Charles A. Halleck | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Halleck in 1939 | |
| House Minority Leader | |
| In office January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1965 | |
| Deputy | Leslie C. Arends |
| Preceded by | Joseph W. Martin Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Gerald Ford |
| Leader of the House Republican Conference | |
| In office January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1965 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph W. Martin Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Gerald Ford |
| House Majority Leader | |
| In office January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949 | |
| Speaker | Joseph W. Martin Jr. |
| Preceded by | John W. McCormack |
| Succeeded by | John W. McCormack |
| In office January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955 | |
| Speaker | Joseph W. Martin Jr. |
| Preceded by | John W. McCormack |
| Succeeded by | John W. McCormack |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's2nd district | |
| In office January 29, 1935 – January 3, 1969 | |
| Preceded by | George R. Durgan |
| Succeeded by | Earl Landgrebe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1900-08-22)August 22, 1900 DeMotte, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | March 3, 1986(1986-03-03) (aged 85) Lafayette, Indiana, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Indiana University, Bloomington (AB, LLB) |
| Occupation |
|
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Army |
| Conflict | World War I |
Halleck congratulatesJohn W. McCormack on being elected as the 45thspeaker of the House of Representatives Recorded January 10, 1962 | |
Charles Abraham Halleck (August 22, 1900 – March 3, 1986) was an American politician. He was theRepublican leader of theUnited States House of Representatives from thesecond district of Indiana.
Halleck was born nearDeMotte, inJasper County, Indiana, the son of Abraham and Lura (née Luce) Halleck. He served in the infantry of theUnited States Army inWorld War I. After military service, Halleck attendedIndiana University atBloomington. In 1924, Halleck was admitted to the bar and began practicing inRensselaer, Indiana. From 1924 to 1934, he was the prosecuting attorney for the 13th district court.
In 1935, Halleck was elected to fill the House vacancy created by the death of Congressman-electFrederick Landis, and remained in that position until 1969. A prominent member of theconservative coalition, he served as theHouse Majority Leader after the elections of 1946 and 1952. He wasHouse Minority Leader from 1959 to 1964. As Minority Leader he was in charge ofHouse Republicans
Halleck noted that a highlight of his career came at the1940 Republican National Convention, when he nominated another person from Indiana,Wendell Willkie. Noting the mixed reception he got, Halleck said, "I got more brickbats and more bouquets over that speech than any other I've ever made."[1]
In 1944, even beforeThomas Dewey was named as the Republican presidential nominee, Halleck, as the new chairman of theNational Republican Congressional Committee, addressed a party gathering inChicago. He rejected the Democratic "don't-change-horses-while-crossing-the-stream" mantra and declared that a Republican president would retainGeorge C. Marshall,Dwight Eisenhower,Douglas MacArthur, andWilliam F. Halsey in their military positions. He attacked what he called theNew Deal "snooping into our ice boxes," a reference to theOffice of Price Administration andrationing. Halleck said that Americans should "live again as God meant us to live and not as somebureaucrat in Washington... would like us to live."[2]
According to Halleck, he was rumored to be Thomas Dewey's vice-presidential nominee in Dewey's second general election campaign in 1948 if Halleck guaranteed the support of the Indiana delegation at the1948 Republican National Convention. In the end, Dewey selected thegovernor of California,Earl Warren. The Dewey-Warren ticket surprisingly narrowly lost that November, to the DemocraticTruman-Barkley ticket.[3]
In 1959, with the declining popularity of Eisenhower enabling Democrats to maintain their hold on the House, Halleck parlayed his following among Congressional Republicans and the frequent public approval of Eisenhower andRichard Nixon into a successful challenge to the 20-year reign ofJoseph W. Martin Jr. as the leader of House Republicans,[4] beginning a three-term stint as the officialMinority Leader of theUnited States House of Representatives.[5]
He was a strong opponent of the liberal social proposals of DemocratsJohn F. Kennedy andLyndon Johnson and supported theVietnam War, but voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,[6][7]1960,[8][9] and1964,[10][11] as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and theVoting Rights Act of 1965.[12][13][14] Halleck voted in favor of the initial House resolution for theCivil Rights Act of 1968 on August 16, 1967,[15] but voted against the Senate amendment to the bill on April 10, 1968.[16] Along with SenatorEverett Dirksen, he was the face of theRepublican Party in most of the 1960s, and both made frequent appearances on television news and talk programs. The press jocularly nicknamed his joint appearances with Everett Dirksen as "The Ev & Charlie Show."
After the heavy election setbacks of 1964, Halleck was defeated in his bid to remain Minority Leader byGerald Ford, who was the nominee of theYoung Turks.[17]
In 1983, U.S. PresidentRonald Reagan signed a bill renaming the Federal District Court building inLafayette, Indiana, the Charles A. Halleck Federal Building.[18]
TheCharles Halleck Student Center atSaint Joseph's College in Indiana was named after him.[19] It was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 2016.[20]
Halleck married Blanche Annetta White in 1927, and she died in 1973. They had two children, Charles W. and Patricia.[21] His son,Charles W. Halleck, became an attorney inWashington, D.C., and was a judge of theSuperior Court of the District of Columbia.
Halleck died in Lafayette, Indiana, on March 3, 1986, and is buried next to his wife in Rensselaer.
86th, 87th, 88th Congress (1959-1965) HALLECK, Charles Abraham, Republican (IN)
Smith: What was the beef against Halleck? Friedersdorf: It's a combination of the age thing and minority status... You had a group of Young Turks like Gerald R. Ford and Melvin Laird and Donald Rumsfeld and Bob Griffin, and they were up and coming. It was a generational difference and it was after the '64 election which was such a debacle. We lost a lot of seats in the Goldwater election. The house members felt it was time for Charlie to go.
Media related toCharles A. Halleck at Wikimedia Commons| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | U.S. Representative of Indiana's 2nd Congressional District 1935–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | House Majority Leader 1947–1949 1953–1955 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | House Minority Leader 1959–1965 | Succeeded by |
 | ||
 | ||
| ||
(i) - interim | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
