The effort to add more supreme justices to the Supreme Court. It is my pleasure to introduce our speaker. Are store would be more than happy to sell you one to 10 copies. So Mark C Johnson has worked as a broadcast journalist. And as a communication and Crisis Management consultant. A graduate of south dakota university. He has chaired the Federation Councils and served as a National Endowment for the humanities. He writes and speaks regularly on political history, with particular focus on the new deal. His writing on politics, and history has appeared in numerous regional and National Publications including the new york times, the california journal of politics and most importantly montana, them magazine of western history. Welcome mark johnson. [ applause ] well, thank you. Take you to the Montana Historical society for having me tonight to talk about this ancient history. I keep trying to figure out a way to begin these talks. I am always reminded that he has been dead for 40 years, he was elected when harding was in the white house. How do you make this prevalent relevant . I want to begin tonight to ask you to keep in mind as we unwind the story of wheeler. A little history about the u. S. Senate. Keep in mind a couple of facts about the senate and our history. If you remember, the senate is endowed with certain responsibilities. Unique to our politics. They have sixyear terms. Longer than any other federal official. The senate has a responsibility to ratify treaties. And to advise appointments to the judiciary and other high positions. Unique responsibilities invested in the United States senate. So, i want to quote, i want to quote one of his contemporaries. A guy named mansfield. Mike mansfield. In 1963 Mike Mansfield was the Senate Majority leader and was prepared to deliver to some of the critics who complained about his leadership style. They said that he was too laid back and not pushing the democratic agenda. And mansfield, the mansfield so this all rather politely and decided that he would respond to this. Unfortunately he was scheduled to deliver that speech on the friday afternoon when john f. Kennedy was assassinated. He never gave the speech until many years later when he is invited back to speak in the Old Senate Chamber to inaugurate a series of lectures about senate history. And Mike Mansfield said something really profound about the responsibility of the United States senate. He said in the end it is not the senators as individuals who are of fundamental importance, in the end it is the senate itself is one of the foundations of the constitution. It is the senate as one of the rocks of the republic. Mike mansfield and burton k. Wheeler probably did not agree on much. But they certainly agreed on that idea it. That the senate as an institution has a unique responsibilities in our government. And the unique responsibility pertains to every member of the u. S. Senate to exercise those responsibilities. Wheeler and mansfield were senate constitutionalist. This is an idea that i want you to keep in mind tonight. In my reading, particularly the history of burton k. Wheeler, we find somebody who has great reverence of the institution of the senate. And believes that the u. S. Senate enters can only represent their state, but they are indeed National Legislators. I want to offer a couple of additional thank yous tonight, in addition to the staff here at the Montana Historical society. It is really wonderful to be back here. When working on the research on the wheeler story, i spent a lot of time upstairs in the archives. My Research Associate dr. Johnson, my mets better half, learn to operate the copy machine. It was really great to be back after some years of working on this to actually have a chance to talk about senator wheeler in this place. For an additional thanks, i wanted knowledge jack rankin from the oklahoma press. Who was the acquisition editor, through the university of oklahoma press. Check because of the time that he spent in montana and because of his abiding interest in American History, instantly embrace the idea of a biography of burton k. Wheeler was worth doing. He was enormously helpful to me and i just want to publicly and knowledge that tonight. And thank you for being here tonight. How do we explain this political held razor . A politician that is controversial. I would say between 1923 and 1947 when he served in the u. S. Senate, there was not much in the way of major Public Policy in washington, d. C. In one way or another, and that he did not have his hands on. He was a politician, he had to take refuge in a boxcar when he was assaulted by a mob who is determined to assault him and perhaps worse. He was then labeled by his critics as box car birds. His views on Civil Liberties and opposition to war were shaped, i believe, by the still unsolved murder in butte in the summer of 1917. This is a picture of his funeral procession through the streets of butte. Truth be told, burton k. Wheelers life and political career could well be the stuff of hollywood movie. The famous film director frank capra previewed his famous film mr. Smith goes to washington, she is sitting next to frank capra. They were invited along with her daughter, she is seated in the middle. To be the guest of honor at the premier at Constitution Hall in washington, d. C. Wheeler never discouraged comparisons between him and the character played by jimmy stewart. He was such a threat to the attorney general of the u. S. In 1924, that he had the bureau investigations, now called the fbi, the fbi under the attorney generals orders descended on montana to look for dirt on wheeler. He had run for reelection for the senate in 1922, under the platform that he was going to investigate corruption in the Justice Department. And corruption that extended to the attorney general. He worked for about one year to get the senate to agree to a bipartisan joint committee, select committee to investigate the Justice Department sensational hearings were heard in 1924. A cast of characters that would be right