Henry M. Jackson | |
|---|---|
 Jacksonc. 1971 | |
| United States Senator fromWashington | |
| In office January 3, 1953 – September 1, 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Harry P. Cain |
| Succeeded by | Daniel J. Evans |
| 29thChair of the Democratic National Committee | |
| In office July 17, 1960 – January 21, 1961 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Butler |
| Succeeded by | John Moran Bailey |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWashington's2nd district | |
| In office January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1953 | |
| Preceded by | Monrad Wallgren |
| Succeeded by | Jack Westland |
| Snohomish CountyProsecuting attorney | |
| In office 1938–1940 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Henry Martin Jackson (1912-05-31)May 31, 1912 Everett, Washington, U.S. |
| Died | September 1, 1983(1983-09-01) (aged 71) Everett, Washington, U.S. |
| Resting place | Evergreen Cemetery |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Stanford University (BA) University of Washington (JD) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1941–1942 |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Henry Martin "Scoop"Jackson (May 31, 1912 – September 1, 1983) was an American lawyer and politician who served as aU.S. representative (1941–1953) andU.S. senator (1953–1983) from the state ofWashington. ACold War liberal andanti-Communist member of theDemocratic Party, Jackson supported higher military spending and a hard line against theSoviet Union, while also supporting social welfare programs,civil rights, and labor unions.[1]
Born in Everett, Washington, toNorwegian immigrants, Jackson practiced law in Everett, after graduating from theUniversity of Washington School of Law. He won election to Congress in 1940, and joined the Senate in 1953 after defeating incumbentRepublican Party senatorHarry P. Cain. Jackson supported thecivil rights movement of the 1960s, and authored theNational Environmental Policy Act, which helped establish the principle of publicly analyzing environmental impacts. He co-sponsored theJackson–Vanik amendment, which denied normal trade relations to non-capitalist countries with restrictive emigration policies. Jackson served as chairman of theUnited States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources from 1963 to 1981. He was twice an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic Party nomination in the1972 and1976 presidential elections. While still serving in the Senate, Jackson died in 1983.
His political beliefs were characterized by support of civil rights, human rights, andsafeguarding the environment, but with an equally strong commitment to opposetotalitarianism in general and – with the start of theCold War —communist rule in particular.[2] Jackson's political philosophies and positions have been cited as an influence on a number of key figures associated withneoconservatism, includingPaul Wolfowitz andRichard Perle, both of whom previously served as aides to Jackson.[1]
Jackson was born in the home of his parents, Marine (née Andersen) and Peter Jackson, inEverett, Washington, on May 31, 1912. His mother and father were both immigrants from Norway.[3] Peter Jackson was born Peter Gresseth in theKristiansund area, and changed his name when he immigrated. He met Marine, who was born inAlvenes at the Lutheran church in Everett, where they were married in 1897. Henry was the fifth, and youngest, of the Jackson children; he was nicknamed "Scoop" by his sister in his childhood, after a comic strip character that he was said to have resembled.[2] Jackson was a member of theNational Honor Society.[4] He went on to graduate with a B.A. degree fromStanford University, and a J.D. degree from theUniversity of Washington School of Law, where he joined theDelta Chi fraternity.
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In 1935, the year of his law school graduation, he was admitted to the bar, and began to practice law in Everett. He found immediate success, and was elected to become theprosecuting attorney forSnohomish County from 1938 to 1940, where he made a name for himself prosecutingbootleggers and gamblers.
