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Memorarble Doughboy Personalities — A Roads Collection
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Everett Dirksen's WashingtonJanuary 2, 1968A tour of the U.S. Capitol with Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen and ABC's Howard K. Smith
Thank you my friend and brother-in-Christ MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. for posting the perspective from roadstothegreatwar-wwi.blogspot.com author Edward Thomas
Images:
1. LT Everett Dirksen wearing the Aerial Observer Wing. Assigned to the 19th Balloon Company, 328th Field Artlillery, AEF
2. President Dwight D. Eisenhower with Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen in the Oval Office
3. Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen with President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew on January 20, 1969.
4. Senators Mike Mansfield (left) and Everett Dirksen conversing in 1967.
5. 1968 Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen
Everett Dirksen's Washington
January 2, 1968
A tour of the U.S. Capitol with Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen and ABC's Howard K. Smith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQPpXUJIjDY
Biographies
1. roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2022/01/remembering-veteran-lt-everett-mckinley
2. wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Dirksen
Background from {[roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2022/01/remembering-veteran-lt-everett-mckinley.]
Remembering a Veteran: Lt. Everett McKinley Dirksen, 19th Balloon Company, 328th Field Artlillery, AEF
Future U.S. Senator from Illinois and Senate Minority leader Everett Dirksen (1896–1969) was born in Pekin, Illinois, where he attended public schools. He would later receive his law degree from the University of Minnesota. During the war he had the extremely hazardous job of observing artillery fire an observation balloon. He did observer duty in both the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives and later served as an intelligence officer during the occupation of Germany.
When he returned home, he reflected on how he wanted to spend the remainder of his life:
I was not sure that I wanted to return to school and complete my law course, but I did know that I wanted to do something to end the madness of conflict and the insane business of arbitrating the differences of men and nations with poison gas and high explosive shells.
By 1933, he was ready to run for office. Here's a summary of his next 36 years of public service: Everett Dirksen, represented central Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1933–1949. He later won four elections to the U.S. Senate, beginning in 1950. He rose through the leadership ranks of the Republican party in the Senate as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (1951–1954), Republican whip (1957–1959), and Senate Minority Leader (1959–1969). Dirksen played key roles in passing the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963), the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Open Housing Act of 1968.
2. Background from {[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Dirksen]}
Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896 – September 7, 1969) was an American politician. A Republican, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Senate Minority Leader from 1959 until his death in 1969, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both landmark pieces of legislation during the civil rights movement. He was also one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. A talented orator with a florid style and a notably rich baritone voice, he delivered flamboyant speeches that caused his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze".
Born in Pekin, Illinois, Dirksen served as an artillery officer during World War I and opened a bakery after the war. After serving on the Pekin City Council, he won election to the House of Representatives in 1932. In the House, he was considered a moderate and supported much of the New Deal; he became more conservative and isolationist over time, but reversed himself to support US involvement in World War II. He won election to the Senate in 1950, unseating Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas. In the Senate, he favored conservative economic policies and supported the internationalism of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dirksen succeeded William F. Knowland as Senate Minority Leader after the latter declined to seek re-election in 1958.
As the Senate Minority Leader, Dirksen emerged as a prominent national figure of the Republican Party during the 1960s. He developed a good working relationship with Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and supported President Lyndon B. Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War. He helped break the Southern filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While still serving as Senate Minority Leader, Dirksen died in 1969.
The Dirksen Senate Office Building is named after him.
Early life
Everett McKinley Dirksen was born on January 4, 1896, in Pekin, Illinois, a small city near Peoria.[1] His parents were German immigrants from East Frisia. His father Johann Friedrich Dirksen was born in Jennelt and his mother Antje (née Conrady) was born in Loquard. Today, both villages are part of the municipality of Krummhörn.[1]
The Dirksens were strong Republicans. Everett's parents gave him the middle name "McKinley" after William McKinley, then a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president.[1] His fraternal twin, Thomas Reed Dirksen, was named for Speaker of the House Thomas Brackett Reed, also a candidate for the nomination at the time. Another brother, Benjamin, was named for President Benjamin Harrison.[2] Everett had two older half-brothers, Thomas and Henry, from his mother's first marriage to Beren Ailts (died 1890).[3]
Johann and Antje Dirksen spoke a Low German dialect at home and taught German to their children.[1] Johann Dirksen farmed and worked at the Pekin Wagon Works as a design painter. He had a debilitating stroke when Everett was five years old and he died when Everett was nine.[4]
Dirksen grew up on a farm managed by his mother in a neighborhood called Bonchefiddle (Low German for "Beantown") on the outskirts of Pekin. The neighborhood was known as Bonchefiddle because frugal immigrants grew beans in their front yards instead of decorative flowers.[5] He attended local schools and graduated from Pekin High School in 1913 as the class salutatorian. While in school, he helped support the family by working at a Pekin corn refining factory.[6][7]
A visit to the Minnesota home of one of his half brothers led to Dirksen's attendance at the University of Minnesota,[how?][7][8] where he was a pre-law student from 1914 to 1917.[9] He paid his tuition by working in the classified advertising department at the Minneapolis Tribune, as a door-to-door magazine and book salesman, as an attorney's assistant, and as a clerk in a railroad freight office.[10] While attending the university, Dirksen participated in the Student Army Training Corps and attained the rank of major in the school's corps of cadets.[11] He also gained his first political experience by giving local and on-campus speeches in support of Republican presidential nominee Charles Evans Hughes during the 1916 campaign.[7]
Military service
At the start of World War I, the Dirksens came under local scrutiny for their German heritage. Dirksen's mother refused to take down a living room photo of Kaiser Wilhelm II as demanded by a self-appointed Pekin "loyalty commission" on the grounds that "it's a free country." Benjamin Dirksen was medically unfit for military service and Thomas was married. It fell to Everett to demonstrate the family's patriotism by serving in uniform.[12] He dropped out of college to enlist in the United States Army.[13]
On January 4, 1917, his twenty-first birthday, Dirksen joined the United States Army.[14] Three months later, the United States entered World War I. He completed his initial training in field artillery at Camp Custer, Michigan, performed duty with his unit at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, and attained the rank of sergeant.[15] He was deployed to France in 1918 and attended artillery school and officer training at Saumur.[16] He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to the 328th Field Artillery Regiment, a unit of the 85th Division.[16][17] Dirksen was trained as an aerial observer and conducted target acquisition and assessment of field artillery bombardments in the Saint-Mihiel sector as a member of the 328th Field Artillery's 13th and 19th Balloon Companies.[17][18] He later performed the same duty for the 69th Balloon Company, a unit of the IV Corps.[18] He subsequently served in the intelligence staff section (G-2) of the IV Corps headquarters.[18] Dirksen performed post-war occupation duty with IV Corps in Germany until mid-1919.[18] Dirksen declined an opportunity to remain with the Army of Occupation (extended due to his fluent German), received his discharge, and returned to Pekin.[19]
Post-war
After the war, Dirksen invested money in an electric washing machine business, but it failed, after which he joined his brothers in running the Dirksen Brothers Bakery. He also wrote a number of unpublished short stories, as well as plays with former classmate Hubert Ropp. Dirksen was active in the American Legion, and his appearances on its behalf gave him the opportunity to hone his public speaking skills.[20]
His political career began in 1926 when he was elected to the nonpartisan Pekin City Council. He placed first in field of eight candidates vying for four seats. At the time, the top vote-getter also received appointment as the city's commissioner of accounts and finance. Dirksen held both posts from 1927 to 1931.[21]
U.S. representative
Elections
In 1930, Dirksen unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Representative William E. Hull in the Republican primary. He lost by 1,155 votes, 51.06% to 48.94%. In 1932, he challenged Hull again, and won with 52.5% of the vote.[22]
He was re-elected seven times from 1934 to 1946. His closest challenge came in 1936, when Charles C. Dickman held him to 53.25% of the vote amid a national and statewide landslide for the Democratic Party.
Tenure
His support for many New Deal programs initially marked him as a moderate, pragmatic Republican, though over time he became increasingly conservative and isolationist.[22][23] During World War II, he lobbied successfully for an expansion of congressional staff resources to eliminate the practice under which House and Senate committees borrowed executive branch personnel to accomplish legislative work. He reversed his isolationist stance to support the war effort, but also secured the passage of an amendment to the Lend Lease Act by introducing it while 65 of the House's Democrats were at a luncheon. It provided that the Senate and the House could, by a simple majority in a concurrent resolution, revoke the war powers granted to the president.[24]
Dirksen studied law privately in Washington, D.C. after he was elected to Congress. He was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1936 and the bar of Illinois in 1937.