out of central casting. They were paraded, and eventually the attorney general was forced to resign. One of the 12 jurors in the corruption trial held out against and he walked away a free man. Despite a substantial amount of evidence against him. As a result of that investigation, he set out, i think that i document that pretty well in the book, to frame wheeler. To find something on him that could be used against him quickly. Charges were trumped up against him in montana. He was indicted by a grand jury. And at the trial, he was acquitted. He would joke later that the juror took two months, one to acquit him and one where the government had to stay in session. A probably, in my reading of American History, was one of the great misuses of the Justice Department and the fbi to go after a political opponent. And that experience, not only catapulted wheeler to Genuine National dominance at the age of 42, after only two years in the senate. It also gave him a healthy regard for an independent judiciary and the fact that the jury of his peers in his home state of montana acquitted him. The u. S. Senate also conducted an investigation in 1924. The Senate Committee concluded that wheeler had done nothing improper. He might have chosen to be a republican, he actually flirted with that prospect when he was considering whether to rent for governor in 1920, which he eventually did. That he ran as a democrat. He identified throughout his career as a democrat. I think he truly was an independent. He had an opportunity to talk to mansfield about wheeler, he was not a big fan. But he did admit that he was a true independent. He said that he was mostly a democrat, but he was always an independent. He ran for the senate in 1922, despite being stung by allegations that he was is socialist or bolshevik. He came home and publicly advocated for the diplomatic recognition of the very new soviet republic. His independence was such that in the middle of all of this turmoil about investigating the Justice Department, having charges brought against him in montana and even in washington, d. C. , he leaves the Democratic Party in 1924 and runs for the Vice President ial candidate on the Progressive Party ticket in the election in 1924. Laval it was in many ways wheelers political mentor. He had a lifelong affection for him. So much regard that wheelers name, the youngest daughter, they named her mary. Her middle name was montana. The Progressive Party still has some relevance i believe in the 1924 election because less than a decade later much of the platform that they advocated during that Campaign Came to be. As part of Franklin Roosevelts new deal. The effort to regulate big banks and provide, as what we now know is the securities and exchange commission. This all had seeds in the progressive movement. Wheeler played a major role in securing the presidency for Franklin Roosevelt. And then almost immediately began to spar with roosevelt. I want to take a moment to talk about montanas importance and that election. We now think of Franklin Roosevelt, obviously as one of the Great American president s. Will place them in the same grouping with washington and lincoln, in terms of the input and the history of america. But in 1932, it was far from a far gone conclusion that he would win the nomination, let alone the presidency. We learned as early as 1930, roosevelt had not even run for reelection as governor of new york at that point. Roosevelt, wheeler was on his bandwagon very early and campaigned for him aggressively. He made speeches all over the western United States for the roosevelt ticket. Probably most significantly, wheeler had a friendship with the louisiana senator long. Wheeler convinced long to put his Political Leadership behind roosevelts candidacy. As a result, the louisiana and mississippi and several other southern delegations fell in line with roosevelts candidacy. This gave wheeler, i think, a sense that he was going to have a real place at the table. To be a key counselor to president roosevelt. He really never became that. For reasons that are a little complicated. I venture that the observation that Franklin Roosevelt feared many people in politics. He had a certain wariness about wheeler. Mainly because he was aggressive. He was independent. He was in sort of a dyed in the wool democrat. He could be working across the political aisle with some regularity. Roosevelt never came to trust him. And that feeling was certainly reciprocated. They did Work Together closely to break up the Utility Holding companies in 1935. A huge battle that was the, probably the defining legislative confrontation of roosevelts first term. And it was really the senate sponsor of the Public Utilities Holding Company act of 1935 that broke up 13 big Utility Holding companies that dominated the electric generation and Distribution System in the u. S. Wheeler was so prone to that issue because of his firm belief that bigness, as he called it, concentrated power, whether it was in the hands of wall street are big utilities or big banks, was bad for the country. So he worked with roosevelt very closely on getting that Utility Holding Company Legislation passed. But in 1937, this became permanent when wheeler opposed roosevelt. Roosevelt won a landslide reelection in 1936. He brought with him 76 democrats. The overwhelming majorities in both the house and the senate on the democratic side. Roosevelt, who had seen the Supreme Court overturned a number of his issues, prior to 1936 decides that he is going to deal with the Supreme Court with this big democratic majority. He proposes what is truly still an audition plan. He was going to enlarge the Supreme Court by six justices. He was going to take the court from nine members to 15. Of course, Everybody Knows that these would be liberal leaning, new deal supporting Roosevelt Holding judges. And wheeler not only opposes the president s party on that initiative, but he leaves the opposition in the senate. He works hand and cloak with a number of republicans to create a bipartisan