Jackson successfully ran for the U.S. Congress as a Democrat in 1940 and took his seat in the House of Representatives with the77th Congress on January 3, 1941. From then on, Jackson did not lose any congressional elections. Jackson joined the Army whenthe United States entered World War II but left whenFranklin D. Roosevelt ordered all representatives to return home or resign their seats. He visited theBuchenwald concentration camp a few days after its liberation in 1945. He also visited his native Norway, where he observed the repatriation to Russia ofRed Army soldiers captured by the Nazis, in which he recalled
"I remember how reluctant most Russians were to return to theSoviet Union. They knew they would have even less freedom there."[3]
He attended the International Maritime Conference inCopenhagen, Denmark, in 1945 with the American delegation, and he was elected president of the same conference in 1946, when it was held inSeattle. From 1945 to 1947, Jackson was also the chairman of the House Indian Affairs Committee. In the1952 U.S. House election, Jackson relinquished his seat in the House for a run for one of Washington's Senate seats. Jackson soundly defeated Republican senatorHarry P. Cain and remained a senator for over thirty years. He was Washington's first U.S. senator to be born in the state. Jackson died in office in 1983 after winning re-election for the fifth time in 1982.
Although Jackson opposed the excesses ofJoe McCarthy, who had traveled to Washington state to campaign against him, he criticizedDwight Eisenhower for not spending enough on national defense. Jackson called for more inter-continental ballistic missiles in the national arsenal, and his support for nuclear weapons resulted in a primary challenge from the left in 1958, when he handily defeated Seattle peace activist Alice Franklin Bryant before winning re-election with 67 percent of the vote, which he topped the next four times he ran for re-election.[1][5]
During the1960 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Jackson was the first choice of fellow senatorJohn F. Kennedy for a running mate; Kennedy became convinced that a Southerner would better balance the ticket.[6]Lyndon B. Johnson was later selected. Jackson boasted one of the strongest records on civil rights during the civil rights movement.[7][8] He supported the 1957 and the 1964 Civil Rights Acts. On July 22, 1965, Johnson signed the Water Resources Planning Act into law, citing Jackson as one of the Congress members to "have made a very invaluable and very farsighted contribution to America's future."[9] In April 1968, responding to the assassination ofMartin Luther King Jr., Jackson gave a speech about the legacy and injustice of inequality.[10]
In 1963 Jackson was made chairman of theCommittee on Interior and Insular Affairs, which became the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in 1977, a position he held until 1981. In the 1970s, Jackson joined with fellow senatorsErnest Hollings andEdward Kennedy in a press conference to opposeGerald Ford's request for Congress to endRichard Nixon'sprice controls on domestic oil, which had provoked oil companies into withholding gasoline during the1973 oil crisis.[11][12] Kaufman writes that, after 1968, Jackson "emerged as an intellectual and political leader in the perennial struggle of U.S. foreign policy to reconcile ideals with self-interest."[6]
Jackson authored theNational Environmental Policy Act, which has been called one of the most influential environmental laws in history. It helped to stimulate similar laws and the principle of publicly analyzed environmental impact in other states and in much of the world.[13] Jackson was also a leader of the fight for statehood forAlaska and Hawaii. In 1974, Jackson sponsored theJackson–Vanik amendment in the Senate (withCharles Vanik sponsoring it in the House), which denied normal trade relations to certain countries with non-market economies that restricted the freedom of emigration. The amendment was intended to help refugees, particularly minorities, specifically Jews, to emigrate from theSoviet Bloc. Jackson and his assistant,Richard Perle, also lobbied personally for some people who were affected by this law such asNatan Sharansky.