In December 1943, Dirksen announced that he would be a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1944. He stated that a coalition of midwestern Republican representatives had urged him to run and that his campaign was serious. However, press pundits had assumed that the candidacy was a vehicle to siphon support away from the campaign of Wendell Willkie, whose reputation as a maverick and staunch internationalist had earned him the hatred of many Republican Party regulars, especially in the Midwest.[25] Dirksen's presidential campaign was apparently still alive on the eve of the 1944 convention, as Time speculated that he was running for vice president.[26] Dirksen received no votes for either office from delegates at the convention.
In 1947, Dirksen was diagnosed with chorioretinitis in his right eye. Despite a number of physicians recommending that the eye be removed, Dirksen chose treatment and rest; he recovered most of the sight in the afflicted eye. In 1948, he declined to run for re-election because of his ailment.[21]
U.S. senator
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Senators Mike Mansfield (left) and Dirksen conversing in 1967.
Dirksen with President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew on January 20, 1969.
Elections
In 1950, Dirksen unseated Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas. In the campaign, the support of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy helped Dirksen gain a narrow victory.
In 1956, Dirksen was re-elected over Democrat Richard Stengel, 54.1% to 45.7%.
In 1962, Dirksen was re-elected to a third term over Democrat Sidney R. Yates, 52.9% to 47.1%.
In 1968, Dirksen was re-elected to his fourth and final term over Democrat William G. Clark, 53.0% to 46.6%.
Tenure
In 1952, Dirksen supported the presidential candidacy of fellow Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, the longtime leader of the Republican party's conservative wing. At the national party convention, Dirksen gave a speech attacking New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, a liberal Republican and the leading supporter of General Dwight Eisenhower. During his speech, Dirksen pointed at Dewey on the convention floor and shouted, "Don't take us down the path to defeat again", a reference to Dewey's presidential defeats in 1944 and 1948.[27] His speech was met by cheers from conservative delegates and loud boos from pro-Eisenhower delegates. After Eisenhower won the nomination, Dirksen then supported him.[citation needed]
In 1959, he was elected Senate Minority Leader, defeating John Sherman Cooper, a more liberal senator from Kentucky, 20–14. Dirksen successfully united the various factions of the Republican Party by granting younger Republicans more representation in the Senate leadership and better committee appointments. He held the position of Senate Minority Leader until his death.[citation needed]
Along with House Minority Leaders Charles Halleck and Gerald Ford, Dirksen was the official voice of the Republican Party during most of the 1960s. He discussed politics on television news programs. On several occasions, political cartoonist Herblock depicted Dirksen and Halleck as vaudeville song-and-dance men, wearing identical elaborate costumes and performing an act called The Ev and Charlie Show.[citation needed]
Vietnam War
As senator, Dirksen reversed his early isolationism to support the internationalism of Republican President Eisenhower and Democratic President John F. Kennedy. He was a leading "hawk" on the issue of the Vietnam War, a position he held well before President Johnson decided to escalate the war.[citation needed]
Dirksen said in February 1964:
First I agree that obviously we cannot retreat from our position in Vietnam. I have been out there three times, once as something of an emissary for then President Eisenhower. I took a good look at it. It is a difficult situation, to say the least. But we are in to the tune of some $350 million. I think the last figure I have seen indicates that we have over 15,500 military out there, ostensibly as advisers and that sort of thing. We are not supposed to have combatant troops, even though we were not signatories to the treaty that was signed at Geneva when finally they got that whole business out of the fire. But we are going to have to muddle through for a while and see what we do. Even though it costs us $1.5 million a day.[28]: 59
As Johnson followed the recommendations and escalated the war, Dirksen gave him strong support in public and inside the Republican caucus. Some Republicans advised him that it would be to the party's advantage to oppose Johnson. Ford commented, "I strongly felt that although I agreed with the goals of the Johnson administration in Vietnam, I vigorously criticized their prosecution of the war. Now, Dirksen never took that same hard-line position that I took."[28]: 149
Dirksen played a key role in passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Civil rights legislation
Dirksen voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,[29] 1960,[30] 1964,[31] and 1968,[32] as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,[33] the Voting Rights Act of 1965,[34] and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.[35]
In 1964, amid a 54-day filibuster by Southern senators of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Dirksen, Republican Thomas Kuchel, and Democrats Hubert Humphrey and Mike Mansfield introduced a compromise amendment. It weakened the House version on the government's power to regulate the conduct of private business, but it was not so weak it would cause the House to reconsider the legislation.[citation needed] The Department of Justice said the Mansfield-Dirksen Amendment would not prevent effective enforcement. However, Senator Richard Russell Jr. of Georgia refused to allow a vote on the amendment. Finally, Republican Senator Thruston Morton proposed an amendment that guaranteed jury trials in all criminal contempt cases except voting rights. It was approved on June 9, and Humphrey made a deal with three Republicans to substitute it for the Mansfield-Dirksen Amendment in exchange for their supporting cloture on the filibuster. Thus, after 57 days of filibuster, the substitute bill passed in the Senate, and the House–Senate conference committee agreed to adopt the Senate version of the bill.[36]
At that cloture vote, Dirksen said: "Victor Hugo wrote in his diary substantially this sentiment: 'Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come.' The time has come for equality of opportunity in sharing of government, in education, and in employment. It must not be stayed or denied."[37]
On March 22, 1966, Dirksen introduced a constitutional amendment to permit public school administrators providing for organized prayer by students; the introduction was in response to Engel v. Vitale, which struck down the practice. Considered by opponents to violate the principle of separation of church and state, the amendment was defeated in the Senate and gained only 49 affirmative votes, far short of the 67 votes a constitutional amendment needs for passage.
Dirksen was a firm opponent of the doctrine of one man, one vote on the grounds that large cities (such as Chicago in Dirksen's home state of Illinois) could render rural residents of a state powerless in their state governments without some form of concurrent majority. After the Warren Court imposed one-man-one-vote on all state legislative houses in the 1964 case Reynolds v. Sims, he led an effort to convene an Article V convention for an amendment to the Constitution that would allow for legislative districts of unequal population.[38] Dirksen died before enough states passed resolutions for the convention, by which point the court-ordered re-engineered legislatures began repealing their predecessors' resolutions.
Oratory
The saying, "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money" has been attributed to Dirksen, but there is no direct record of Dirksen saying the remark.[39] Dirksen is also quoted as having said, "The mind is no match with the heart in persuasion; constitutionality is no match with compassion."
Statue of Senator Dirksen on the grounds of the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. A duplicate is located in Mineral Springs Park in his hometown of Pekin, Illinois.
Dirksen recorded four spoken-word albums. In 1967 a recording of his own poem "Gallant Men" reached No. 16 on the Billboard 200 and won a Grammy Award for Best Documentary Recording in 1968. On January 7, 1967, Dirksen became the oldest person to reach the Billboard Hot 100's top 40, at 71 years, 3 days old, when the single reached No. 33; two weeks later it reached No. 29.[40] The distinction passed from Dirksen to Moms Mabley with her recording of "Abraham, Martin and John" peaking at No. 35 on 19 July 1969 when she was 75 years 4 months old.[41]
Recordings of Dirksen's speeches were edited into a mock interview included on the record "Welcome to the LBJ Ranch!" Dirksen was pleased with his inclusion on the parody record and bought many copies to give out as Christmas gifts.[42]
Dirksen made television guest appearances on game and variety shows, such as What's My Line, The Hollywood Palace and The Red Skelton Show. Dirksen made a cameo appearance in the 1969 film The Monitors, a low-budget science-fiction movie in which invading extraterrestrials assert political dominion over the human race. He also appeared in several other movies.
Personal life
Appearance and demeanor
Dirksen's penchant for changing his mind was noted by the Chicago Sun-Times, which once noted that he had changed his mind 62 times on foreign policy matters, 31 times on military affairs, and 70 times on agricultural policies.[21]
Family
Dirksen's widow, Louella, died of cancer on July 16, 1979.[43] Their daughter Joy, the first wife of Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee, died of cancer on April 24, 1993.[44]
Religion
Dirksen was a member of the Second Reformed Church, which, although a Dutch Reformed Church, was primarily German (the Reformed Church in America[1] was founded in the 18th century by Dutch immigrants).[45]
Dirksen was a Freemason and was a member of Pekin Lodge No. 29. In 1954, he was grand orator of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. He was honored with the 33rd degree in 1954.[46]
Death
President Richard Nixon paying his last tributes to Senator Dirksen in 1969.