majority that eventually defeats his plan. Roosevelts never, after the Supreme Court in 1937, it is hard to believe how consumed the country was by that debate, it literally was a runny debate every single day from february through the summer of 1937. The country absolutely turning on every aspect of this debate. After 1937, roosevelt never was able to count on a working majority in congress on his working agenda. It might be a cautionary tale for some of the democratic president ial candidates who are running around talking about enlarging the Supreme Court. If he can speak beyond the grave, he would say that that would probably not be a terribly good idea. This is an example of his independence, his courage, his willingness to put what he believed to be the good of the country ahead of the good of his party. Towards the end of the debate in the senate on expanding the Supreme Court, roosevelt understanding that he is probably going to have to compromise or maybe lose this battle, invites wheeler down to the white house. They have a very contentious meeting. Wheeler tells him that the Supreme Court, you dont mess around with religion because it is like religion too many americans. He tells him that he is going to lose on this issue. Roosevelt tells him to step back. Roosevelt believing that he can make this a purely partisan issue, he would have a better chance. Wheeler would have none of it. He actually worked with the republicans, the republican chief justice of the Supreme Court to concoct a pretty effective argument against roosevelts proposal. And eventually leads the effort that resulted in the defeat of the proposal. Wheeler, himself, here is a picture of him from 1935. This is one of the few pictures of roosevelt and wheeler together. He is the second on the left there in the picture. Standing immediately to the left is a senator from kentucky, who would later go on to be the Senate Majority leader and Vice President in the truman administration. Just to roosevelt Left Shoulder is sam rayburn, later the speaker of the house. Rayburn at that time was the chairman of the house interstate commerce committee. Wheeler the chairman of the Senate Committee. So they were counterparts in the house and senate who passed the big utility breakup legislation. The two smiling fellows on the right hand side of the picture is tommy kirkland, one of fdrs top aides next to him is benjamin cohen. They wrote a lot of the legislation. They wrote a lot of legislation that made up the new deal. They worked very closely with wheeler to pass that legislation. This was a happy moment, wheeler looks a little glum there. It was a happy moment where they were on the same page together. By 1939, wheeler is flirting with running for president himself. Roosevelts, speculation is rampant that he is going to break with tradition, dating back to George Washington and seek an unprecedented third term as president. And roosevelt plays this very close to his vest and it is not until the Democratic Convention that it becomes obvious that he really does want to be re nominated and seek a third term. So wheeler puts together, at least a broad framework of a president ial campaign in 1939. Certainly in 1940. He has confounded a little bit that he is to run for the reelection in the senate. So he has to be careful not to get too crosswise with his democratic constituents in montana, that are very much pro roosevelt. At one point he does create wheeler for president clubs around the west. He raises a modest amount of money to mount those president ial campaigns. He goes to the convention in chicago in 1940. He is prepared, assuming that roosevelt decides not to seek a third term, to actually run for president himself. He ultimately is not nominated for president. He is reelected in a landslide in montana in 1942. His third term in the senate. He also created in this period, i think the closest thing that montana has ever had to a true political machine. It was a bipartisan machine. A combination of wheeler on the democratic side, then the republican governor, and they cooperated on all kinds of things. Wheeler had some of his top lieutenants in key positions in montana. He gave wheeler broadly way to conduct himself in washington as he saw fit. Wheeler returned the favor here in the state. He often feuded with fellow democrats. He often endorsed republicans. Which did not endear himself to the kinds of hardcore Democratic Base in montana, which was very much pro roosevelt. One of the people who became very antagonistic against wheeler in this period was a young attorney general by the name of metcalf. He became a us senator. Metcalf was very critical of wheeler in 1944. Seemingly positioning himself to challenge roosevelt for president. In 1938, wheeler actually actively worked to defeat the democratic congressman the first district. He quietly put together the machinery of the infrastructure, the political infrastructure, to support the republican candidate in that race. A nudist camp owner, a medical doctor. He wins this election, and beats the incumbent oconnell. One of the new things that i provided in the book is the back story about how that came about. Oconnell was quite an interesting character. He grew up in butte. He went to Carol College here in helena. He was elected to the Public Service commission. And then age 20, he was elected into congress. Almost immediately, he positions himself to the political left of wheeler. He looks very much like he is going to be an adversary, a wheeler adversary within the Democratic Party. Wheeler sees this coming and cuts it off at the pass, so to speak in 1938 by helping to orchestrate a Republican Campaign to beat him. He had an interesting set of allies in that race. One of them is this guy right here. A very close friend of the wheelers. He basically managed his campaign. And one of the papers here in the archives, or his rather detailed instructions to him about the kinds of issues that he should stress during the campaign. Who he could talk to, who he could approach for money, etc. So