Throughout his time as senator, Jackson was a strong supporter of Israel. In 1970, he urged PresidentNixon to sellF-4 Phantom II fighter jets to that country, on the terms that amounted to a grant. During theYom Kippur War, Jackson, alongside fellow Congressional leaders demanded an urgent resupply of weapons, to ensure that Israeli forces would have the material, diplomatic and political support necessary for a victory. When the Nixon administration balked at direct and visible material support, Jackson worked withSecretary of DefenseJames Schlesinger,Director of the Bureau of Political-Military AffairsSeymor Weiss, and senior American military commanders, notablyChief of Naval OperationsElmo Zumwalt, to secure the decision to airlift vital weapons and ammunition to a "gravely imperiled IDF".[14] On December 1968 Jackson declined Nixon's offer to serve asSecretary of Defense.[15]
In 1975, after PresidentFord announced he would not invite Soviet dissidentAleksander Solzhenitsyn to the White House, for fear of angering the Soviet Union, Jackson and a group of other senators asked Solzhenitsyn to speak at an office in theCapitol.[16] Jackson was also one of the first senators to call for the normalization of relations with China, and was instrumental in arranging many business, educational, and community contacts betweenWashington and China.[17][18]
In March 1975 Jackson released a statement in which he expressed the view that it was paramount theFranklin Peroff case be found out to be either "an aberration or was symptomatic of much greater problem" within the Drug Enforcement Administration.[19] In June 1975, Jackson stated that if accounts about the conduct of former director of the Drug Enforcement AgencyJohn R. Bartels Jr. were correct then his actions amounted to obstruction of justice and that evidence disclosed "in the last two days would indicate that there was a conscious, premeditated plan involving misconduct at the highest levels of the D.E.A."[20]
In July 1977 the Senate approved a funding for the experimental nuclear reactor compromise proposal by Jackson and Idaho senatorFrank Church. While the initial version byJimmy Carter sought a decrease in funding from 150 million to 33 million, the Jackson and Church measure halved the funding to 75 million.[21] In October 1979, the Senate voted in favor of Carter's energy mobilization board plan, Jackson labeling the plan the "centerpiece" of Carter's program that was essential to guaranteeing the effectiveness of the rest of the legislation and was noted for successfully persuading colleagues to reject amendments to the plan.[22] Later that month, after the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted in favor of the Alaska public lands legislation, Carter issued a statement thanking Jackson and other members for supporting the legislation.[23]
Jackson led the opposition within the Democratic Party against theSALT II treaty. For decades, Democrats who support a strong international presence for the United States have been called "Scoop Jackson Democrats," and the term was still used to describe Democrats such asJoe Lieberman andR. James Woolsey Jr by the 2000s.[24][25]
Jackson served for all but the last three years of his Senate tenure with Democratic colleague and friendWarren G. Magnuson. As a result, he spent 28 years as the state's junior senator, even though he had more seniority than all but a few of his colleagues. "Scoop" and "Maggie", as they affectionately called each other, gave Washington clout in national politics well beyond its population. They were one of the most effective delegations in the history of the Senate in terms of "bringing home the bacon" for their home state. Washington received nearly a sixth of public works appropriations but ranked only 23rd in population.[26]
Jackson was known as a hawkish Democrat. He was often criticized for his support for theVietnam War and his close ties to the defense industries of his state. His proposal ofFort Lawton as a site for ananti-ballistic missile system was strongly opposed by local residents, and Jackson was forced to modify his position on the location of the site several times, but continued to support ABM development. American Indian rights activists who protested Jackson's plan to give Fort Lawton to Seattle, instead of returning it to local tribes, staged asit-in. In the eventual compromise, most of Fort Lawton becameDiscovery Park, with 20 acres (8.1 ha) leased toUnited Indians of All Tribes, who opened theDaybreak Star Cultural Center there in 1977.