In August 1969, chest X-rays disclosed an asymptomatic peripherally located mass in the upper lobe of the right lung. Dirksen entered Walter Reed Army Hospital for surgery, which was undertaken on September 2. A right upper lobectomy removed what proved to be lung cancer (adenocarcinoma). Dirksen initially did well, but progressive complications developed into bronchopneumonia. He suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest and died on September 7, 1969, at age 73.
Dirksen lay in state at the United States Capitol rotunda,[47] followed by burial at Glendale Memorial Gardens in Pekin.[48]
Legacy and honors
Dirksen was known for his fondness for the common marigold. When political discussions became tense, he would lighten the atmosphere by taking up his perennial campaign to have the marigold named the national flower, but it never succeeded. In 1972, his hometown of Pekin started holding an annual Marigold Festival in his memory. It now identifies itself as the "Marigold Capital of the World".
Dirksen was the recipient of honorary degrees (LL.D.) from Hope College, Bradley University, DePaul University, Lincoln Memorial University, Hanover College, Lewis University, and Illinois College.[49][50][51]
Namesakes
In 1972, one of the Senate's buildings was renamed the Dirksen Senate Office Building in his honor.
The federal courthouse/building of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago is also named after him.
A parkway in Springfield, Illinois (bypass for the historic Route 66 through the capital's center) is named in his honor.[52]
Dirksen Drive, a road in DeBary, Florida, is named after him. He was a winter resident in DeBary in his later years.[53]
Dirksen's statue, originally located adjacent to the Illinois State Capitol and is now in Mineral Springs Park in his hometown of Pekin, Illinois, includes two objects iconically identified with the senator: an oil can and a bunch of marigolds.[citation needed]
Everett Dirksen was inducted as a laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the state's highest honor) by the governor of Illinois in 1966 in the area of government.[54]
The Everett McKinley Dirksen Elementary School on 8601 West Foster Avenue in Chicago is a magnet school named in his memory along with other public schools in other Illinois townships.
Dirksen was mentioned in Jeff Greenfield's alternate history book If Kennedy Lived in which in 1964, President John F. Kennedy, having survived his assassination in Dallas the previous year, gathered Senate minority leader Dirksen and others in discussion of selling grain to the Soviet Union.
The United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in 1981 honoring Dirksen.[55]
The Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress has been awarded annually since 1980 by the National Press Foundation (NPF) [56]
References
The Education of a Senator, p. xii.
The Education of a Senator, pp. xii, 3.
Illinois Historical Journal, p. 11.
The Education of a Senator, pp. xii, 5, 9.
Extensions of Remarks, p. 25664.
Everett Dirksen and His Presidents, p. 11.
An Uncertain Tradition, p. 154.
The Education of a Senator, p. 15.
"Dirksen Dead in Capital at 73".
The Education of a Senator, pp. xii, 16, 19.
The Education of a Senator, pp. 21, 23, 25.
The Education of a Senator, p. 22.
The Education of a Senator, pp. 22, 23.
The Education of a Senator, p. 23.
The Education of a Senator, pp. 23, 27.
Dirksen: Portrait of a Public Man, p. 30.
Illinois Blue Book (1945), p. 121.
Current Biography, p. 228.
The Honorable Mr. Marigold, p. 40.
Jeffrey, Robert Campbell; Peterson, Owen (1975). Speech: A Text With Adapted Readings. New York, NY: Harper & Row. p. 83. ISBN [login to see] 775.
"Nation: The Leader: Everett Dirksen". Time. 14 September 1962.
Garraty, John Arthur (1999). American National Biography. Vol. 6. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 621. ISBN [login to see] 357.
Kinnell, Susan K. (1988). People in History. Vol. A–M. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 153. ISBN [login to see] 941.
"Everett Dirksen". Current Biography 1941, p.227; "260 to 165", Time, February 17, 1941
Time, December 13, 1943
Time, June 26, 1944
George Packer (January 30, 2012). "The Republicans' 1972". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
Dietz, Terry (1986). Republicans and Vietnam, 1961–1968. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-24892-4.
"HR. 6127. Civil Rights Act of 1957". GovTrack.us.
"HR. 8601. Passage of Amended Bill".
"HR. 7152. PASSAGE".
"To Pass H.R. 2516, A Bill to Prohibit Discrimination in Sale Or Rental of Housing, and to Prohibit Racially Motivated Interference With a Person Exercising His Civil Rights, and for Other Purposes".
"S.J. Res. 29. Approval of Resolution Banning the Poll Tax As Prerequisite for Voting in Federal Elections". GovTrack.us.
"To Pass S. 1564, the Voting Rights Act of 1965".
"Confirmation of Nomination of Thurgood Marshall, the First Negro Appointed to the Supreme Court". GovTrack.us.
Library of Congress exhibition, The Civil Rights Act of 1964
"Everett McKinley Dirksen's Finest Hour: June 10, 1964". Dirksen Congressional Center. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
PBS article on Reynolds v. Sims
"A Billion Here, A Billion There...", The Dirksen Center. (archived from the original on 2004-08-16)
American Top 40, 18 November 1972
American Top 40, 5 April 1986, although host Casey Kasem thought instead that Moms Mabley was only 72 years (and 4 months) old.
Freeman, Alex (January 5, 1966). "Sad Holiday for Bennetts". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. 51 – via Newspapers.com.open access
Pearson, Richard (July 17, 1979). "Colorful Louella Dirksen, Campaigned for Senator Husband". The Washington Post. Washington, DC.
"Joy Baker dead at 64". UPI Archives. Boca Raton FL. United Press International. April 25, 1993.
Donald J. Bruggink and Kim N. Baker, By Grace Alone: Stories of the Reformed Church in America (2004) p. 162
"Famous Masons". MWGLNY. January 2014. Archived from the original on 2013-11-10.
"Lying in State or in Honor". US Architect of the Capitol (AOC). Retrieved 2018-09-01.
Everett McKinley Dirksen, Late a Senator from Illinois, p. xi.
Senate Reports, p. 105.
Official Congressional Directory, p. 48.
Illinois Blue Book (1970), p. 46.
"Springfield Dirksen Parkway Secretary of State Facility". http://www.ilsos.gov.
"Google" – via http://www.google.com.
"Laureates by Year – The Lincoln Academy of Illinois". The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
Everett M. Dirksen U.S. Stamp Gallery.
"Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress". National Press Foundation (NPF). Retrieved October 9, 2019.
Sources
978-0-8093-2549-8.
MacNeil, Neil (1970). Dirksen: Portrait of a Public Man. New York, NY: World Publishing Company. "saumur."
U.S. Senate (September 16, 1969). Extensions of Remarks (PDF). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Current Biography. New York, NY: H. W. Wilson. 1941.
U.S. Congress (1969). Official Congressional Directory. Vol. 92. U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC.
U.S. Senate (1970). Senate Reports. Vol. 1–1. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. ISBN [login to see] 591.
United States Senate (1970). Everett McKinley Dirksen, Late a Senator from Illinois. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Newspapers
Kenworthy, E. W. (September 8, 1969). "Dirksen Dead in Capital at 73". The New York Times.
Secondary sources
Hulsey, Byron C. Everett Dirksen and His Presidents: How a Senate Giant Shaped American Politics. University Press of Kansas, 2000.
PhD dissertation: "Everett Dirksen and the modern presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson" (The University of Texas at Austin; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1998. 9837998).
Kyvig, David E. "Everett Dirksen's Constitutional Crusades." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 95.1 (2002): 68-85. online
Rodriguez; Daniel B. and Barry R. Weingast. "The Positive Political Theory of Legislative History: New Perspectives on the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Its Interpretation". University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Volume: 151. Issue: 4. 2003. pp 1417+.
