Bennett Champ Clark | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit | |
| In office September 28, 1945 – July 13, 1954 | |
| Appointed by | Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | Thurman Arnold |
| Succeeded by | Walter M. Bastian |
| United States Senator fromMissouri | |
| In office February 3, 1933 – January 3, 1945 | |
| Preceded by | Harry B. Hawes |
| Succeeded by | Forrest C. Donnell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joel Bennett Clark (1890-01-08)January 8, 1890 Bowling Green,Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | July 13, 1954(1954-07-13) (aged 64) Gloucester,Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | University of Missouri (BA) George Washington University (LLB) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1917–1919 1921-1928 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Unit | 35th Division 88th Division |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
Joel Bennett Clark (January 8, 1890 – July 13, 1954), better known asBennett Champ Clark, was aDemocraticUnited States senator from Missouri from 1933 until 1945, and was later acircuit judge of theDistrict of Columbia Circuit. He was a leading isolationist in foreign policy.
During the Thirties, Clark opposed a number ofNew Deal measures such as tax reform, the NRA, and the AAA, and by 1937 had become (according to one historian) “one of the organizers of the conservative coalition in Congress.”[1] Nevertheless, Clark identified himself with liberalism,[2] and during his senate career publicly supportedNew Deal initiatives aimed at providing social security,[3] promoting homebuilding,[4] and improving working conditions.[5]
Clark was born into a political family; his father wasChamp Clark, who served asSpeaker of the United States House of Representatives.[6] His mother was Genevieve Davis (Bennett) Clark.[7][8] Clark's sister,Genevieve Clark Thomson was also active in politics as a women's suffrage activist.[7]
Clark was born inBowling Green,Missouri,[9] and was raised and educated in Bowling Green andWashington, D.C.[6] He was a graduate of Washington, D.C.'sEastern High School.[6] Clark graduated from theUniversity of Missouri inColumbia, Missouri with aBachelor of Arts degree in 1912 and was a member ofPhi Beta Kappa.[10] In 1914, he graduated from theGeorge Washington University Law School with aBachelor of Laws.[10] In addition to Phi Beta Kappa, Clark's other academic affiliations includedOrder of the Coif,Delta Sigma Rho,Delta Tau Delta, andPhi Delta Phi.[11]
Clark becameparliamentarian of theUnited States House of Representatives in 1913, while still in law school.[6] He served until 1917,[6] when he resigned in order to join theUnited States Army forWorld War I.[9] In 1916, he was chosen to serve as parliamentarian of that year'sDemocratic National Convention.[11]
Clark joined the United States Army in 1917, completed officer training at the First Officers' Training Camp held atFort Myer,Virginia, and was commissioned as acaptain.[6] He was then electedlieutenant colonel and second in command of the 6th Missouri Infantry Regiment, a unit of theMissouri National Guard.[6] This unit was subsequently called to federal service as the140th Infantry Regiment, a unit of the35th Division.[6] After arriving in France, Clark served on the headquarters staffs of both the 35th and88th Divisions.[6] In March 1919, Clark was promoted tocolonel while serving in the post-war Army that occupied Germany.[6] Clark left active service in May 1919. He later rejoined the Missouri National Guard in 1921 as a major, serving on the staff of the adjutant general until 1928.
