Warren Magnuson | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Fred Milkiec. 1956 | |
| President pro tempore of the United States Senate | |
| In office December 6, 1980 – January 3, 1981 | |
| Preceded by | Milton Young |
| Succeeded by | Strom Thurmond |
| In office January 3, 1979 – December 5, 1980 | |
| Preceded by | James Eastland |
| Succeeded by | Milton Young |
| 39thDean of the United States Senate | |
| In office December 27, 1978 – January 3, 1981 | |
| Preceded by | James Eastland |
| Succeeded by | John C. Stennis |
| United States Senator fromWashington | |
| In office December 14, 1944 – January 3, 1981 | |
| Preceded by | Homer Bone |
| Succeeded by | Slade Gorton |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWashington's1st district | |
| In office January 3, 1937 – December 13, 1944 | |
| Preceded by | Marion Zioncheck |
| Succeeded by | Emerson DeLacy |
| King County Prosecuting Attorney | |
| In office January 1, 1935 – January 3, 1937 | |
| Preceded by | Robert M. Burgunder |
| Succeeded by | B. Gray Warner |
| Member of theWashington House of Representatives from the37th district | |
| In office January 9, 1933 – January 14, 1935 | |
| Preceded by | George F. Murray |
| Succeeded by | A. Lou Cohen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1905-04-12)April 12, 1905 Moorhead, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | May 20, 1989(1989-05-20) (aged 84) Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Resting place | Acacia Memorial Park 47°44′21″N122°17′34″W / 47.73920°N 122.29280°W /47.73920; -122.29280 (Acacia Memorial Park) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses | |
| Education | University of North Dakota North Dakota Agricultural College University of Washington (BA,LLB) |
| Profession | Attorney |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1941–1942 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Commander |
| Battles/wars | |
Warren Grant Magnuson (April 12, 1905 – May 20, 1989) was an American lawyer and politician who represented thestate of Washington inCongress for 44 years, first as arepresentative from 1937 to 1944, and then as asenator from 1944 to 1981. Magnuson was a member of theDemocratic Party. He was Washington state's longest-serving senator, serving over 36 years. During his final two years in office, he was themost senior senator andpresident pro tempore.
Warren Magnuson was born inMoorhead,Minnesota.[2] His birthdate is supposedly April 12, 1905, but the actual records of his birth are sealed.[3] According to various sources, he never knew his birth parents; they may have died within a month of his birth,[4] or his unmarried mother may have put him up for adoption.[5] William Grant and Emma (née Anderson) Magnuson adopted Warren, and gave him their name.[6] The Magnusons were second-generationScandinavian immigrants who operated a bar in Moorhead, and adopted a daughter, Clara, a year after adopting Warren.[7] His adoptive father left the family in 1921.[3]
Magnuson attendedMoorhead High School, where he playedquarterback on thefootball team and was captain of thebaseball team.[5] While in high school, he ran aYMCA camp, worked on wheat farms, and delivered newspapers and telegrams in Moorhead and nearbyFargo,North Dakota.[6] He graduated in 1923, and then enrolled at theUniversity of North Dakota inGrand Forks.[2] In 1924, he transferred to theNorth Dakota Agricultural College in Fargo, which he attended for a year.[5] He then traveled throughCanada for some time, ridingfreight trains and working withthreshing crews.[6]
Magnuson followed a high school girlfriend toSeattle,Washington, where he entered theUniversity of Washington in 1925.[7] He was a member ofTheta Chi fraternity, and worked delivering ice as aTeamsters member underDave Beck.[3] He received aBachelor of Arts degree in 1926, and earned aBachelor of Laws degree from theUniversity of Washington School of Law in 1929.[2] ADemocrat, he first became active in politics in 1928, volunteering forA. Scott Bullitt forgovernor andAl Smith forpresident.[5]
In 1929, Magnuson was admitted to the bar and joined the law office of Judge Samuel Stern in Seattle.[5] He served as secretary of the Seattle Municipal League from 1930 to 1931[2] and served as a special prosecutor forKing County in 1932, investigating official misconduct.[4] He founded the state chapter of theYoung Democrats of America that same year.[8] He was a leading supporter of repealing stateProhibition laws and establishing the state Liquor Control Board.[9]
From 1933 to 1935, Magnuson served as a member of theWashington House of Representatives from the Seattle-based 37th Legislative District.[9] As a state legislator, he sponsored the first unemployment compensation bill in the nation.[6] Magnuson was a delegate to the stateconstitutional convention in 1933.[2] He briefly served as AssistantUnited States District Attorney before being elected prosecuting attorney of King County, serving from 1934 to 1936.[6]
In 1936, as incumbent Congressman and Magnuson's friendMarion Zioncheck showed serious mental instability and uncertainty about seeking reelection, Magnuson announced his candidacy. Two days after Magnuson entered the race, Zioncheck announced that he would not run again, and within a week Zioncheck committed suicide by jumping from his office window.[3] With the endorsement of the influential, left-wingWashington Commonwealth Federation and support from the Seattle business community, Magnuson easily won the Democratic primary and then the general election.[3]
In 1937, Magnuson and SenatorsHomer Bone andMatthew Neely introduced theNational Cancer Institute Act, signed into law byFranklin Roosevelt on August 5 of that year.[10] He was reelected in 1938, 1940, and 1942. After theAttack on Pearl Harbor, Magnuson staunchly supported the U.S. war effort.[11]
Magnuson served in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II. He was aboard the aircraft carrierUSS Enterprise for several months, seeing heavy combat in thePacific Theatre until Roosevelt ordered all congressmen on active duty to return home in 1942.[3]
In 1944, Magnuson was elected to the U.S. Senate. On December 14, 1944, GovernorArthur B. Langlie appointed Magnuson to fill the vacancy created byHomer Bone's appointment to theNinth Circuit Court of Appeals. He resigned from the House and started his Senate tenure a month early, gaining an advantage in seniority.[12]
Magnuson was reelected in 1950, 1956, 1962, 1968, and 1974. He served on theSenate Commerce Committee throughout his tenure in the Senate.[13] In his last years in the Senate, he gave up his chairmanship of the Commerce Committee to chair theSenate Appropriations Committee, as a result of the death of SenatorJohn L. McClellan.[14] Magnuson served most of his Senate tenure alongside his friend and colleague from Washington state,Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson. Republican State Attorney GeneralSlade Gorton defeated Magnuson in the1980 election.[15]
In 1948, Magnuson called for the establishment of aJewish state inPalestine.[16]
Magnuson was responsible for special legislation in 1949 that allowedPoon Lim, a Chinese sailor who in 1942 survived 133 days alone at sea as a castaway, to immigrate to the U.S. and become a citizen.[17][18]
In August 1950, Magnuson proposed voluntary enlistment for the Japanese in the American armed forces and sent a cable request to GeneralDouglas MacArthur on the practicality of the proposal.[19]
In November 1961, PresidentJohn F. Kennedy visited Seattle and was an honored guest at a celebration honoring Magnuson's first 25 years in Congress.[20][21] Nearly 3,000 people paid $100 each to attend the dinner.