Opponents derided him as "the senator fromBoeing",[27] as well as a "whore for Boeing",[28] because of his consistent support for additional military spending on weapons systems and accusations of wrongful contributions from the company; in 1965, 80% of Boeing's contracts were military.[1][26] Jackson and Magnuson's campaigning for an expensive governmentsupersonic transport plane project eventually failed. In addition, contrary to claims that he was an environmentalist, Jackson was almost as much a "whore for logging companies" as for Boeing, according Carsten Lien's bookOlympic Battleground.[29]
After his death, critics pointed to Jackson's support forJapanese American internment camps duringWorld War II as a reason to protest the placement ofhis bust at the University of Washington.[30] Jackson was both an enthusiastic defender of the evacuation and a staunch proponent of the campaign to keep the Japanese-Americans from returning to the Pacific Coast after the war.[31]
Jackson was not only successful as a politician in Washington state, but he also found recognition on the national level. He rose to the position of chairman of theDemocratic National Committee in 1960, after being considered for the vice presidential ticket spot that eventually went to fellow senatorLyndon B. Johnson. Jackson ran for president twice, and both campaigns were noted for the hostile reception they received from the left wing of the Democratic Party. Jackson's one-on-one campaigning skills, which were extremely successful in Washington state, did not translate as well to the national stage. Even his supporters admitted that he suffered from a certain lack of charisma.[1][32][33]
Jackson was little known nationally when he first ran in1972.George McGovern, who eventually won the nomination, even accused Jackson of racism for his opposition tobusing despite Jackson's longstanding record on civil rights issues. Jackson's high point in the campaign was a distant third in the early Florida primary, but he failed to stand out of the pack of better-known rivals, and he made real news only later in the campaign, as part of the "Stop McGovern" coalition, which raised what would be known as the "Acid, Amnesty and Abortion" questions about McGovern. Jackson suspended active campaigning in May after a weak showing in the Ohio primary and finishing well behind McGovern,Ed Muskie, George Wallace, andHubert Humphrey in early primaries.
Jackson re-emerged at the July Democratic convention after the runner-up, Humphrey, dropped out of the race. Jackson's name was placed in nomination byGeorgia governorJimmy Carter, and he finished second in the delegate roll call, well behind nominee McGovern.[33][34] While campaigning in New York City, Jackson invited Meir Kahane, the leader of the violent organization the Jewish Defense League, to stand with him on stage to gain favor with Jewish Americans.[35]
Jackson raised his national profile by speaking out on Soviet-U.S. relations and Middle East policy regularly, and he was considered a front-runner for the nomination when he announced the start of his campaign in February 1975. Jackson received substantial financial support from Jewish-Americans who admired his pro-Israel views, but his support of the Vietnam War resulted in hostility from the left wing of the Democratic Party. Jackson chose to run on social issues, emphasizing law and order and his opposition to busing. He was hoping for support from labor, but the possibility thatHubert Humphrey might enter the race caused unions to offer only lukewarm support.[1][32][33][36] Jackson made the fateful decision not to compete in the early Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, which Carter won after liberals split their votes among four other candidates. Even though Jackson won the Massachusetts and New York primaries, he dropped out on May 1 after losing the criticalPennsylvania primary to Carter by 12% and running out of money.[1][32][33][36]
On the evening of September 1, 1983, Jackson suffered a heart attack at his home in Everett, and was pronounced dead at nearbyProvidence Hospital at the age of 71. His death came suddenly, occurring hours after he had given a news conference condemning the Soviet attack onKorean Air Lines Flight 007.[2][37]
Jackson's death was greatly mourned. New York SenatorDaniel Patrick Moynihan stated that "Henry Jackson is proof of the old belief in the Judaic tradition that at any moment in history goodness in the world is preserved by the deeds of36 just men who do not know that this is the role the Lord has given them. Henry Jackson was one of those men." Jackson is buried inEvergreen Cemetery in Everett.
In 1961, Jackson, called byTime the Senate's "most eligible bachelor",[38] married Helen Hardin, a 28-year-old Senate receptionist who was 20 years his junior. Jackson did not move out of his childhood home, where he lived with his unmarried sisters for several years. The Jacksons had two children: Anna Marie Laurence and Peter Jackson. Peter went on to serve as a speechwriter for GovernorChristine Gregoire and to lead the effort to found the Center for Human Rights at theUniversity of Washington, which now has a scholarship in his name.