Schapsmeier Edward L., and Frederick H. Schapsmeier. Dirksen of Illinois. University of Illinois Press, 1985. online
Stan Mendenhall, "Everett Dirksen and the 1964 Civil Rights Act", Library, National Institutes of Health
Abstract of Byron C. Hulsey, Everett Dirksen and His Presidents: How a Senate Giant Shaped American Politics, U. Kansas Press, 2000
The Dirksen Congressional Research Center
Everett Dirksen at IMDb
United States Congress. "Everett Dirksen (id: D000360)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with Sen. Everett M. Dirksen (May 7, 1952)" is available at the Internet Archive
"Everett Dirksen". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
Complete transcript and audio of Everett Dirksen's RNC Nomination of Barry Goldwater
Oral History Interviews with Everett Dirksen, Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
Appearances on C-SPAN
Dirksen Primary School, Pekin, IL
Dirksen Junior High School, Joliet, IL
FYI Maj Marty Hogan SSgt David M. Amn Dale Preisach Lt Col Charlie Brown SMSgt Lawrence McCarter COL Randall C. MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi GySgt Jack Wallace PO3 Edward Riddle PO1 Howard Barnes SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D SPC Woody Bullard SSG William Jones COL Lisandro Murphy Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj Joan Marine SGT Jim Arnold SPC Gary C. LTC (Join to see)
Images:
1. LT Everett Dirksen wearing the Aerial Observer Wing. Assigned to the 19th Balloon Company, 328th Field Artlillery, AEF
2. President Dwight D. Eisenhower with Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen in the Oval Office
3. Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen with President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew on January 20, 1969.
4. Senators Mike Mansfield (left) and Everett Dirksen conversing in 1967.
5. 1968 Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen
Everett Dirksen's Washington
January 2, 1968
A tour of the U.S. Capitol with Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen and ABC's Howard K. Smith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQPpXUJIjDY
Biographies
1. roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2022/01/remembering-veteran-lt-everett-mckinley
2. wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Dirksen
Background from {[roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2022/01/remembering-veteran-lt-everett-mckinley.]
Remembering a Veteran: Lt. Everett McKinley Dirksen, 19th Balloon Company, 328th Field Artlillery, AEF
Future U.S. Senator from Illinois and Senate Minority leader Everett Dirksen (1896–1969) was born in Pekin, Illinois, where he attended public schools. He would later receive his law degree from the University of Minnesota. During the war he had the extremely hazardous job of observing artillery fire an observation balloon. He did observer duty in both the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives and later served as an intelligence officer during the occupation of Germany.
When he returned home, he reflected on how he wanted to spend the remainder of his life:
I was not sure that I wanted to return to school and complete my law course, but I did know that I wanted to do something to end the madness of conflict and the insane business of arbitrating the differences of men and nations with poison gas and high explosive shells.
By 1933, he was ready to run for office. Here's a summary of his next 36 years of public service: Everett Dirksen, represented central Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1933–1949. He later won four elections to the U.S. Senate, beginning in 1950. He rose through the leadership ranks of the Republican party in the Senate as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (1951–1954), Republican whip (1957–1959), and Senate Minority Leader (1959–1969). Dirksen played key roles in passing the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963), the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Open Housing Act of 1968.
2. Background from {[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Dirksen]}
Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896 – September 7, 1969) was an American politician. A Republican, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Senate Minority Leader from 1959 until his death in 1969, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both landmark pieces of legislation during the civil rights movement. He was also one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. A talented orator with a florid style and a notably rich baritone voice, he delivered flamboyant speeches that caused his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze".
Born in Pekin, Illinois, Dirksen served as an artillery officer during World War I and opened a bakery after the war. After serving on the Pekin City Council, he won election to the House of Representatives in 1932. In the House, he was considered a moderate and supported much of the New Deal; he became more conservative and isolationist over time, but reversed himself to support US involvement in World War II. He won election to the Senate in 1950, unseating Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas. In the Senate, he favored conservative economic policies and supported the internationalism of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dirksen succeeded William F. Knowland as Senate Minority Leader after the latter declined to seek re-election in 1958.
As the Senate Minority Leader, Dirksen emerged as a prominent national figure of the Republican Party during the 1960s. He developed a good working relationship with Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and supported President Lyndon B. Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War. He helped break the Southern filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While still serving as Senate Minority Leader, Dirksen died in 1969.
The Dirksen Senate Office Building is named after him.
Early life
Everett McKinley Dirksen was born on January 4, 1896, in Pekin, Illinois, a small city near Peoria.[1] His parents were German immigrants from East Frisia. His father Johann Friedrich Dirksen was born in Jennelt and his mother Antje (née Conrady) was born in Loquard. Today, both villages are part of the municipality of Krummhörn.[1]
The Dirksens were strong Republicans. Everett's parents gave him the middle name "McKinley" after William McKinley, then a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president.[1] His fraternal twin, Thomas Reed Dirksen, was named for Speaker of the House Thomas Brackett Reed, also a candidate for the nomination at the time. Another brother, Benjamin, was named for President Benjamin Harrison.[2] Everett had two older half-brothers, Thomas and Henry, from his mother's first marriage to Beren Ailts (died 1890).[3]
Johann and Antje Dirksen spoke a Low German dialect at home and taught German to their children.[1] Johann Dirksen farmed and worked at the Pekin Wagon Works as a design painter. He had a debilitating stroke when Everett was five years old and he died when Everett was nine.[4]
Dirksen grew up on a farm managed by his mother in a neighborhood called Bonchefiddle (Low German for "Beantown") on the outskirts of Pekin. The neighborhood was known as Bonchefiddle because frugal immigrants grew beans in their front yards instead of decorative flowers.[5] He attended local schools and graduated from Pekin High School in 1913 as the class salutatorian. While in school, he helped support the family by working at a Pekin corn refining factory.[6][7]
A visit to the Minnesota home of one of his half brothers led to Dirksen's attendance at the University of Minnesota,[how?][7][8] where he was a pre-law student from 1914 to 1917.[9] He paid his tuition by working in the classified advertising department at the Minneapolis Tribune, as a door-to-door magazine and book salesman, as an attorney's assistant, and as a clerk in a railroad freight office.[10] While attending the university, Dirksen participated in the Student Army Training Corps and attained the rank of major in the school's corps of cadets.[11] He also gained his first political experience by giving local and on-campus speeches in support of Republican presidential nominee Charles Evans Hughes during the 1916 campaign.[7]
Military service
At the start of World War I, the Dirksens came under local scrutiny for their German heritage. Dirksen's mother refused to take down a living room photo of Kaiser Wilhelm II as demanded by a self-appointed Pekin "loyalty commission" on the grounds that "it's a free country." Benjamin Dirksen was medically unfit for military service and Thomas was married. It fell to Everett to demonstrate the family's patriotism by serving in uniform.[12] He dropped out of college to enlist in the United States Army.[13]
On January 4, 1917, his twenty-first birthday, Dirksen joined the United States Army.[14] Three months later, the United States entered World War I. He completed his initial training in field artillery at Camp Custer, Michigan, performed duty with his unit at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, and attained the rank of sergeant.[15] He was deployed to France in 1918 and attended artillery school and officer training at Saumur.[16] He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to the 328th Field Artillery Regiment, a unit of the 85th Division.[16][17] Dirksen was trained as an aerial observer and conducted target acquisition and assessment of field artillery bombardments in the Saint-Mihiel sector as a member of the 328th Field Artillery's 13th and 19th Balloon Companies.[17][18] He later performed the same duty for the 69th Balloon Company, a unit of the IV Corps.[18] He subsequently served in the intelligence staff section (G-2) of the IV Corps headquarters.[18] Dirksen performed post-war occupation duty with IV Corps in Germany until mid-1919.[18] Dirksen declined an opportunity to remain with the Army of Occupation (extended due to his fluent German), received his discharge, and returned to Pekin.[19]
Post-war
After the war, Dirksen invested money in an electric washing machine business, but it failed, after which he joined his brothers in running the Dirksen Brothers Bakery. He also wrote a number of unpublished short stories, as well as plays with former classmate Hubert Ropp. Dirksen was active in the American Legion, and his appearances on its behalf gave him the opportunity to hone his public speaking skills.[20]
His political career began in 1926 when he was elected to the nonpartisan Pekin City Council. He placed first in field of eight candidates vying for four seats. At the time, the top vote-getter also received appointment as the city's commissioner of accounts and finance. Dirksen held both posts from 1927 to 1931.[21]
U.S. representative
Elections
In 1930, Dirksen unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Representative William E. Hull in the Republican primary. He lost by 1,155 votes, 51.06% to 48.94%. In 1932, he challenged Hull again, and won with 52.5% of the vote.[22]
He was re-elected seven times from 1934 to 1946. His closest challenge came in 1936, when Charles C. Dickman held him to 53.25% of the vote amid a national and statewide landslide for the Democratic Party.
