Kenneth Keating

Kenneth Keating
U.S. House of Representatives from New York
In office January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1959
Preceded by	George F. Rogers
Succeeded by	Jessica M. Weis
Constituency	40th district (1947–1953) 38th district (1953–1959)
Personal details
Born	(1900-05-18)May 18, 1900 Lima, New York
Died	May 5, 1975(1975-05-05) (aged 74) New York City
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Political party	Republican
Spouses	Louise DePuy ​ ​ (m. 1928; died 1968)​ Mary Pitcairn Davis ​ ​ (m. 1974)​
Children	1
Parents	Thomas Keating (father) Louise Barnard (mother)
Alma mater	University of Rochester (BA) Harvard Law School (LLB)
Occupation	Politician diplomat judge
Civilian awards	Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Officer) Grand Cross of Merit of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army Reserve Corps
Years of service	1918 (SATC) 1942–1946 (Army) 1946–1963 (Reserve)
Rank	Brigadier General
Unit	South East Asia Command (Army) Staff and Administrative Reserve Corps (Reserve)
Conflict(s)	World War I World War II
Military awards	Legion of Merit (2) Order of the British Empire (Officer)

Kenneth Barnard Keating (May 18, 1900 – May 5, 1975) was an American politician, diplomat, and judge who served as a

Keating was born in Lima, New York on May 18, 1900, the son of Louise (Barnard) Keating, a schoolteacher, and Thomas Mosgrove Keating, a grocer.^[1] He was tutored by his mother until age seven, when he began attending the Lima public schools as a sixth grader.^[2] He graduated from high school at age 13^[2] and attended Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, from which he graduated in 1915 as the class valedictorian.^[3] He graduated from the University of Rochester in 1919,^[4] and was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity^[5] and Phi Beta Kappa.^[6] He taught Latin and Greek for a year at Rochester's East High School, then began attendance at Harvard Law School.^[4] He graduated in 1923, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Rochester.^[4] Keating's early forays into politics and government included service as town attorney for the town of Brighton, where he resided while practicing law in Rochester.^[2]

Military service

During World War I, Keating served in the Student Army Training Corps (SATC) at the University of Rochester, where he attained the rank of sergeant.^[7] In April, 1942 Keating joined the Army for World War II and was commissioned as a major.^[8] He served initially as chief of the assignments branch in the international division of the Army Service Forces headquarters, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in October, 1942.^[8][9]

In 1943, Keating was assigned to India as head of the Army Service Forces international office that administered the

Keating remained in the Organized Reserve Corps after the war, and was promoted to brigadier general in 1948.^[14] He continued to serve until retiring from the military in 1963.^[15][16]

U.S. House of Representatives

A Republican, Keating was a member of the New York delegation to every Republican National Convention from 1940 to 1964 with the exception of 1944, when he was overseas with the U.S. Army during World War II.^[6] On returning to the United States after the war, Keating ran successfully for a Rochester-area seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1946 election.^[6] He was reelected five times, and served in the 80th, 81st, 82nd, 83rd, 84th and 85th United States Congresses (January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1959).^[6]

Keating was regarded as a liberal Republican on many issues, but adopted conservative positions on anticommunism during the

During the 1964 Republican National Convention, Keating staged a walkout of the majority of the New York delegation after conservative Barry Goldwater won the presidential nomination.^[6] In the general election campaign, Keating refused to endorse Goldwater, and did not campaign for him in New York.^[22] Keating outperformed Goldwater on election day, but was defeated for reelection by the Democratic nominee, Robert F. Kennedy, who had established residency in New York shortly before becoming a candidate.^[6] Keating accused Kennedy of "carpetbagging", but Democratic strength in what proved to be a wave election nationwide was sufficient to propel Kennedy to victory.^[18]

Later career

Appeals court judge

In

Keating's judicial philosophy was that precedent was binding, but only to the extent that it made sense in the context of the current case and times; he disagreed with following precedent for its own sake.[6] He also disagreed with the concept of distinguishing cases if the effect of the court's decision was to overrule them.^[6] In Keating's view, if a precedent was to be overturned, it should simply be overturned; attempts to distinguish cases by parsing language or selectively picking and choosing case details were confusing to attorneys and judges because they amounted to dishonest reasoning.^[6]