the other strange ally was the Catholic Church. Oconnell was a catholic. He had divorced and a remarried kappa, which in 1938, was a bit of a problem. He had also gone to spain on an inspection tour, if you will, of the forces that were engaged in the spanish civil war in the late 1930s. He came back very much supporting the republican side of the spanish civil war, while the Catholic Church was very much identified with the national side, the franco side. Oconnell is not only crosswise with the church because of his divorce and remarriage, but also because he has taken on the church in a high profile way with his position on the spanish republican movement. And he loses that election in 1938. In part because the bishop of helena instructs the Catholic Priest across the district to speak out against oconnell from the pulpit. I document in the book that wheeler had his own meeting with the bishop, i think encouraging him to do exactly what he did. So he could be a tough political operator for sure. As i said, wheeler had friends across the political spectrum. Here he he is with i was william. Later the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, he and wheeler become fast friends and associates. Even though wheeler is a democrat. They shared common opinions about hating monopolies, hating bigness, being opposed to an expansionist Foreign Policy. They become very Close Associates in 19 together and they team up together. He had friends all across the political spectrum. Harry truman was one of his closest friends in the senate. He becomes a member of wheelers committee. Wheeler takes him under his wing. He befriends him, gives him an opportunity to be involved in major legislation and they become fast friends for the rest of their lives. I mentioned that he was a close friend of huey longs, he was often a guest in wheelers home. And of course, his relationship with love fall at, and his son who replaces father in the senate. I believe that it was 19 34, he leaves the campaign trail for several days to travel to wisconsin so he can campaign for a republican running for the u. S. Senate. Unheardof in our time. He was on a first name basis with norman thomas, the socialist Party Candidate for president of the United States. He voted for thomas for president in 1940. The journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize covered the senate as a republican reporter in the 1930s and knew wheeler quite well. He wrote a book about him and he said he was the most likable man he had encountered. Wheeler was not a pacifist in the sense that Jeannette Rankin was. But he certainly was antiwar. He was antiin peerless. Here is a picture from 1941, where he is speaking to an anti war rally. He valve and that Reelection Campaign that he would never vote to send an american war to fight in a foreign war. And he never did. He was absent from the senate on december 8, 1941, when Congress Declared war on japan after the pearl harbor attack. He was on route to washington with the boat was taken. He said that he would have voted for the declaration of war against japan as a practical matter, he never cast a vote to send an american boy to fight in a foreign war. Wheelers entire career, to the extent that it has been remember to this point, has basically been remembered for his foreignpolicy stance, prior to pearl harbor. Many of the positions that he took i think remain legitimately the subject of intense controversy and debate. Even condemnation. Here he is holding a newspaper, i think it is dated december 8, 1941, or december 9, 1941, right after pearl harbor. This would be an incorrect headline that japanese airplanes were flying over california. So while it is easy to look back and reflect on 1940 and 1941, the world was being caught up in a world war, capitulated to the. London and other british cities were being bombed on a nightly basis. It is easy to look back on that period and say, his Foreign Policy views were really out of touch with reality. Yet, if you believe that the decision to commit the country to war and to put soldiers, sailors and airmen in harms way , that is just about the most important decision that any political person can make. Wheeler stimulated the last major Foreign Policy debate that we have had about the broad direction of Foreign Policy since the beginning of world war ii. He was very much a believer that the United States should not create an empire around the world. He was very critical of the British Empire. He often invoked sort of a bad connotation to the British Empire, the British Empire in india and in other parts of the world. He did not want to see the u. S. Mimic of the British Empire or become a policeman in the world. He did not want to see the American Military installations around the world. And he did, i believe, in this period do a valuable service to the country in 19 40 and 1941. To create what some would call the biggest, the greatest debate about Foreign Policy. The years is going to have a global war role. I give him credit that he stimulated that debate. Even if his positions were controversial and remain controversial today. He is also among the most effective members of the senate in this period. Insisting that the legislative branch, is equal to the president in the making of foreignpolicy. He did not believe that the congress should acquiesce to the executive branch in making foreignpolicy. And particularly to win Us Military Forces are utilize. This would become the prevailing , what would become the prevailing direction of american Foreign Policy. It really has seeds, it has him planted as a traitor and a sympathizer. I do not believe that he was any of those things. He certainly was, as i said, antiwar. Now at the same time i have to acknowledge that i think he was naove. He was naove about the objectives of fascist germany. He was less than concerned that he might have been about hillers ambitions to dominate western europe and perhaps the globe. And he took a rather benign view of the influence of nazi germany. It is entirely