Jackson was posthumously awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedom in 1984.Ronald Reagan called him "one of the greatest lawmakers of our century", and stated:
"Scoop Jackson was convinced that there's no place for partisanship in foreign and defense policy. He used to say, 'In matters of national security, the best politics is no politics.' His sense of bipartisanship was not only natural and complete; it was courageous. He wanted to be President, but I think he must have known that his outspoken ideas on the security of the Nation would deprive him of the chance to be his party's nominee in 1972 and '76. Still, he would not cut his convictions to fit the prevailing style.I'm deeply proud, as he would have been, to have Jackson Democrats serve in my administration. I'm proud that some of them have found a home here."
Soviet dissident and later Israeli politicianNatan Sharansky recalled when he was imprisoned by theKGB that
"There was one name mentioned not once, not dozens, but hundreds of times, the name of the man who was singled out as head of this plot, as my closest and most important comrade in crime. It was the name of a man whom I had never met or spoken to on the telephone, but who symbolized for me all those in the free world who had supported the struggle for Soviet Jewry, the very best that was in the West. It was the name of Senator Henry Jackson."
In 1983, Jackson was awarded Delta Chi of the Year. One of Jackson's last acts as Senator was to sponsor legislation creating what became theHenry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine,[39] which was named after him after his death. Jackson's extended community of staff, colleagues and family members created the Henry M. Jackson Foundation from public monies and private donations to give grants to nonprofits and educational institutions. Its board members have included Richard Perle,Tom Foley, andJeane Kirkpatrick.[40][41]
TheU.S. NavyOhio-classballistic missile submarineHenry M. Jackson was named after him, in recognition of his longtime support of the nation's military. It is the only Ohio-class submarine not named after a U.S. state. On March 28, 1981, Jackson gave the principal address at the christening of theUSSBremerton (SSN 698). TheBremerton was the second ship to have the name, preceded by theUSSBremerton (CA 130). It was christened by Mrs. Henry M. Jackson on July 22, 1978. The USSBremerton (SSN 698) was mentioned in the classicTom Clancy novel,The Hunt for Red October. TheUniversity of Washington has named theJackson School of International Studies in his honor. However, students objecting to Jackson's hawkish views on the Cold War in the mid-1980s caused the university to move abust of the senator to the end of an abandoned corridor until it was restored to a more prominent place outside the Jackson School in 2006.[30]
In 1983, theSnohomish County Public Utility District began operation of theHenry M. Jackson Hydroelectric Project outsideSultan, Washington. In 1994, theEverett School District completed construction ofHenry M. Jackson High School inMill Creek, Washington. TheHenry M. Jackson Wilderness Area was created in his honor by the 1984 Washington Wilderness Act. TheJewish Institute for National Security Affairs, with the cooperation of the Jackson family, awards a Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson Distinguished Service Award to individuals for their career dedication to U.S. national security. Jackson won the first award in 1982, and it was named after him after his death. Winners includeMax Cleland,Joe Lieberman,Dick Cheney,Jane Harman, andPaul Wolfowitz.[42]
The Seattle-basedHenry M. Jackson Foundation was created in 1983 by his former colleagues and staff, as well as his widow and other family members, to further his work. In 1987, the Department of Defense gave to the Jackson Foundation a one-time, $10 million appropriation for its endowment, in honor of the Senator. To date, the Foundation has awarded over $26 million in grants to educational and non-profit institutions. Jackson also sponsored legislation to form the Foundation to Advance Military Medicine, which was later renamed in his honor at the time of his death, to theHenry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine.