Tenure
His support for many New Deal programs initially marked him as a moderate, pragmatic Republican, though over time he became increasingly conservative and isolationist.[22][23] During World War II, he lobbied successfully for an expansion of congressional staff resources to eliminate the practice under which House and Senate committees borrowed executive branch personnel to accomplish legislative work. He reversed his isolationist stance to support the war effort, but also secured the passage of an amendment to the Lend Lease Act by introducing it while 65 of the House's Democrats were at a luncheon. It provided that the Senate and the House could, by a simple majority in a concurrent resolution, revoke the war powers granted to the president.[24]
Dirksen studied law privately in Washington, D.C. after he was elected to Congress. He was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1936 and the bar of Illinois in 1937.
In December 1943, Dirksen announced that he would be a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1944. He stated that a coalition of midwestern Republican representatives had urged him to run and that his campaign was serious. However, press pundits had assumed that the candidacy was a vehicle to siphon support away from the campaign of Wendell Willkie, whose reputation as a maverick and staunch internationalist had earned him the hatred of many Republican Party regulars, especially in the Midwest.[25] Dirksen's presidential campaign was apparently still alive on the eve of the 1944 convention, as Time speculated that he was running for vice president.[26] Dirksen received no votes for either office from delegates at the convention.
In 1947, Dirksen was diagnosed with chorioretinitis in his right eye. Despite a number of physicians recommending that the eye be removed, Dirksen chose treatment and rest; he recovered most of the sight in the afflicted eye. In 1948, he declined to run for re-election because of his ailment.[21]
U.S. senator
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Senators Mike Mansfield (left) and Dirksen conversing in 1967.
Dirksen with President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew on January 20, 1969.
Elections
In 1950, Dirksen unseated Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas. In the campaign, the support of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy helped Dirksen gain a narrow victory.
In 1956, Dirksen was re-elected over Democrat Richard Stengel, 54.1% to 45.7%.
In 1962, Dirksen was re-elected to a third term over Democrat Sidney R. Yates, 52.9% to 47.1%.
In 1968, Dirksen was re-elected to his fourth and final term over Democrat William G. Clark, 53.0% to 46.6%.
Tenure
In 1952, Dirksen supported the presidential candidacy of fellow Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, the longtime leader of the Republican party's conservative wing. At the national party convention, Dirksen gave a speech attacking New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, a liberal Republican and the leading supporter of General Dwight Eisenhower. During his speech, Dirksen pointed at Dewey on the convention floor and shouted, "Don't take us down the path to defeat again", a reference to Dewey's presidential defeats in 1944 and 1948.[27] His speech was met by cheers from conservative delegates and loud boos from pro-Eisenhower delegates. After Eisenhower won the nomination, Dirksen then supported him.[citation needed]
In 1959, he was elected Senate Minority Leader, defeating John Sherman Cooper, a more liberal senator from Kentucky, 20–14. Dirksen successfully united the various factions of the Republican Party by granting younger Republicans more representation in the Senate leadership and better committee appointments. He held the position of Senate Minority Leader until his death.[citation needed]
Along with House Minority Leaders Charles Halleck and Gerald Ford, Dirksen was the official voice of the Republican Party during most of the 1960s. He discussed politics on television news programs. On several occasions, political cartoonist Herblock depicted Dirksen and Halleck as vaudeville song-and-dance men, wearing identical elaborate costumes and performing an act called The Ev and Charlie Show.[citation needed]
Vietnam War
As senator, Dirksen reversed his early isolationism to support the internationalism of Republican President Eisenhower and Democratic President John F. Kennedy. He was a leading "hawk" on the issue of the Vietnam War, a position he held well before President Johnson decided to escalate the war.[citation needed]
Dirksen said in February 1964:
First I agree that obviously we cannot retreat from our position in Vietnam. I have been out there three times, once as something of an emissary for then President Eisenhower. I took a good look at it. It is a difficult situation, to say the least. But we are in to the tune of some $350 million. I think the last figure I have seen indicates that we have over 15,500 military out there, ostensibly as advisers and that sort of thing. We are not supposed to have combatant troops, even though we were not signatories to the treaty that was signed at Geneva when finally they got that whole business out of the fire. But we are going to have to muddle through for a while and see what we do. Even though it costs us $1.5 million a day.[28]: 59
As Johnson followed the recommendations and escalated the war, Dirksen gave him strong support in public and inside the Republican caucus. Some Republicans advised him that it would be to the party's advantage to oppose Johnson. Ford commented, "I strongly felt that although I agreed with the goals of the Johnson administration in Vietnam, I vigorously criticized their prosecution of the war. Now, Dirksen never took that same hard-line position that I took."[28]: 149
Dirksen played a key role in passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Civil rights legislation
Dirksen voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,[29] 1960,[30] 1964,[31] and 1968,[32] as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,[33] the Voting Rights Act of 1965,[34] and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.[35]
In 1964, amid a 54-day filibuster by Southern senators of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Dirksen, Republican Thomas Kuchel, and Democrats Hubert Humphrey and Mike Mansfield introduced a compromise amendment. It weakened the House version on the government's power to regulate the conduct of private business, but it was not so weak it would cause the House to reconsider the legislation.[citation needed] The Department of Justice said the Mansfield-Dirksen Amendment would not prevent effective enforcement. However, Senator Richard Russell Jr. of Georgia refused to allow a vote on the amendment. Finally, Republican Senator Thruston Morton proposed an amendment that guaranteed jury trials in all criminal contempt cases except voting rights. It was approved on June 9, and Humphrey made a deal with three Republicans to substitute it for the Mansfield-Dirksen Amendment in exchange for their supporting cloture on the filibuster. Thus, after 57 days of filibuster, the substitute bill passed in the Senate, and the House–Senate conference committee agreed to adopt the Senate version of the bill.[36]
At that cloture vote, Dirksen said: "Victor Hugo wrote in his diary substantially this sentiment: 'Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come.' The time has come for equality of opportunity in sharing of government, in education, and in employment. It must not be stayed or denied."[37]
On March 22, 1966, Dirksen introduced a constitutional amendment to permit public school administrators providing for organized prayer by students; the introduction was in response to Engel v. Vitale, which struck down the practice. Considered by opponents to violate the principle of separation of church and state, the amendment was defeated in the Senate and gained only 49 affirmative votes, far short of the 67 votes a constitutional amendment needs for passage.
Dirksen was a firm opponent of the doctrine of one man, one vote on the grounds that large cities (such as Chicago in Dirksen's home state of Illinois) could render rural residents of a state powerless in their state governments without some form of concurrent majority. After the Warren Court imposed one-man-one-vote on all state legislative houses in the 1964 case Reynolds v. Sims, he led an effort to convene an Article V convention for an amendment to the Constitution that would allow for legislative districts of unequal population.[38] Dirksen died before enough states passed resolutions for the convention, by which point the court-ordered re-engineered legislatures began repealing their predecessors' resolutions.
Oratory
The saying, "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money" has been attributed to Dirksen, but there is no direct record of Dirksen saying the remark.[39] Dirksen is also quoted as having said, "The mind is no match with the heart in persuasion; constitutionality is no match with compassion."
Statue of Senator Dirksen on the grounds of the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. A duplicate is located in Mineral Springs Park in his hometown of Pekin, Illinois.
Dirksen recorded four spoken-word albums. In 1967 a recording of his own poem "Gallant Men" reached No. 16 on the Billboard 200 and won a Grammy Award for Best Documentary Recording in 1968. On January 7, 1967, Dirksen became the oldest person to reach the Billboard Hot 100's top 40, at 71 years, 3 days old, when the single reached No. 33; two weeks later it reached No. 29.[40] The distinction passed from Dirksen to Moms Mabley with her recording of "Abraham, Martin and John" peaking at No. 35 on 19 July 1969 when she was 75 years 4 months old.[41]
Recordings of Dirksen's speeches were edited into a mock interview included on the record "Welcome to the LBJ Ranch!" Dirksen was pleased with his inclusion on the parody record and bought many copies to give out as Christmas gifts.[42]
Dirksen made television guest appearances on game and variety shows, such as What's My Line, The Hollywood Palace and The Red Skelton Show. Dirksen made a cameo appearance in the 1969 film The Monitors, a low-budget science-fiction movie in which invading extraterrestrials assert political dominion over the human race. He also appeared in several other movies.
Personal life
Appearance and demeanor
Dirksen's penchant for changing his mind was noted by the Chicago Sun-Times, which once noted that he had changed his mind 62 times on foreign policy matters, 31 times on military affairs, and 70 times on agricultural policies.[21]
Family
Dirksen's widow, Louella, died of cancer on July 16, 1979.[43] Their daughter Joy, the first wife of Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee, died of cancer on April 24, 1993.[44]
Religion
Dirksen was a member of the Second Reformed Church, which, although a Dutch Reformed Church, was primarily German (the Reformed Church in America[1] was founded in the 18th century by Dutch immigrants).[45]
Dirksen was a Freemason and was a member of Pekin Lodge No. 29. In 1954, he was grand orator of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. He was honored with the 33rd degree in 1954.[46]
Death
President Richard Nixon paying his last tributes to Senator Dirksen in 1969.
