Martin Dies Jr.
Martin Dies Jr. | |
---|---|
Jesse Martin Combs | |
Constituency | 2nd district |
In office January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1959 | |
Preceded by | district created |
Succeeded by | district abolished |
Constituency | At-large district |
Chairman of the House Committee Investigating Un-American Activities | |
In office 1938–1944 | |
Preceded by | office established |
Succeeded by | Edward J. Hart |
Personal details | |
Born | Colorado City, Texas, U.S. | November 5, 1900
Died | November 14, 1972 Lufkin, Texas, U.S. | (aged 72)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse |
Myrtle McAdams (m. 1920) |
Children | 3, including University of Texas (LLB)National University School of Law |
Occupation |
|
Martin Dies Jr. (November 5, 1900 – November 14, 1972), also known as Martin Dies Sr., was a Texas politician and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives.[1] He was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-second and after that to the six succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1931 – January 3, 1945). In 1944, Dies did not seek renomination to the Seventy-ninth Congress, but was elected to the Eighty-third and to the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1959). Again, he did not seek renomination in 1958 to the Eighty-sixth Congress. In 1941 and 1957, he was twice defeated for the nomination to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate. Dies served as the first chairman of the Special Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities from 1937 through 1944 (Seventy-fifth through Seventy-eighth Congresses).[2][3]
Background
He was born in
Career
Dies worked as an attorney in
After the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Dies wrote in the Chicago Herald-Examiner that the "large alien population is the basic cause of unemployment."[6]: 377
Due to the support of fellow Texan John Nance Garner, he became a member of the important House Rules Committee. At the beginning, Dies fully supported the New Deal as it aimed to provide relief for the distressed rural areas, which he represented in Congress. However, being a conservative Southerner, he turned against it after the 1936 election, when labor unions started to play a much bigger role in national politics.[3][7]
In 1938, he started as a chairman of the Special Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities and remained at its helm until 1944. At ease with newsmen, Dies was frequently in the national media spotlight.
House Committee Investigating Un-American Activities
Dies and
Dies Committee and the KKK
In pre-war years and during World War II, HUAC was known as the Dies Committee. Its work was aimed at investigating fascist and communist subversive activist. Dies targeted
As chairman, Dies pursued Nazis, labor unions, New Deal agencies, and communist or communist-affiliated groups, from which he gained a national reputation and even published a book about his exploits, The Trojan Horse of America (1940).[3]
Shirley Temple and Hollywood
While there had been earlier Congressional hearings on
The Communist Party relies heavily on the carelessness or indifference of thousands of prominent citizens in lending their names for its propaganda purposes. For example, the French newspaper Ce Soir, which is owned outright by the Communist Party, featured hearty greetings from Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, James Cagney, and even Shirley Temple. ... No one, I hope, is going to claim that any one of these persons in particular is a Communist.[13]
Backlash
Dies was criticized for using his Committee to further his personal campaign to undermine the
Dies articulated concerns of the "racial question" as it related to minimum wage provision under the Fair Labor Standards Acts, stating, "What is prescribed for one race must be prescribed for the others, and you cannot prescribe the same wages for the black man as for the white man."[17]
Encouraged by his victory over Hook and a quadrupling of his Committee's budget, Dies' accusations became progressively more scurrilous.
