Millard Tydings | |
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| United States Senator fromMaryland | |
| In office March 4, 1927 – January 3, 1951 | |
| Preceded by | Ovington Weller |
| Succeeded by | John Marshall Butler |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's2nd district | |
| In office March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1927 | |
| Preceded by | Albert Blakeney |
| Succeeded by | William Purington Cole, Jr. |
| Member of theMaryland Senate | |
| In office 1922–1923 | |
| Preceded by | J. Royston Stifler |
| Succeeded by | David G. Harry |
| Constituency | Harford County |
| 87thSpeaker of the Maryland House of Delegates | |
| In office January 1920 – September 1920 | |
| Preceded by | Herbert R. Wooden |
| Succeeded by | John L. G. Lee |
| Member of theMaryland House of Delegates from theHarford County district | |
| In office 1920–1920 Serving with Frederick Lee Cobourn andJ. Fletcher Hopkins | |
| In office 1916–1917 Serving with Frank E. Baker andThomas H. Ward | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Millard Evelyn Tydings (1890-04-06)April 6, 1890 Havre de Grace, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | February 9, 1961(1961-02-09) (aged 70) near Havre de Grace, Maryland, U.S. |
| Resting place | Angel Hill Cemetery Havre de Grace, Maryland, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Eleanor Tydings Ditzen |
| Education | University of Maryland |
| Profession | Civil engineer,lawyer, politician, author |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1917–1919 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
Millard Evelyn Tydings (April 6, 1890 – February 9, 1961) was an Americanattorney, author, soldier,state legislator, and served as aDemocraticRepresentative andSenator in theUnited States Congress fromMaryland, serving in the House from 1923 to 1927 and in the Senate from 1927 to 1951.
Tydings was born inHavre de Grace, located inHarford County, and was the son of Mary Bond (O'Neill) and Millard Fillmore Tydings.[1] He attended the public schools of Harford County and graduated from Maryland Agricultural College (now theUniversity of Maryland, College Park) in 1910. He engaged incivil engineering with theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad inWest Virginia in 1911. He studied law at theUniversity of Maryland School of Law, inBaltimore, and was admitted to thebar; he started practice in Havre de Grace in 1913.
In 1916 Tydings was elected to theMaryland House of Delegates; he was elected as Speaker of the House by his colleagues from 1920 to 1922. He served in theMaryland State Senate during 1922–1923.[2]
Tydings served in theU.S. Army during World War I and was promoted tolieutenant colonel and divisionmachine-gun officer in 1918. He served on the Western Front with theAmerican Expeditionary Forces and received theDistinguished Service Cross andArmy Distinguished Service Medal.[3]
In 1922, Tydings was elected as aDemocrat to the 68th session of the U.S. Congress, and was re-elected to the 69th session, representing thesecond district of Maryland (March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1927) in the House of Representatives. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1926, having become a candidate for theUnited States Senate.
He was elected to the Senate in 1926, 1932, 1938 and 1944, and served from March 4, 1927, to January 3, 1951. With Alabama RepresentativeJohn McDuffie, he co-sponsored the Philippine Independence Act, commonly known as theTydings–McDuffie Act, which established an autonomous 10-year Commonwealth status for thePhilippines. It was planned to culminate in the withdrawal of American sovereignty and the recognition of Philippine Independence.
In January 1934, Tydings introduced a resolution "condemningNazi oppression ofJews in Germany, and askingPresident Roosevelt to inform theHitler government that this country was profoundly distressed about itsantisemitic measures." His resolution was bottled up in theSenate Foreign Relations Committee.[4]
In 1936, Senator Tydings introduced a bill in Congress calling for independence forPuerto Rico, but it was opposed byLuis Muñoz Marín, an influential leader of Puerto Rico's pro-independence Liberal Party.[5] Tydings did not gain passage of the bill.[5]
Following the end of World War II, when the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, Tydings sponsored a bill calling for the U.S. to lead the world innuclear disarmament.[6]
In March 1950, Tydings was appointed to head a committee, generally known as theTydings Committee, to investigateJoseph McCarthy's early claims ofCommunist penetration of the federal government and military.[7] The hearings revolved around McCarthy's charge that the fall of theKuomintang regime in China had been caused by the actions of allegedSoviet spies in theState Department, and his allegation that theSinologistOwen Lattimore was a "top Russian agent." The hearings, held from March to July 1950, were stormy as charge was met with counter-charge. In McCarthy's first 250 minutes on the stand, Tydings interrupted him 85 times with questions and demands for substantiation,[8] enraging McCarthy who condemned Tydings as an "egg-sucking liberal".[9] As such, the trial attracted much media attention, especially afterLouis F. Budenz entered the proceedings as a surprise witness supporting McCarthy's charges. In July, the committee published its report, concluding that McCarthy's accusations were spurious and condemning his charges as an intentionally nefarious hoax.