In August 1969, chest X-rays disclosed an asymptomatic peripherally located mass in the upper lobe of the right lung. Dirksen entered Walter Reed Army Hospital for surgery, which was undertaken on September 2. A right upper lobectomy removed what proved to be lung cancer (adenocarcinoma). Dirksen initially did well, but progressive complications developed into bronchopneumonia. He suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest and died on September 7, 1969, at age 73.
Dirksen lay in state at the United States Capitol rotunda,[47] followed by burial at Glendale Memorial Gardens in Pekin.[48]
Legacy and honors
Dirksen was known for his fondness for the common marigold. When political discussions became tense, he would lighten the atmosphere by taking up his perennial campaign to have the marigold named the national flower, but it never succeeded. In 1972, his hometown of Pekin started holding an annual Marigold Festival in his memory. It now identifies itself as the "Marigold Capital of the World".
Dirksen was the recipient of honorary degrees (LL.D.) from Hope College, Bradley University, DePaul University, Lincoln Memorial University, Hanover College, Lewis University, and Illinois College.[49][50][51]
Namesakes
In 1972, one of the Senate's buildings was renamed the Dirksen Senate Office Building in his honor.
The federal courthouse/building of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago is also named after him.
A parkway in Springfield, Illinois (bypass for the historic Route 66 through the capital's center) is named in his honor.[52]
Dirksen Drive, a road in DeBary, Florida, is named after him. He was a winter resident in DeBary in his later years.[53]
Dirksen's statue, originally located adjacent to the Illinois State Capitol and is now in Mineral Springs Park in his hometown of Pekin, Illinois, includes two objects iconically identified with the senator: an oil can and a bunch of marigolds.[citation needed]
Everett Dirksen was inducted as a laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the state's highest honor) by the governor of Illinois in 1966 in the area of government.[54]
The Everett McKinley Dirksen Elementary School on 8601 West Foster Avenue in Chicago is a magnet school named in his memory along with other public schools in other Illinois townships.
Dirksen was mentioned in Jeff Greenfield's alternate history book If Kennedy Lived in which in 1964, President John F. Kennedy, having survived his assassination in Dallas the previous year, gathered Senate minority leader Dirksen and others in discussion of selling grain to the Soviet Union.
The United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in 1981 honoring Dirksen.[55]
The Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress has been awarded annually since 1980 by the National Press Foundation (NPF) [56]
References
The Education of a Senator, p. xii.
The Education of a Senator, pp. xii, 3.
Illinois Historical Journal, p. 11.
The Education of a Senator, pp. xii, 5, 9.
Extensions of Remarks, p. 25664.
Everett Dirksen and His Presidents, p. 11.
An Uncertain Tradition, p. 154.
The Education of a Senator, p. 15.
"Dirksen Dead in Capital at 73".
The Education of a Senator, pp. xii, 16, 19.
The Education of a Senator, pp. 21, 23, 25.
The Education of a Senator, p. 22.
The Education of a Senator, pp. 22, 23.
The Education of a Senator, p. 23.
The Education of a Senator, pp. 23, 27.
Dirksen: Portrait of a Public Man, p. 30.
Illinois Blue Book (1945), p. 121.
Current Biography, p. 228.
The Honorable Mr. Marigold, p. 40.
Jeffrey, Robert Campbell; Peterson, Owen (1975). Speech: A Text With Adapted Readings. New York, NY: Harper & Row. p. 83. ISBN [login to see] 775.
"Nation: The Leader: Everett Dirksen". Time. 14 September 1962.
Garraty, John Arthur (1999). American National Biography. Vol. 6. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 621. ISBN [login to see] 357.
Kinnell, Susan K. (1988). People in History. Vol. A–M. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 153. ISBN [login to see] 941.
"Everett Dirksen". Current Biography 1941, p.227; "260 to 165", Time, February 17, 1941
Time, December 13, 1943
Time, June 26, 1944
George Packer (January 30, 2012). "The Republicans' 1972". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
Dietz, Terry (1986). Republicans and Vietnam, 1961–1968. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-24892-4.
"HR. 6127. Civil Rights Act of 1957". GovTrack.us.
"HR. 8601. Passage of Amended Bill".
"HR. 7152. PASSAGE".
"To Pass H.R. 2516, A Bill to Prohibit Discrimination in Sale Or Rental of Housing, and to Prohibit Racially Motivated Interference With a Person Exercising His Civil Rights, and for Other Purposes".
"S.J. Res. 29. Approval of Resolution Banning the Poll Tax As Prerequisite for Voting in Federal Elections". GovTrack.us.
"To Pass S. 1564, the Voting Rights Act of 1965".
"Confirmation of Nomination of Thurgood Marshall, the First Negro Appointed to the Supreme Court". GovTrack.us.
Library of Congress exhibition, The Civil Rights Act of 1964
"Everett McKinley Dirksen's Finest Hour: June 10, 1964". Dirksen Congressional Center. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
PBS article on Reynolds v. Sims
"A Billion Here, A Billion There...", The Dirksen Center. (archived from the original on 2004-08-16)
American Top 40, 18 November 1972
American Top 40, 5 April 1986, although host Casey Kasem thought instead that Moms Mabley was only 72 years (and 4 months) old.
Freeman, Alex (January 5, 1966). "Sad Holiday for Bennetts". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. 51 – via Newspapers.com.open access
Pearson, Richard (July 17, 1979). "Colorful Louella Dirksen, Campaigned for Senator Husband". The Washington Post. Washington, DC.
"Joy Baker dead at 64". UPI Archives. Boca Raton FL. United Press International. April 25, 1993.
Donald J. Bruggink and Kim N. Baker, By Grace Alone: Stories of the Reformed Church in America (2004) p. 162
"Famous Masons". MWGLNY. January 2014. Archived from the original on 2013-11-10.
"Lying in State or in Honor". US Architect of the Capitol (AOC). Retrieved 2018-09-01.
Everett McKinley Dirksen, Late a Senator from Illinois, p. xi.
Senate Reports, p. 105.
Official Congressional Directory, p. 48.
Illinois Blue Book (1970), p. 46.
"Springfield Dirksen Parkway Secretary of State Facility". http://www.ilsos.gov.
"Google" – via http://www.google.com.
"Laureates by Year – The Lincoln Academy of Illinois". The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
Everett M. Dirksen U.S. Stamp Gallery.
"Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress". National Press Foundation (NPF). Retrieved October 9, 2019.
Sources
978-0-8093-2549-8.
MacNeil, Neil (1970). Dirksen: Portrait of a Public Man. New York, NY: World Publishing Company. "saumur."
U.S. Senate (September 16, 1969). Extensions of Remarks (PDF). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Current Biography. New York, NY: H. W. Wilson. 1941.
U.S. Congress (1969). Official Congressional Directory. Vol. 92. U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC.
U.S. Senate (1970). Senate Reports. Vol. 1–1. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. ISBN [login to see] 591.
United States Senate (1970). Everett McKinley Dirksen, Late a Senator from Illinois. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Newspapers
Kenworthy, E. W. (September 8, 1969). "Dirksen Dead in Capital at 73". The New York Times.
Secondary sources
Hulsey, Byron C. Everett Dirksen and His Presidents: How a Senate Giant Shaped American Politics. University Press of Kansas, 2000.
PhD dissertation: "Everett Dirksen and the modern presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson" (The University of Texas at Austin; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1998. 9837998).
Kyvig, David E. "Everett Dirksen's Constitutional Crusades." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 95.1 (2002): 68-85. online
Rodriguez; Daniel B. and Barry R. Weingast. "The Positive Political Theory of Legislative History: New Perspectives on the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Its Interpretation". University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Volume: 151. Issue: 4. 2003. pp 1417+.