In Liberty National Bank v. Buscaglia, Keating rejected the argument that national banks should be exempt from paying state taxes on the grounds that they were instruments of the federal government.^[6] In Keating's view, national banks had changed so much since the 1819 McCulloch v. Maryland decision gave them the exemption from state taxes that the McCulloch precedent no longer applied.^[6] In Gallagher v. St. Raymond's Roman Catholic Church, Keating's opinion overturned the precedent that the owner of a building to which the public was invited had no duty to illuminate the building's outside stairway.^[6] Keating argued that while the precedent made sense in the eras of candles, lanterns and gas lighting, which were not universally accessible, the availability of electric lighting nearly everywhere had rendered it obsolete.^[6] In Flanagan v. Mount Eden General Hospital, the court overruled the common law tradition that the statute of limitations in medical malpractice actions which involved instruments left inside a patient began to run from the commission of the act.^[6] Keating's opinion argued that logically, the statute of limitations should begin at the point where the patient first became aware of the instrument that had not been retrieved.^[6]

Ambassador to India

In 1969, Keating was appointed U.S. Ambassador to India, which enabled him to make use of the goodwill and contacts he had established during his World War II military service.

As a result of U.S. support for Pakistan in the conflict, America suspended economic aid to India, and India closed five American cultural centers.^[4] Keating remained in India until 1972, when he returned to the United States to campaign for the reelection of President Richard M. Nixon.^[4]

Ambassador to Israel

He served as Ambassador to Israel from August 1973 until his death.^[4] Keating's ambassadorship was high profile; he built a network of contacts and conducted one on one diplomacy by entertaining frequently at his home in the Tel Aviv suburbs.^[4] Despite his efforts, members of the Israeli government were reportedly unhappy with his work, and expressed skepticism about the quality of the reports he sent to the U.S. State Department in Washington.^[4] In one instance, Israel's government claimed Keating had misinformed U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about the effects of public opinion in Israel on how much compromising its government could do in attempting to reach agreement with Egypt on the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula.^[4]

Death and burial

Keating suffered a heart attack on April 17, 1975, while visiting his daughter in New Jersey, and was admitted to Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City.^[23] He died in the hospital on May 5.^[4] Keating's funeral was held at St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.^[24]

Personal life

Family

In 1928, Keating was married to Louise DePuy, who died in 1968.

Keating was a member of American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, and Rochester Bar Association.^[26] He belonged to the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Association of the United States Army, and Reserve Officers Association.^[26] He was also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.^[26] Keating was active in Freemasonry, and attained the 33rd Degree of the Scottish Rite.^[26] In addition, his fraternal memberships included the Kiwanis, Elks, Moose, and Eagles.^[26] Keating belonged to the American Political Science Association, and received the organization's first Congressional Distinguished Service Award.^[26]

Legacy

In 1959, Keating received the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Officer) to recognize his work on behalf of post-World War II Italian immigrants.^[27] In 1961, Keating was awarded the Grand Cross of Merit of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an award presented by the order to recognize non-Catholics who whose personal and professional lives espouse goodwill towards the Catholic Church.^[28]

The federal building in Rochester is named for Keating.^[29] Brooklyn Law School awards the annual Judge Kenneth B. Keating Memorial Prize to a member of each graduating class who demonstrates exceptional achievement in the field of conflict of laws.^[6] The Kenneth Barnard Keating Papers are part of the Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation holdings at the University of Rochester.^[30] Senator Keating Boulevard in the town of Brighton, a road which was constructed in the late 1990s, is named for Keating.^[31]

Honorary degrees

Keating received several honorary degrees, to include:

• University of Rochester, LL.D., 1954^[26][32]
• Hobart and William Smith Colleges, LL.D., 1959^[33]
• Hamilton College, LL.D., 1959^[34]
• Le Moyne College, LL.D., 1959^[35]
• Albany Law School of Union University, LL.D., 1959^[36]
• Alfred University, DHL, 1960.^[37]
• Long Island University, LL.D., 1960^[38]
• Yeshiva University, DHL, 1962,^[26][39]
• Adelphi University, LL.D., 1962^[40]
• Iona University, LL.D., 1962^[41]
• Clarkson University, DHL, 1964^[42]
• Elmira College, D.Litt., 1964^[43]
• Pace University, DCL, 1965^[26][44]
• New York Medical College, DHL, 1965.^[45]
• Rhode Island College, LL.D., 1965.^[45][46]

References