possible that the would not have held on to go through the war like they did, it is possible that hiller would have dominated europe for many years to come. Having said all of that, two major takeaways from his career. I think that they are important today. Two principal characteristics, both relevant today, as well as they were when he generated headlines from the 1920s to the 1950s. This by the way is a character tour from a book that was published in 1932. It has little vignettes about maverick political figures from that period. Wheeler was prominently featured in the book with him wearing a cowboys bandanna. The first characteristic of wheeler, which as i mentioned is independence. He never flinched of opposing the president from his own power, or supporting a republican. We once called that bipartisanship. His independence was both a source of his political popularity and ultimately, i believe, because of his and doing. He became in the parlance of todays politics, he alienated his base. In the montana Democratic Party in the mid1940s. This led to his undoing. But still, who among us would not say in our polarized Politics Today that we would not enjoy a politician who seem to always be his own man, who was independent, candid, candid to a fault sometimes. He was particularly a favorite of reporters, journalists because he was always so accessible and so political. And he had that ability, that too often seems to be missing today in our politics, to put country before party. As Mike Mansfield told me when we talked about him, he said that he was mostly democrat, but he was always an independent. The second important attribute was that his opposition to concentrated power. He always opposed too power concentrated in too few hands. Weather was centered on wall street, big banks, utility companies, or even in the oval office. He hated bigness. American greatness he believes would be brought about by Small Business owners, by doing right by farmers, and the miners in butte and the ranchers. His idea was to decentralize, almost the oldfashioned jeffersonian democracy. Running for reelection in 1928, wheeler did something that i am not sure that i have ever known any other politician to do. He had been elected for the first time in the senate in 1922. So he is running for reelection for the first time. He is seeking a second term in the senate. He said to his montana constituents, i have been in the senate long enough, almost 6 years ago, that have come to understand some of the big national and international issues. Some of these big issues. I have been studying these issues, im going to concentrate my time on this big issues. And then he said, if Montana Voters wanted what he called an errand boy in the senate that they should vote for somebody else. He won reelection over the former republican governor, a tough, skilled opponent. Another great character and montana political history. He won reelection with 53 of the vote after telling his constituents basically, im not going to just concentrate on montana issues. Im going to be a National Legislator and not be in the business of being bringing home the bacon for montana, if you will. Of course, he never really did get out of this business of looking out for montana. I argue that nobody deserves greater credit for bringing about the construction of the dam or the irrigation project. In wheelers day, three major railways crossed montana. He was the first defender of the railroad. He believed the railroads had to be operated for the benefit of montana farmers and shippers. He personally lobbied the Army Air Corps chief of staff in 19 42 to construct what is today the base at great falls. So he really never got out of the business of being an errand boy for montana. He believed that his respectability was on a broader or Even International scale. You can see the personality of him in this photo. Obviously the cigar. He was reprimanded in 1923, the very first day that he walked onto the floor of the senate he had a cigar in his hand. And 70 had to remind him that it was against the rules to smoke a cigar in the floor of the senate. He could smoke and committee rooms, but you cannot smoke on the floor of the senate. In writing his biography, i tried to respect two views that i do respect. One is that do not sit out to lionize your subject. You could be sympathetic, but still be critical. This is what i have tried to do. The second admonition comes from a british story that i have a lot of regard for. He said biographers should guard against the desire to put too much consistency on your subjects. One of the things that has confounded historians for years about wheeler, i believe that he was consistent to his basic core beliefs about being opposed to concentrated power, believing in political independence and certainly believing in the institution of the senate as having an important place in our system of government. I recognized his mistakes and there were many. They all make mistakes. Wheeler could hold a grudge. He could savage fellow democrats like senator murray, who served with since 1934 to 9047. Most democrats, when theyre both on the ballots in that weird 1934 election, when a handful of times in American History where onestate has had both senators elected in the same cycle. Summary is on the ballot as is wheeler and they are campaigning kind of together and they are also wary of each other at the same time. He holds the scratch with murray and marie returns the favor during the whole time that they served together on the senate. Proving the adage that there is no relationship stranger or more fraught with anxiety than that between senators from the same state. Regardless of their politics. So wheeler has a celebrated feud with murray all the time through their time in the senate together. In 1942, wheeler is out on the stump saying send me somebody that i can work with. He is criticizing his fellow democratic senator. Send me somebody that i can work with. Murray wins that election
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.