Schapsmeier Edward L., and Frederick H. Schapsmeier. Dirksen of Illinois. University of Illinois Press, 1985. online
Stan Mendenhall, "Everett Dirksen and the 1964 Civil Rights Act", Library, National Institutes of Health
Abstract of Byron C. Hulsey, Everett Dirksen and His Presidents: How a Senate Giant Shaped American Politics, U. Kansas Press, 2000
The Dirksen Congressional Research Center
Everett Dirksen at IMDb
United States Congress. "Everett Dirksen (id: D000360)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with Sen. Everett M. Dirksen (May 7, 1952)" is available at the Internet Archive
"Everett Dirksen". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
Complete transcript and audio of Everett Dirksen's RNC Nomination of Barry Goldwater
Oral History Interviews with Everett Dirksen, Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
Appearances on C-SPAN
Dirksen Primary School, Pekin, IL
Dirksen Junior High School, Joliet, IL
FYI Maj Marty Hogan SSgt David M. Amn Dale Preisach Lt Col Charlie Brown SMSgt Lawrence McCarter COL Randall C. MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi GySgt Jack Wallace PO3 Edward Riddle PO1 Howard Barnes SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D SPC Woody Bullard SSG William Jones COL Lisandro Murphy Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj Joan Marine SGT Jim Arnold SPC Gary C. LTC (Join to see)
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LTC Stephen F.
Republican National Convention 1952Chicago, ILSen. Everett M. Dirksen gives his speech in support or Sen. Robert Taft for President against Dwight D. Eisenho...
Images:
1. Everett Dirksen handbill for his successful 1932 campaign for Congress.
2. 1981 15-cent Everett Dirksen stamp [Scott #1874]
3. Everett McKinley Dirksen's statue on the ground of the Illinois Capitol in Springfield.)
Everett Dirksen Defends Taft
Republican National Convention 1952
Chicago, IL
Sen. Everett M. Dirksen gives his speech in support or Sen. Robert Taft for President against Dwight D. Eisenhower.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrR-34t7P0U
Background from {[patrickmurfin.blogspot.com/2019/09/everett-mckinley-dirksenwhen.html]}
Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout
An Eclectic Journal of Opinion, History, Poetry and General Bloviating
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Everett McKinley Dirksen—When Republicans Were Not All Crooks and Madmen
The maxim says “a dead fish rots from the head down.” Case in point, Donald Trump, his cabinet and other appointees, the GOP in Congress—most noticeably Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—and a slew of Red State governors. Corruption, venality, bigotry leavened with incompetence and willful ignorance. As many have noted it’s not your father’s Republican Party. But…
Those of us of a certain age remember when Republicans were stodgy and conservative but generally not crooks, or madmen. I never thought I would say that I miss those guys.
A good way to see just how far the modern Republican Party has gone off the rails is to review the career of Illinois Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen, a self-proclaimed party conservative who died fifty years ago today September 7, 1969 having served nearly 19 years in the Senate including 10 years as Minority Leader.
Dirksen and his fraternal twin brother were born on his parent’s farm near downstate Pekin, Illinois on January 4, 1896. His parents were both German immigrants and his father, like most Midwestern Germans, was a staunch Republican. He named his son in honor the legendary orator Edward Everett and President William McKinley.
The boy was educated in local schools and attended the University of Minnesota Law School before dropping out to enlist in the Army during World War I. He served in France as a second lieutenant of artillery.
A handbill for Dirksen's successful 1932 campaign for Congress.
After the war he returned to Pekin and took up private business. His political career began with election to the city council in 1927. He had his eye on bigger things. He failed to win the GOP nomination for the House of Representatives in 1930, but won both nomination and election in 1932.
Dirksen entered Congress as a minority Republican in the Democratic landslide that brought Franklin D. Roosevelt to the White House. Despite the ingrained conservatism of a small town businessman, Dirksen recognized the severity of the national emergency of the Great Depression and supported much, but not all, of F.D.R.’s New Deal legislation despite pressure from party leaders. It marked a willingness to work across party lines that was the hallmark of his long career.
Roosevelt, however, could not rely on the Illinois Congressman for support as he steered the country to support of the Allies in World War II. Dirksen was an ardent isolationist in the mold of one of his most influential political supporters, Col. Robert R. McCormack, publisher of the Chicago Tribune. He showed his considerable skill as a legislative tactician during the debate over Roosevelt’s Lend Lease Act. He recognized that there were not enough Republican votes to stop passage in the House, but took advantage of sixty-five Democrats leaving the floor for lunch to successfully attach an amendment that gave the Senate and House to power to revoke the President’s authority by a concurring resolution that could be passed by a simple majority in both houses.
Dirksen made an abortive bid for the 1944 Republican Presidential nomination, which observers believed was mostly an attempt to derail the re-nomination of liberal Wendell Willkie or a ploy to get the Vice Presidential nomination. In any event on the eve of the convention he signaled that he would not be a contender and although he allowed himself to be nominated as a favorite son of Illinois, did not get a single vote.
In 1948, citing an eye ailment that would plague him the rest of his life, Dirksen announced that he would not seek re-election. He was evidently feeling better in 1950 when he beat incumbent Senator Scott Lucas, the sitting Majority Leader and a key ally of President Harry Truman. Dirksen campaigned with the help of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy who accused Lucas of being soft on Communism.
Dirksen remained loyal to McCarthy, but tried to convince him to admit to “misstatements” and apologize to avoid censure by the Senate. When the vote came down, he supported McCarthy while privately acknowledging that his friend had, “lost his senses.”
Even as a freshman Dirksen quickly became a power in the Senate where he was known for his 19th Century style florid oratory, deceptively folksy demeanor, and considerable skill at building legislative coalitions. By 1952 he was well enough thought of to be the voice of Mid-Western conservatives at the Republican National Convention in support of Senator Robert Taft of Ohio and against Dwight Eisenhower. In a blistering speech to the convention he went directly after Eisenhower’s biggest supporter, former two time nominee Thomas E. Dewey. Pointing at Dewey on the floor he thundered, “Don’t take us down the path to defeat again!” to a mixed chorus of boos and cheers.
From political opponent to key ally--Dirksen and Eisenhower in the Oval Office.
Dirksen, however, dutifully supported Eisenhower that fall and soon became his most reliable ally in the Senate, a tribute to the practicality of both men.
When the Senate reorganized in 1959, Dirksen was elected Minority Leader over more liberal John Sherman Cooper of Kentucky, but he moved quickly to heal rifts between wings of the party and molded a solid caucus. As John F. Kennedy came to the Presidency, he became the face of the Republican Party, along with House Minority Leader Charles Halleck of Indiana. Their weekly joint news conference, dubbed the Ev and Charley Show, became goldmine of television sound bites, usually featuring Dirksen’s folksy wit. His weathered face, mop of unruly curls, and distinctive voice made him a regular on Meet the Press and Face the Nation.
The weekly joint press conference of House Minority Leader Charles Halleck and Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen was so entertaining it regularly made the evening newscasts and was dubbed the Ev and Charlie Show.
Dirksen became famous for his quips such as, “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you’re talking real money,” when talking about the budget and his story of two Quaker ladies discussing taxes, “Don’t tax me, don’t tax thee, tax the fellow behind the tree.”
Although a moderate conservative on economic policy and an anti-Communist hawk in foreign affairs, Dirksen, in the tradition of Illinois Republicans, was passionate about civil rights. Working across the aisle with Democratic Majority Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana, he was critical in rounding up Republican votes to break filibusters against both the Civil Rights Act of 1963 and the Open Housing Act of 1968.
Dirksen collaborated with Democratic Majority Leader Mike Mansfield to the key Civil Rights legislation passed in the Senate.
Reversing his traditional isolationism, Dirksen became an early supporter of the War in Vietnam. His advice to his old Senate friend Lyndon B. Johnson was said to be critical to Johnson’s decision not only to continue Kennedy’s commitment of troops there, but to dramatically escalate the war against his own nagging doubts.
Dirksen was a regular on the Sunday morning news panel programs. With Edwin Newman on Meet the Press.
Dirksen recorded several spoken word albums. A single from one of them, The Gallant Men, became an unexpected radio hit and earned him a Grammy.
The Senator was also famous for his passion for the common marigold and his frequent attempts to have the hardy plant name the national flower. He waxed eloquent about the topic at a drop of a hat.
Dirksen's statue on the ground of the Illinois Capitol in Springfield.
Dirksen died of complications following surgery for lung cancer at Walter Reed Army Hospital at the age of 77. He was so well thought of by his Senate colleagues that they re-named the main Senate office building in his honor. The new 1972 Federal Court Building in Chicago was also named for him. His portrait hangs in honor in the Illinois State Capitol and a bronze statue stands on the lawn.'
FYI SGT Gerald “Jerry” HarrellCPO David R. D.