The bill that became theCivil Rights Act of 1964 was referred to the Committee on Commerce. Magnuson played a key role in getting it to the floor and enacted into law despite vigorous opposition by SenatorWilliam Fulbright and other segregationists.[citation needed]
At the end of August 1966, after PresidentLyndon Johnson announced the nominations of Charles F. Luce for Undersecretary of the Interior, John A. Carver for Federal Power Commission membership, and David S. Black for BPA administrator, Magnuson announced the Senate Commerce committee would hold hearings on Carver's nomination on September 1. He called Luce "one of the most able, dedicated, productive public servants I know."[22]
On November 7, 1967, Johnson signed thePublic Broadcasting Act of 1967, citing Magnuson as one of the members of Congress to "have been part of the team that has brought this measure to the White House to make it the law of our land."[23]
Magnuson attended the May 5, 1978, dedication ceremony for Riverfront Park in Spokane.[24] Shortly after that, during a town hall meeting, PresidentJimmy Carter said, "No one could be in a better political position than to be preceded and introduced by men likeTom Foley and Senator Warren Magnuson. I know of no one in the Congress than these two men who are more respected, more dedicated to serving their own people well, but who have also reached, because of their experience and knowledge, sound judgment and commitment, a position of national and even international renown and leadership."[25]
At least four important pieces of legislation bear Magnuson's name: theMagnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, theChinese Exclusion Repeal Act (Magnuson Act of 1943), theMagnuson-Moss Warranty Act, and the Magnuson Act of 1950 (46 U.S.C. § 70051). He was also instrumental in keepingsupertankers out ofPuget Sound, by attaching an amendment to a routine funding reauthorization bill on the Senate and House consent calendars.[26]
After his defeat for reelection, Magnuson kept active in politics. He had been part of a U.N.-sponsored organization to study nuclear proliferation and lobbied the legislature to pass a flat tax for schools.[27]
In his later years, Magnuson was beset by health problems. In 1982, he underwent surgery due to a diabetic condition, which saw several of the toes on his left foot amputated.[28] As the decade progressed, Magnuson's public presence dwindled appreciably.[29] On May 20, 1989, Magnuson died from complications of diabetes and congestive heart failure at his Seattle home.[4][30] He and his wife are interred in Acacia Memorial Park inLake Forest Park, north of Seattle.
In 1928, Magnuson married Eleanor Peggy "Peggins" Maddieux, crownedMiss Seattle the previous year.[5] They remained together until their divorce in 1935.[9] Magnuson dated several glamorous women, includingheiress andcover girlJune Millarde and actressCarole Parker.[3] In 1964, he married Jermaine Elliott Peralta (1923–2011), widowed as a teenager, in a ceremony conducted by Rev.Frederick Brown Harris at theOmni Shoreham Hotel.[9] The couple remained together until his death, and he helped raise Peralta's daughter from her previous marriage, Juanita.[4]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromWashington (Class 3) 1944,1950,1956,1962,1968,1974,1980 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromWashington's 1st congressional district January 3, 1937 – December 13, 1944 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 3) from Washington December 14, 1944 – January 3, 1981 Served alongside:Monrad C. Wallgren,Hugh B. Mitchell,Harry P. Cain,Henry M. Jackson | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of theSenate Commerce Committee 1955–1977 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman ofSenate Appropriations Committee 1977–1981 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President pro tempore of the United States Senate 1978–1980 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President pro tempore of the United States Senate 1980–1981 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Dean of the United States Senate December 27, 1978 – January 3, 1981 | Succeeded by |
| Class 1 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
Chairs of theUnited States Senate Committee on Appropriations | ||
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| Commerce and Manufactures (1816–1825) | | |
|---|---|---|
| Commerce (1825–1947) | ||
| Interstate Commerce (1887–1947) | ||
| Interstate and Foreign Commerce/Commerce (1947–1977) | ||
| Commerce, Science, and Transportation (1977–present) | ||
|  | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