Jackson believed that evil should be confronted with power.[41] His support forcivil rights and equality at home,[30] married to his opposition todétente,[41] his support for human rights,[43] along with that of democratic allies,[44] and his firm belief that the United States could be a force for good in the world,[45] and inspired a legion of loyal aides who went on to propound Jackson's philosophy as part of neoconservatism. In addition to Richard Perle, neoconservativesPaul Wolfowitz,Bill Kristol,Elliot Abrams,Charles Horner, andDouglas Feith were former Democratic aides to Jackson who, disillusioned with the Carter administration, supportedRonald Reagan and joined his administration in 1981, later becoming prominent foreign policy makers in the 21st-centuryBush administration. NeoconservativeBen Wattenberg was a prominent political aide to Jackson's 1972 and 1976 presidential campaigns. Wolfowitz has called himself a "Scoop Jackson Republican" on multiple occasions.[43][46] Many journalists and scholars across the political spectrum have noted links between Senator Jackson and modern neoconservatism.[1][41][44][47][48][49][50][51][52][2]
Jackson's influence on foreign policy has been cited as foundational to theGeorge W. Bush administration's foreign policy, and theIraq War.[53] Jackson biographer Robert Kaufman says "There is no question in my mind that the people who supported Iraq are supporting Henry Jackson's instincts."[41]Peter Beinart argues that the Democratic Party should return to Jackson's values in its foreign policy, criticizing current-day neoconservatives for failing to adopt Jackson's domestic policy views along with his foreign policy views.[45][48]
In 2005, theHenry Jackson Society was formed at theUniversity of Cambridge, England. The non-partisan British group is dedicated to "pursuit of a robust foreign policy ... based on clear universal principles such as the global promotion of the rule of law, liberal democracy, civil rights, environmental responsibility and the market economy" as part of "Henry Jackson's legacy."[54] The organization is now based in London and hosts high-profile speaker events in theHouse of Commons.
Jackson's documents were donated to theUniversity of Washington shortly after his death in 1983, and have been archived there ever since.[55] When the materials were donated in 1983, university staff removed all information consideredclassified at the time.[56] Additional materials were added to the collection until 1995.[55] At some point, library staff discovered a classified document in the collection and sent it to the government fordeclassification.[57] In response, in the summer of 2004, a man who identified himself as an employee of theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) called theUniversity of Washington asking to inspect Senator Jackson's archived documents housed there. He found a document labeled as classified and showed this to a librarian.[58]In February 2005, 22 years after Jackson's death, a five-person team including staff of the CIA,Department of Defense, theDepartment of Energy, and theInformation Security Oversight Office came to the library to review all of Jackson's papers to remove anything still considered classified, or reclassified since then. The Department of Energy found nothing of concern, but the CIA blanked lines in about 20 papers and pulled 8 documents out of collection.[58][59][56][60][61] As of 2018[update], some files in the collection are available only to those regarded by the library as "serious researchers", who must first sign a release not to divulge some of the information contained in the files.[55][62]
| Year | Democrat | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct | 3rd party | Party | Votes | Pct | 3rd party | Party | Votes | Pct | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Henry M. Jackson | 595,288 | 56.23% | Harry P. Cain | 460,884 | 43.53% | Thomas C. Rabbitt | Progressive | 1,912 | 0.18% | Henry Killman | Socialist Labor | 651 | 0.06% | |||||
| 1958 | Henry M. Jackson | 597,040 | 67.32% | William B. Bantz | 278,271 | 31.38% | Henry Killman | Socialist Labor | 7,592 | 0.86% | Archie G. Idso | Constitution | 2,257 | 0.26% | |||||
| 1964 | Henry M. Jackson | 875,950 | 72.21% | Lloyd J. Andrews | 337,138 | 27.79% | |||||||||||||
| 1970 | Henry M. Jackson | 879,385 | 82.43% | Charles W. Elicker | 170,790 | 16.01% | William Massey | Socialist Workers | 9,255 | 0.87% | Edison Fisk | Buffalo | 7,377 | 0.69% | |||||
| 1976 | Henry M. Jackson | 1,071,219 | 71.84% | George M. Brown | 361,546 | 24.25% | Dave Smith | American Independent | 28,182 | 1.89% | Richard K. Kenney | Libertarian | 19,373 | 1.30% | |||||
| 1982 | Henry M. Jackson | 943,665 | 68.96% | Douglas Jewett | 332,273 | 24.28% | King Lysen | Independent | 72,297 | 5.28% | Jesse Chiang | Independent | 20,251 | 1.48% |
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