1SG Paul Ayotte SFC Dr. Jesus Garcia-Arce, Psy.D LTC Keith L Jackson CPT Richard Trione MSgt Gloria Vance CPO Nate S. MAJ (Join to see) Capt Christian D. Orr SSG Ed Mikus CWO3 Dennis M. PO3 Phyllis Maynard PO1 Tony Holland MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SSG Pete Fleming CPT Jack Durish Lt Col (Join to see) TSgt Joe C. LTC Trent Klug
1. Everett Dirksen handbill for his successful 1932 campaign for Congress.
2. 1981 15-cent Everett Dirksen stamp [Scott #1874]
3. Everett McKinley Dirksen's statue on the ground of the Illinois Capitol in Springfield.)
Everett Dirksen Defends Taft
Republican National Convention 1952
Chicago, IL
Sen. Everett M. Dirksen gives his speech in support or Sen. Robert Taft for President against Dwight D. Eisenhower.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrR-34t7P0U
Background from {[patrickmurfin.blogspot.com/2019/09/everett-mckinley-dirksenwhen.html]}
Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout
An Eclectic Journal of Opinion, History, Poetry and General Bloviating
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Everett McKinley Dirksen—When Republicans Were Not All Crooks and Madmen
The maxim says “a dead fish rots from the head down.” Case in point, Donald Trump, his cabinet and other appointees, the GOP in Congress—most noticeably Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—and a slew of Red State governors. Corruption, venality, bigotry leavened with incompetence and willful ignorance. As many have noted it’s not your father’s Republican Party. But…
Those of us of a certain age remember when Republicans were stodgy and conservative but generally not crooks, or madmen. I never thought I would say that I miss those guys.
A good way to see just how far the modern Republican Party has gone off the rails is to review the career of Illinois Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen, a self-proclaimed party conservative who died fifty years ago today September 7, 1969 having served nearly 19 years in the Senate including 10 years as Minority Leader.
Dirksen and his fraternal twin brother were born on his parent’s farm near downstate Pekin, Illinois on January 4, 1896. His parents were both German immigrants and his father, like most Midwestern Germans, was a staunch Republican. He named his son in honor the legendary orator Edward Everett and President William McKinley.
The boy was educated in local schools and attended the University of Minnesota Law School before dropping out to enlist in the Army during World War I. He served in France as a second lieutenant of artillery.
A handbill for Dirksen's successful 1932 campaign for Congress.
After the war he returned to Pekin and took up private business. His political career began with election to the city council in 1927. He had his eye on bigger things. He failed to win the GOP nomination for the House of Representatives in 1930, but won both nomination and election in 1932.
Dirksen entered Congress as a minority Republican in the Democratic landslide that brought Franklin D. Roosevelt to the White House. Despite the ingrained conservatism of a small town businessman, Dirksen recognized the severity of the national emergency of the Great Depression and supported much, but not all, of F.D.R.’s New Deal legislation despite pressure from party leaders. It marked a willingness to work across party lines that was the hallmark of his long career.
Roosevelt, however, could not rely on the Illinois Congressman for support as he steered the country to support of the Allies in World War II. Dirksen was an ardent isolationist in the mold of one of his most influential political supporters, Col. Robert R. McCormack, publisher of the Chicago Tribune. He showed his considerable skill as a legislative tactician during the debate over Roosevelt’s Lend Lease Act. He recognized that there were not enough Republican votes to stop passage in the House, but took advantage of sixty-five Democrats leaving the floor for lunch to successfully attach an amendment that gave the Senate and House to power to revoke the President’s authority by a concurring resolution that could be passed by a simple majority in both houses.
Dirksen made an abortive bid for the 1944 Republican Presidential nomination, which observers believed was mostly an attempt to derail the re-nomination of liberal Wendell Willkie or a ploy to get the Vice Presidential nomination. In any event on the eve of the convention he signaled that he would not be a contender and although he allowed himself to be nominated as a favorite son of Illinois, did not get a single vote.
In 1948, citing an eye ailment that would plague him the rest of his life, Dirksen announced that he would not seek re-election. He was evidently feeling better in 1950 when he beat incumbent Senator Scott Lucas, the sitting Majority Leader and a key ally of President Harry Truman. Dirksen campaigned with the help of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy who accused Lucas of being soft on Communism.
Dirksen remained loyal to McCarthy, but tried to convince him to admit to “misstatements” and apologize to avoid censure by the Senate. When the vote came down, he supported McCarthy while privately acknowledging that his friend had, “lost his senses.”
Even as a freshman Dirksen quickly became a power in the Senate where he was known for his 19th Century style florid oratory, deceptively folksy demeanor, and considerable skill at building legislative coalitions. By 1952 he was well enough thought of to be the voice of Mid-Western conservatives at the Republican National Convention in support of Senator Robert Taft of Ohio and against Dwight Eisenhower. In a blistering speech to the convention he went directly after Eisenhower’s biggest supporter, former two time nominee Thomas E. Dewey. Pointing at Dewey on the floor he thundered, “Don’t take us down the path to defeat again!” to a mixed chorus of boos and cheers.
From political opponent to key ally--Dirksen and Eisenhower in the Oval Office.
Dirksen, however, dutifully supported Eisenhower that fall and soon became his most reliable ally in the Senate, a tribute to the practicality of both men.
When the Senate reorganized in 1959, Dirksen was elected Minority Leader over more liberal John Sherman Cooper of Kentucky, but he moved quickly to heal rifts between wings of the party and molded a solid caucus. As John F. Kennedy came to the Presidency, he became the face of the Republican Party, along with House Minority Leader Charles Halleck of Indiana. Their weekly joint news conference, dubbed the Ev and Charley Show, became goldmine of television sound bites, usually featuring Dirksen’s folksy wit. His weathered face, mop of unruly curls, and distinctive voice made him a regular on Meet the Press and Face the Nation.
The weekly joint press conference of House Minority Leader Charles Halleck and Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen was so entertaining it regularly made the evening newscasts and was dubbed the Ev and Charlie Show.
Dirksen became famous for his quips such as, “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you’re talking real money,” when talking about the budget and his story of two Quaker ladies discussing taxes, “Don’t tax me, don’t tax thee, tax the fellow behind the tree.”
Although a moderate conservative on economic policy and an anti-Communist hawk in foreign affairs, Dirksen, in the tradition of Illinois Republicans, was passionate about civil rights. Working across the aisle with Democratic Majority Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana, he was critical in rounding up Republican votes to break filibusters against both the Civil Rights Act of 1963 and the Open Housing Act of 1968.
Dirksen collaborated with Democratic Majority Leader Mike Mansfield to the key Civil Rights legislation passed in the Senate.
Reversing his traditional isolationism, Dirksen became an early supporter of the War in Vietnam. His advice to his old Senate friend Lyndon B. Johnson was said to be critical to Johnson’s decision not only to continue Kennedy’s commitment of troops there, but to dramatically escalate the war against his own nagging doubts.
Dirksen was a regular on the Sunday morning news panel programs. With Edwin Newman on Meet the Press.
Dirksen recorded several spoken word albums. A single from one of them, The Gallant Men, became an unexpected radio hit and earned him a Grammy.
The Senator was also famous for his passion for the common marigold and his frequent attempts to have the hardy plant name the national flower. He waxed eloquent about the topic at a drop of a hat.
Dirksen's statue on the ground of the Illinois Capitol in Springfield.
Dirksen died of complications following surgery for lung cancer at Walter Reed Army Hospital at the age of 77. He was so well thought of by his Senate colleagues that they re-named the main Senate office building in his honor. The new 1972 Federal Court Building in Chicago was also named for him. His portrait hangs in honor in the Illinois State Capitol and a bronze statue stands on the lawn.'
FYI SGT Gerald “Jerry” HarrellCPO David R. D.
1SG Paul Ayotte SFC Dr. Jesus Garcia-Arce, Psy.D LTC Keith L Jackson CPT Richard Trione MSgt Gloria Vance CPO Nate S. MAJ (Join to see) Capt Christian D. Orr SSG Ed Mikus CWO3 Dennis M. PO3 Phyllis Maynard PO1 Tony Holland MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SSG Pete Fleming CPT Jack Durish Lt Col (Join to see) TSgt Joe C. LTC Trent Klug
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PO3 Edward Riddle
Thank You Brother Steve for this history of Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen. This was quite a colorful guy.
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LTC Stephen F.
You are very welcome my friends and brother-in-Christ PO3 Edward Riddle and MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D.
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Thanks, Brother Dale, for all this info about World War 1. You can find out anything you could possibly want to know here about that war. I was reading about the youngest Doughboy, who enlisted when he was 12 years old.
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