Alvin Morell Bentley
Alvin Bentley | |
|---|---|
 Bentley on Nov. 13, 1958 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 8th district | |
| In office January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1961 | |
| Preceded by | Fred L. Crawford |
| Succeeded by | James Harvey |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Alvin Morell Bentley III August 30, 1918 Portland, Maine, U.S. |
| Died | April 10, 1969 (aged 50) Tucson, Arizona, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education | University of Michigan (BA, MA) |
Alvin Morell Bentley III (August 30, 1918 – April 10, 1969) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. As four-term a U.S. representative from 1953 to 1961, he made national headlines as one of the wounded of the 1954 United States Capitol shooting.
Early years
Bentley, the only child of Alvin M. Bentley, Jr., and Helen Webb Bentley, was born in Portland, Maine, only three months before his father died serving in France during World War I. Although fatherless, Bentley was heir to a family fortune, from his grandfather who founded the Owosso Manufacturing Company.
He graduated in 1934 from Southern Pines High School in Southern Pines, North Carolina, and in 1936 from Asheville Prep School in Asheville, North Carolina.[1] He received his bachelor's degree in 1940 from the University of Michigan and attended Turner's Diplomatic School, Washington, D.C., to qualify for the U.S. diplomatic service.[1]
Government service
He served as vice consul and secretary with the United States Foreign Service, serving in Mexico (1942–1944), Colombia (1945–1946), Hungary (1947–1949), and Italy (1949–1950).[1] He returned to Washington, D.C., on March 15, 1950, for work in the State Department.
Disagreeing with the Truman administration's foreign policy, Bentley resigned from the diplomatic service in 1950 and returned to live in Owosso, Michigan. He was a delegate to Republican State conventions in 1950, 1951, and 1952.[1] He was vice president of Lake Huron Broadcasting Company, Saginaw, Michigan, starting in 1952, and a director of Mitchell-Bentley Corporation.[1]
In 1952, Bentley defeated the incumbent
1954 House shooting incident
Bentley was one of five Representatives shot in the March 1, 1954 United States Capitol shooting, when four Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the visitors' balcony into the chamber of the United States House of Representatives. Bentley was shot in the chest and abdomen but survived.[4]
Career during the 1960s
From 1961 to 1962, Bentley was a delegate from the 15th Senatorial District to the Michigan State Constitutional Convention, which produced the
Alvin M. Bentley served on the Board of Directors for the National Conference on Citizenship in 1960.
While continuing to maintain offices in
Bentley died, aged 50, while on vacation in Tucson, Arizona, of an "inflammation affecting the central nervous system". Bentley had been confined at a wheelchair for two years after "corrective surgery" when his condition suddenly worsened.[1][5] He is interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Owosso, Michigan.[1][6]
Philanthropy
In 1961, Bentley established the Alvin M. Bentley Foundation to support educational, scientific, and charitable projects. Through the
In 1983, the foundation established the Bentley Scholarships at the University of Michigan for Michigan residents who have demonstrated academic excellence and promise. The foundation also sponsors Operation Bentley, "a week-long intensive academic program held at Albion College for high school juniors who have been selected to participate in a rigorous and rewarding study of local, state, and national politics."[7]
In 1967, he contributed money to the University of Michigan to establish an endowed professorship in the Department of History in memory of his parents.
In the mid-1960s, Bentley served as chairman of the Michigan Freedom from Hunger Council, a humanitarian organization set up to gather, interpret, and disseminate information about hunger problems in the world, especially in the Western Hemisphere. Bentley also chaired the Michigan branch of the Partners of the Alliance, an organization that had begun nationally in 1964, to act as a channel through which civic clubs, unions, business and professional groups, schools, and individuals could work directly with groups, villages, or areas in Latin America to improve the way of life in that particular area. The objective was not charity, but the promotion of self-help programs. The State of Michigan took British Honduras (Belize) as its partner.
Death and burial
He died on April 10, 1969 at the age of 50. In 1971, his widow, Arvella D. Bentley, gave a generous donation to the University of Michigan's "Michigan Historical Collections", enabling it to construct a new building which was subsequently renamed the Bentley Historical Library. [8]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j United States Congress. "Alvin Morell Bentley (id: B000391)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- ^ "HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957". GovTrack.us.
- ^ "HR 8601. PASSAGE. -- House Vote #102 -- Mar 24, 1960". GovTrack.us. Retrieved Mar 3, 2020.
- ISSN 2766-6107. Retrieved 22 December 2022 – via Chronicling America Library of Congress.
- ^ "Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved Mar 3, 2020.
- ^ Index to Politicians: Bent to Bentnall from the Political Graveyard
- ^ "Operation Bentley". Archived from the original on September 6, 2004. Retrieved Mar 3, 2020.
- ^ "Alvin M. Bentley". Shiawasseehistory.com. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
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