He was an organizer of the firstAmerican Legion convention inParis, and was elected as the organization's first national commander.[6] After leaving the Army in 1919, Clark maintained a lifelong active interest in the 35th Division Veterans Association, the American Legion, and theVeterans of Foreign Wars.[11] From 1919 to 1922, Clark served as president of theNational Guard Association of the United States.[11]
In 1919, Clark began practicing law inSt. Louis, Missouri.[9] In the 1920s he researched and authored a biography ofJohn Quincy Adams,[11] and was active in politics as a campaign speaker for Democratic candidates in Missouri.[12][13] In 1928 he considered running for the United States Senate seat of the retiringJames A. Reed, but decided not to make the race.[14]
Clark was a delegate to the1928 Democratic National Convention.[11] He served again as a delegate to theDemocratic National Convention of 1936.[11] He was a delegate againin 1940, and served as a delegate to the party's national conventionin 1944.[11] In 1944, Clark made the speech nominatingHarry S. Truman for vice president.[15]
In the1932 election, Clark ran for theUnited States Senate seat held by the retiringHarry B. Hawes,[16] and relied on his base among veterans to defeat two other candidates for the Democratic nomination.[17] Clark defeatedHenry Kiel in the general election for the term beginning March 4, 1933.[16] Hawes resigned on February 3, 1933, a month before his term was to end, and Clark was appointed to fill the vacancy, gaining seniority on other senators elected in 1932.[16] Clark was re-elected in the1938 election, and served from February 3, 1933, to January 3, 1945.[16]In 1944, Clark was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination, losing the Democratic primary to state Attorney GeneralRoy McKittrick, who lost the general election to Republican GovernorForrest C. Donnell.[16]
In fall of 1937, Clark displayed a poster on the wall of the Senate chamber that included two images of the dead bodies of Roosevelt Townes and Robert McDaniels, victims of a lynching in Duck Hill, Mississippi in April. The poster read, "These blow torch lynchings occurred while theWagner-Van Nuys Anti-Lynching Bill was Pending before Congress. There have been NO arrests, NO Indictments, NO Convictions, of any one of the lynchers. This was NOT a rape case."[18]
Clark was chairman of the Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals from 1937 to 1935.[16] He was a member of the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents from 1940 to 1944.[16]
In April 1943, a confidential analysis of theSenate Foreign Relations Committee (of which Clark was a member) by British scholarIsaiah Berlin for the BritishForeign Office succinctly characterized Clark as:
a rabid isolationist and member of theAmerican First Committee who has steadily voted against all the foreign policies and war measures of the Administration with the exception of the reciprocal trade agreements (in which the corn exporters of Missouri have some interest). A member of theWheeler-Nye-[Robert A.]Taft coterie. An avowed Anglophobe.[19]
On January 29, 1944, Clark declared on the floor of the Senate thatEmperor Hirohito should behanged as awar criminal at the war's end. In the same year, he was the first senator to introduce theG.I. Bill proposal in theUnited States Congress.[20]
When Congress began work on the G.I. Bill in 1944 it had originally expressed concern about possible misuse of the "blue discharge" (now called an "Other Than Honorable discharge"). In testimony before the United States Senate, Rear AdmiralRandall Jacobs strongly opposed the provision to include Veterans with blue discharges on the grounds that it would undermine morale and remove any incentive to maintain a good service record. Senator Clark, a sponsor (writer) of the GI Bill, dismissed his concerns, calling them "some of the most stupid, short-sighted objections which could be raised".[21] Clark went on to say:
The Army is giving Blue discharges, namely discharges without honor, to those who have had no fault other than they have not shown sufficient aptitude for military service. I say that when the government puts a man in the military service and, thereafter, because the man does not show sufficient aptitude gives him a blue discharge, or a discharge without honor, that fact should not be permitted to prevent the man from receiving the benefits to which soldiers are generally entitled.[21]
Clark was nominated by PresidentHarry S. Truman on September 12, 1945, to an Associate Justice seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (United States Circuit Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from June 25, 1948) vacated by Associate JusticeThurman Arnold.[9] He was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on September 24, 1945, and received his commission on September 28, 1945.[9] His service terminated on July 13, 1954, due to his death.[9]
Clark was ill during the last year of his life and died inGloucester,Massachusetts on July 13, 1954.[16] He was buried atArlington National Cemetery.[16]
Clark was the recipient ofhonorary degrees from several colleges and universities.[11] He received honoraryLL.D. degrees from the University of Missouri,Marshall College,Bethany College, andWashington and Lee University.[11]
In 1922, Clark married Miriam Marsh, the daughter ofWilbur W. Marsh.[15] They were the parents of three children, Champ, Marsh, and Kimball.[15] Miriam Clark died in 1943, and in 1945 Clark married British actressViolet Heming.[15] The ceremony took place at theBerryville, Virginia home of Clark's sister,[7] and President Truman served as best man.[15]
Clark and other isolationist senators are referenced in theWoody Guthrie songMister Charlie Lindbergh.[22] Guthrie's 1943 lyrics condemn pre-World War II isolationism and advocate for leaders committed to defeating fascism.[22]
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forsenator from Missouri (Class 3) 1932,1938 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | United States senator (Class 3) from Missouri 1933–1945 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 1945–1954 | Succeeded by |
| Class 1 |  | |
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| Class 3 | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
