poff is also well known as one of the men who, as a member of theHouse Judiciary Committee, sponsored theRacketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO. Poff had an interesting take on RICO, which has since been ignored by the Supreme Court. Poff stated in theCongressional Record that the Act should be used only against organizations, and not individuals.
Richard H. Poff went on to become Justice and then a Senior Justice of theVirginia Supreme Court, where he served until his retirement.
He died on June 27, 2011, in a life care center inTullahoma,Tennessee.[16][17]
Poff married his first wife, Jo Ann Topper, in 1948. She died in 1978. They had three children. In 1980, he married his second wife, Jean Murphy, who died in 2007.
The Richard H. Poff Federal Building in Roanoke, Virginia is named for Poff. It houses many of the primary federal offices in southwest Virginia, including theU.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia and theDepartment of Veterans Affairs. TheRoanoke Public Library maintains a collection of newsletters Congressman Poff sent to his constituents (1954-1971).[18]
He likely would have been defeated if he had not signed that document, but I expect he has regretted that signature through the years.
...[When] the President called for an increase in the minimum wage ... all members of the GOP leadership save Poff of Virginia came on board.
Poff ... didn't really want to put himself or his family through the controversy of being nominated and then beat up through the senate confirmation process.
...Representative Richard Poff, a moderate conservative from Virginia...
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's 6th congressional district 1953–1972 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Response to the State of the Union address 1968 Served alongside:Howard Baker,George H. W. Bush,Peter Dominick,Gerald Ford,Robert Griffin,Thomas Kuchel,Mel Laird,Bob Mathias,George Murphy,Chuck Percy,Al Quie,Charlotte Reid,Hugh Scott,Bill Steiger,John Tower | Vacant Title next held by Donald Fraser,Scoop Jackson,Mike Mansfield,John McCormack,Patsy Mink,Ed Muskie,Bill Proxmire |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by | Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court 1972–1988 | Succeeded by |
 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