When Tydings ran for re-election in 1950, he battled Senator McCarthy and would dismiss the Senator's claims of Communist infiltration of the State Department as "a fraud and a hoax."[10] McCarthy's staff distributed a composite picture of Tydings withEarl Browder, the former leader of the American Communist Party. Tydings had never met him before Browder testified in July 1950. The composite photo merged a 1938 photo of Tydings listening to the radio and a 1940 photo of Browder delivering a speech; the text under the composite photo stated that when Browder had testified before Tydings's committee, Tydings had said, "Thank you, sir." Although the quote was technically accurate, it was generally held to be misleading, as it implied a degree of amity between Browder and Tydings that did not exist.[11]
In the 1950 election, Tydings was defeated byJohn Marshall Butler. In 1956, he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate but withdrew before election due to ill health.[12]
During his congressional service, Tydings was chairman of theUnited States Senate Committee on Territories and Insular Affairs (73rd through 79th Congresses), the Subcommittee on the Investigation of Loyalty of State Department Employees ("Tydings Subcommittee") (81st Congress), and theU.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services (81st Congress).
During his time in the Senate, Tydings was well known for taking principled, controversial, often unusual stands on various issues. As a centrist Democrat, Tydings cautiously backed theNew Deal, while dispensing its jobs as his personal patronage.[13] In 1935, Tydings, who was opposed to the flexibility which the U.S. Treasury had accrued with respect to debt management, proposed aconstitutional amendment which would have prohibited appropriations in excess of revenues in the absence of a new debt authorization and would required that any new debt be liquidated over a 15-year period.[14] He was a strong critic ofProhibition prior to itsrepeal in 1933.[6]
Tydings in 1937 broke with President Franklin Roosevelt, by opposing the president's"court packing" proposal.[13] In retaliation Roosevelt campaigned against him in 1938, speaking in Eastern Maryland on behalf of his opponent, Congressman David J. Lewis. The state's newspapers overwhelmingly supported Tydings and denounced Roosevelt's interference. Tydings easily won re-election.[15] According to Philip A. Grant Jr.:[16]
Tydings' solid victory was interpreted as a serious political blow to the president, yet Roosevelt's 1940 performance in Maryland was creditable, suggesting that state Democrats, while resenting the assault on Tydings, nevertheless favored the New Deal and FDR's leadership. The equation of newspaper opinion with public opinion, in this case, is erroneous. Tydings won on his own record and merits, and the impact of the President's politicking was probably negligible.
Biographer Caroline H. Keith is sympathetic in general, but concludes that Tydings' intense vitriol, harshness and arrogance left him an isolated politician with few friends.[17]
Millard E. Tydings died on February 9, 1961, at his farm, "Oakington", near Havre de Grace, Maryland. He was buried inAngel Hill Cemetery.[18] Tydings' gravestone incorrectly gives his Senate election year (1926) as the start of his Senate service, which began in 1927.[citation needed]
Tydings' adopted son,Joseph Tydings, was elected to a term as a U.S. Senator from Maryland in 1964, but was defeated for re-election in 1970, serving from 1965 to 1971.
His wife was Eleanor Tydings Ditzen.[19] Her father wasJoseph E. Davies, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the USSR, Belgium and Luxembourg.[20][21]
Tydings' granddaughterAlexandra Tydings is an actress.
The law firm which Millard Tydings formed with Morris Rosenberg continues its law practice today in Baltimore, Maryland.[22]
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Media related toMillard Tydings at Wikimedia Commons| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromMaryland (Class 3) 1926,1932,1938,1944,1950 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates 1920 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of theSenate Armed Services Committee 1949–1951 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's 2nd congressional district 1923–1927 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 3) from Maryland 1927–1951 Served alongside:William Cabell Bruce,Phillips Lee Goldsborough, George L. P. Radcliffe,Herbert O'Conor | Succeeded by |
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| Class 3 | ||
Chairs of theUnited States Senate Committee on Armed Services | ||
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| Military Affairs Committee (1816–1947) | | |
| Naval Affairs Committee (1816–1947) | ||
| Armed Services Committee (1947–present) | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
