George H. Bender
George H. Bender | |
---|---|
William Edwin Minshall, Jr. | |
Constituency | At-large (1951–53) 23rd district (1953–54) |
Personal details | |
Born | George Harrison Bender September 29, 1896 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
Died | June 18, 1961 Chagrin Falls, Ohio, U.S. | (aged 64)
Resting place | Knollwood Cemetery in Mayfield Heights, Ohio |
Political party | Republican |
George Harrison Bender (September 29, 1896 – June 18, 1961) was an American Republican politician from Ohio. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and 1951 to 1954. He also served in the U.S. Senate from 1954 to 1957.
Early life
George was born in Cleveland to Czech immigrants Joseph Bender, an employee at
Family life
In 1920, he married Edna Eckhardt; they had two daughters. During his life and political career, Bender held a series of jobs and began a number of business ventures to support his family. His business career included stints as a department store advertising manager, manager of the Cleveland Stadium, and proprietor of a start-up business, the Bender Insurance Company. However, politics remained his only genuine interest.
State politics
In 1920, as a Republican, he became the youngest person to win a seat in the Ohio Senate to that time. Serving until 1930, he had limited influence. He pushed unsuccessfully for the introduction of teacher tenure. Initially a strong supporter of Prohibition, he changed his attitude after the police had received an anonymous tip and raided his house in search of liquor. They found nothing, but Bender thereafter vehemently opposed the alcohol ban. In 1934, he founded the National Republican and the Ohio Republican magazines, which he also edited and published.
US Representative
After losing four bids for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1930, 1932, 1934, and 1936, he at last won in 1938. He was re-elected until 1948, a Democratic electoral year. He won the seat back in 1950 and retained it for four more years.
Strongly opposed to President
He did not question the necessity of helping European countries devastated by the war, but he disagreed with the idea that the US government should take a direct role in channeling the relief aid. He argued that assistance for European recovery should come through the United Nations or private relief organizations. He also fervently opposed aid to Greece and Turkey, where British influence had been strong, on the premise that US involvement in the region only accommodated the "needs of a collapsing British empire" but did not benefit the United States.
His reputation for strong party loyalty brought Bender the job of organizer for Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft's candidacy for the presidential nomination at the 1948 and 1952 Republican National Conventions. His public role included arranging musical entertainment, conducting singing, leading demonstrations, and ringing cowbells. His often-comic antics led to many unfairly dismissive jokes, as his opponents quickly dubbed him the "Clown Prince." That mockery did not diminish the fact that he remained a serious and influential political figure.
Bender was in a famous 1952 newsreel addressing a gathering of over 15,000 people in the Cleveland Public Auditorium immediately after Richard Nixon had given his wildly successful Checkers speech on television. Bender asked the crowd to show if it was for Nixon and was greeted with a thunderous ovation of support.
US Senator
After Taft's death in 1953, Bender
In
Teamsters investigation
In 1958,
In December 1958, with his research into the locals completed, Bender reported preliminarily to Hoffa that he had found the International Brotherhood of Teamsters "free of corruption." The ex-senator's two colleagues on the commission almost immediately disclaimed any responsibility for that finding. Bender continued his "investigation" with the same degree of intensity until early May 1959 and charged the Teamsters a formidable $58,636.07 in salary and expenses for his efforts.
His political career eventually became clouded by allegations of corruption in his ties to the Teamsters. He was accused of curtailing a 1956 investigation into the organization after receiving a $40,000 campaign contribution. The United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management looked into the accusations in autumn 1958 but recommended no actions.
In his testimony during the hearings with Senator Barry Goldwater, Bender defended his behavior: "When you run for office, you have to have the votes of the washed and the unwashed as well. If cats and dogs could vote I'd shake hands with them." He subsequently lost both a 1960 bid to be a delegate to the Republican National Convention and a 1961 campaign for the post of Republican Precinct Committeeman.
Retirement and death
He retreated to a self-imposed retirement and died in
References
- ^ "Actapublica - Matriky - Moravský zemský archiv Brno". actapublica.eu. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
- ^ Encyclopedia of Bohemian and Czech-American Biography, Volume 1 by Miloslav Rechcigl Jr.
- ^ Caro, Robert A., Master of the Senate (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002) p. 799
- ^ Spencer 1998, p. 138.
External links
- Media related to George H. Bender at Wikimedia Commons
- Spencer, Thomas E. (1998). Where They're Buried: A Directory Containing More Than Twenty Thousand Names of Notable Persons Buried in American Cemeteries, With Listings of Many Prominent People Who Were Cremated. Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield Co. ISBN 978-0-8063-4823-0.
- United States Congress. "George H. Bender (id: B000356)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.