John L. McClellan
John L. McClellan | |
---|---|
David D. Glover | |
Succeeded by | William F. Norrell |
Personal details | |
Born | John Little McClellan February 25, 1896 Sheridan, Arkansas, U.S. |
Died | November 28, 1977 Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. | (aged 81)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouses | Eula Hicks
(m. 1913; div. 1921)Lucille Smith
(m. 1922; died 1935)Norma Myers (m. 1937) |
Children | 5 |
Military service | |
Branch/service | Signal Corps |
Battles/wars | World War I |
John Little McClellan (February 25, 1896 – November 28, 1977) was an American lawyer and segregationist politician.[1] A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Representative (1935–1939) and a U.S. Senator (1943–1977) from Arkansas.
At the time of his death, he was the second most senior member of the Senate and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.[2] He is the longest-serving senator in Arkansas history.[3]
Early life and career
John Little McClellan was born on a farm near
He was admitted to the state bar in 1913, when he was only 17, after the Arkansas General Assembly approved a special act waiving the normal age requirement for certification as a lawyer.[2] As the youngest attorney in the United States, he practiced law with his father in Sheridan.[5]
McClellan married Eula Hicks in 1913; the couple had two children, and divorced in 1921.
In 1922, he married Lucille Smith, to whom he remained married until her death in 1935; they had three children.[3] He was prosecuting attorney of the seventh judicial district of Arkansas from 1927 to 1930.[6]
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1934, McClellan was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's 6th congressional district.[6] He was re-elected to the House in 1936. In March of that year, he condemned CBS for airing a speech by Communist leader Earl Browder, which he described as "nothing less than treason."[5]
During his tenure in the House, he voted against President Franklin D. Roosevelt's court-packing plan, the Gavagan anti-lynching bill, and the Reorganization Act of 1937.[5] In 1937, he wed for the third and final time, marrying Norma Myers Cheatham.[2]
In 1938, McClellan unsuccessfully challenged first-term incumbent Hattie Caraway for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate.[6] During the campaign, he criticized Caraway for her support for the 1937 Reorganization Act and accused her of having "improper influence" over federal employees in Arkansas.[5] Nevertheless, he was defeated in the primary election by a margin of about 8,000 votes.[5] He subsequently resumed the practice of law in Camden, where he joined the firm Gaughan, McClellan and Gaughan.[3] He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1940 (Chicago), 1944 (Chicago), and 1948 (Philadelphia).[citation needed]
U.S. Senate
In 1942, after
McClellan also served for eighteen years as chairman of the
He led two other investigations, both televised, uncovering spectacular law-breaking and corruption. The first of these, under the United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management, also known as the McClellan Committee, investigated union corruption and centered on Jimmy Hoffa and lasted from January 1957 to March 1960.[citation needed] In April 1961, during an Investigations subcommittee hearing, contractor Henry Gable asserted that Communists would not be able to do the same amount of damage to the American missile effort as done by labor at Cape Canaveral. McClellan suggested that the comments bordered on accusations of subversion and called for more testimony from the unions.[7]
The second televised major investigation led by McClellan was in 1964 and known as the Valachi hearings. These hearings investigated the operations of organized crime and featured the testimony of Joseph Valachi, the first American mafia figure to testify about its criminal activities. McClellan continued his efforts against organized crime (including backing the anti-organized-crime (RICO) law) until 1973, when he switched to investigating political subversion. During this period, he hired Robert F. Kennedy as chief counsel and vaulted him into the national spotlight. McClellan investigated numerous cases of government corruption including numerous defense contractors and Texas financier Billie Sol Estes.[citation needed]
In 1957, McClellan opposed
McClellan and fellow Senator
Although his Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management already had been dissolved by 1960, McClellan began a related three-year investigation in 1963, through the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, into the union benefit plans of labor leader George Barasch, alleging misuse and diversion of $4,000,000 of benefit funds.[9][10]
McClellan's notable failure to find any legal wrongdoing led to his introduction of several pieces of new legislation including his own bill on October 12, 1965 setting new fiduciary standards for plan trustees.
In 1977, McClellan was one of five Democrats to vote against the nomination of
Personal life
McClellan's second wife died of spinal meningitis in 1935 and his son Max died of the same disease in 1943 while serving in Africa during World War II. His son, John L. Jr., died in 1949 in an automobile accident, and his son James H. died in a plane crash in 1958. Both men were members of the Xi chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity at the University of Arkansas. To honor their two fallen brothers, the Chapter initiated Senator McClellan into Kappa Sigma in 1965.
McClellan died in his sleep on November 28, 1977, in
See also
References
- ^ "'Hypocrisy' on Desegregation Charged". The New York Times. 1970-09-23.
- ^ a b c d e "John L. McClellan, 35 Years in the Senate, Dead at 81; Headed Major Investigations". The New York Times. 1977-11-29.
- ^ a b c d e "John Little McClellan (1896–1977)". The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture.
- ^ Thomas, David Yancey (1930). Arkansas and Its People: A History, 1541-1930. Vol. IV. The American Historical Society.
- ^ H.W. Wilson Company. 1950.
- ^ a b c d "McCLELLAN, John Little (1896-1977)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- ^ "Missile Delays Are Blamed On Union Practices". Toledo Blade. April 27, 1961.
- ^ Quoted in Osro Cobb, Osro Cobb of Arkansas: Memoirs of Historical Significance, Carol Griffee, ed. (Little Rock: Rose Publishing Company, 1989), p. 237, 238
- ^ Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate (1966). Diversion of union welfare-pension funds of Allied Trades Council and Teamsters 815; report, together with individual views. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ^ "Pension Fund Probe: Searching Questions and Puzzling Answers". Herald Tribune. August 8, 1965.
- ^ Barkdoll, Robert (October 13, 1965). "Bill to Guard Welfare, Pension Funds Offered". Los Angeles Times. p. 1.
- ^ Whitten, Leslie H. (August 2, 1965). "Javits Aims to Protect Union Funds". Journal American.
- ^ "Javits Bids U.S. Curb Union Pension Funds". Daily News. August 4, 1965.
- ^ McMillan, III, James G. (2000). "Misclassification and Employer Discretion Under ERISA" (PDF). University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law. 2 (4): 837–866.
- ^ Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate (August 1984). The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974: The First Decade (PDF). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 11.
- ^ "Senate Roll‐Call Vote Approving Marshall". The New York Times. January 27, 1977.
- ^ State Capitol News Report; Benton Courier; Benton, Arkansas; Page 2; December 1, 1977
External links
- John Little McClellan at IMDb
- Congressional Biographical Directory.
- The Man Behind The Frown TIME Magazine Story Of Senator John McClellan, May 27, 1957[permanent dead link]
- TV.com's Episode Guide for "What's My Line" - Episode 245 with Senator John McClellan as mystery guest. Archived 2008-08-16 at the Wayback Machine
- Fearless: John L. McClellan, United States Senator - Official biography.