Joseph Tydings

Joseph Davies Tydings (né Cheesborough; May 4, 1928 – October 8, 2018) was an American lawyer and politician. He was most notable for his service as a Democratic member of the United States Senate representing Maryland from 1965 to 1971.

Born in North Carolina, Tydings moved to Maryland as a youth after he was adopted by his mother's husband, Millard Tydings, who also served as a U.S. Senator from Maryland. After serving in the military, he obtained his law degree and entered into practice. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1955 to 1961, and as United States Attorney for Maryland from 1961 until his resignation in 1963 to run for Senate.

Tydings easily won election to the Senate in 1964. However, his controversial stances on

Tydings also argued Eisenstadt v. Baird, in which the Supreme Court of the United States legalized birth control for single persons in 1972, something that had been prohibited in many states. The Eisenstadt decision has been described as among the most influential Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century.^[3]

Early life, education, and military service

Tydings was born in

During the primary election in May 1964, Tydings faced Maryland Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein, who had won the endorsement of both J. Millard Tawes, Governor of Maryland, and Daniel Brewster, the other U.S. Senator from Maryland.^[10] Despite Goldstein's support from party leaders, Tydings trounced him by a nearly a two-to-one margin.^[12]

Tydings faced Beall in the general election and the results gave Tydings nearly 63% of 1,081,042 votes cast.^[13] His large margin of victory was due at least in part to the landslide win by fellow Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson for President in the same election, which likely increased voter turnout.^[14]

United States Senator

Upon his election, Tydings began to lay out his legislative agenda for his upcoming term, which included

Tydings voted in favor of the Voting Rights Act of 1965,^[18] the Civil Rights Act of 1968,^[19] and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.^[20] Tydings opposed President Richard Nixon's nominations of Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court, earning him the enmity of Nixon.^[9]

Known for his love of horses, Tydings was the Senate sponsor of the Horse Protection Act of 1970, which prohibited certain inhumane practices against horses.^[9]

Tydings' difficulties with the

In the Democratic primary, Tydings was challenged by perennial candidate and Dixiecrat George P. Mahoney and two others.^[24] After a divisive campaign, Tydings beat Mahoney by 53% to 37%.^[25]

For the general election, Tydings' opponent was freshman Congressman

In a review of the election, The Washington Post noted one of Tydings' major problems was identifying with his constituents. Despite the 3–1 advantage of registered Democrats versus Republicans in the state, Tydings had been labeled as an "ultraliberal" by many Marylanders, and Vice President Spiro Agnew, formerly the Governor of Maryland, had called Tydings "radical" while campaigning for Beall. Tydings was also wealthy, and was seen as having an "aloof" disposition.^[26]

Return to politics

Tydings resumed his legal career after he lost his Senate seat, entering into practice with a Washington law firm that included

In the primary, Tydings faced a strong challenge from Congressman Paul Sarbanes, who had entered the race several months earlier.^[27] This head start gave Sarbanes a considerable organizational and monetary advantage, and he had already secured influential endorsements.^[28] To fend off Sarbanes, Tydings hoped his name recognition and charisma on television would compensate for Sarbanes' other advantages. He also worked to relabel himself as more fiscally conservative than Sarbanes, since both candidates were seen as liberal.^[28]

For the primary election, Tydings needed a large margin of victory from precincts in the Washington, D.C., suburbs of Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, where he was most popular.^[29] Despite Tydings winning both counties, Sarbanes performed well in the rest of the state and defeated him by over 100,000 votes, 61% to 39%. Sarbanes had outspent Tydings two-to-one during the campaign.^[29] After defeating Tydings, Sarbanes won the general election by a landslide and served as senator until 2007.^[30]

Post-Senate career

Following his electoral defeat, Tydings returned to his law career at Danzansky's firm.^[31] In 1971, he gave oral argument on behalf of Bill Baird in the Supreme Court case Eisenstadt v. Baird in November 1971; in its decision the next year, the Court held that a Massachusetts state law barring the use of birth control for single persons was unconstitutional.^[32] The Eisenstadt decision has been described as among the most influential Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century.^[3]

Tydings also worked as a partner in the law firm of

In the last two decades of his life, Tydings was an attorney at the firm Blank Rome.^[9] Tydings was a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.^[36]

Joseph Tydings died in Washington, D.C., from cancer, on October 8, 2018, at the age of 90.^[9]

Personal life

Tydings married Virginia Reynolds Campbell of Lewes, Delaware, in 1955; they had four children. The couple divorced in 1974. In 1975, Tydings married Terry Lynn Huntingdon of Mount Shasta, California, with whom he had one child, actress Alexandra Tydings. Tydings and Huntingdon subsequently divorced.^[9]

Marjorie Merriweather Post was the second wife of Tydings' maternal grandfather Joseph E. Davies and it came to pass that Davies' crest was displayed at Post's