Dies' public charges and rumor-mongering after June 1941 came at a time when the
Later life
Dies was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate in a special election held in late June, 1941 to fill the seat vacated by the death of Senator Morris Sheppard. Dies finished a distant fourth, losing to the sitting Governor, Pappy O'Daniel who narrowly beat Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson in Johnson's first run for the Senate.[23]
Dies was a critic of the
Dies was reelected to the House in 1952 in an at-large seat when Texas received another seat through
Dies returned to Texas to practice law.[26]
Death and legacy
In 1920, Dies married Myrtle McAdams and had three sons: Robert, Jack, and Martin Jr., who became a Texas state senator and Secretary of State of Texas.[27][28]
Dies died November 14, 1972, of an apparent heart attack at the age of 72.[29]
See also
- List of George Washington University alumni
- List of presidents pro tempore of the Texas Senate
- List of members of the House Un-American Activities Committee
- List of United States representatives from Texas
- List of members of the United States House of Representatives in the 72nd Congress by seniority
- List of members of the United States House of Representatives in the 74th Congress by seniority
- List of members of the United States House of Representatives in the 75th Congress by seniority
- List of members of the United States House of Representatives in the 76th Congress by seniority
- List of members of the United States House of Representatives in the 77th Congress by seniority
- List of members of the United States House of Representatives in the 78th Congress by seniority
- List of members of the United States House of Representatives in the 83rd Congress by seniority
- List of members of the United States House of Representatives in the 85th Congress by seniority
References
- New York Times. November 15, 1972. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
Former Representative Martin Dies, first chairman of the controversial House Committee on Un-American Activities, died tonight, apparently of a heart attack. He was 71 years old. engaging in "un-American activities."
- ^ "Martin Dies Jr". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
Dies, Martin Jr. (son of Martin Dies), a Representative from Texas; born in Colorado, Mitchell County, Tex., November 5, 1900; moved with his parents to Beaumont, Tex., in 1902; ...
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Martin Dies, Jr". Encyclopedia Britannica. 20 July 1998. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
- ^ "Dies, Anti-Red Solon, Is Dead". The Fresno Bee. 1972-11-15. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
- ^ Parrish, Michael E. The Hughes Court Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2002. pp. 67–68.
- ISBN 9781851095230.
- ^ Pederson, William D. The FDR Years. New York: Facts on File, 2006. p. 211.
- ^ John Gunther Inside U.S.A., (London, Hamish Hamilton, 1947, p. 789)
- ^ Newton, Michael (2010). The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi A History. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company pp. 100–101.
- ISBN 0-446-35792-8.
- ^ Current Biography 1940, pp. 241–43
- ^ Martin Dies Story, pp. 104–05
- ^ Martin Dies Story, p. 104
- ^ Current Biography 1940, at 242
- ^ Dies, M. The Trojan Horse in America. Dodd, Mead & Company (1940). ASIN B0006AP2Q6
- ^ "THE CONGRESS: Smoke". Time. February 12, 1940. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
- ^ Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 2nd Sessions (1937), 82:1404
- ^ "Dies 'Un-American' hunt is a racket". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. VII, no. 9. New South Wales, Australia. 1 April 1942. p. 4. Retrieved 15 September 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Parmelee, Maurice (1927). The new gymnosophy. New York: Frederick H. Hitchcock.
- ^ Hartman, William E. (1970). Nudist society: an authoritative, complete study of nudism in America. New York: Crown. p. 21.
- ^ Flynn, John T. (2005). The Roosevelt myth. Auburn, Alabama: Ludwig von Mises Institute. pp. 306–308.
- ^ Review of The Trojan Horse in America at spyinggame.me, retrieved September 7, 2016.
- ^ Special Election 1941. Texas Almanac, 1943-1944. 1943. pp. 259–260. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ "TX U.S. Senate Special Election, April 2, 1957". ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
- ^ Badger, Tony. Southerners Who Refused to Sign the Southern Manifesto. JSTOR. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
- ^ "Dies, Martin, Jr". Office of the Historian of the US House of Representatives. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
- ^ "Martin Dies Seeking Third Congress Term". The Cameron Herald. 1956-07-05. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
- ^ "A State of Remembrance" (PDF). State of Texas. 2003-04-24. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
- ^ "Ex‐Rep. Martin Dies, 71, Is Dead; Led Un‐American Activities Unit". The New York Times. November 15, 1972. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
External links
- United States Congress. "Martin Dies Jr. (id: D000338)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Office of the Historian of the US House of Representatives - Dies, Martin, Jr.
- Martin Dies Jr. from the Handbook of Texas Online
- FBI Electronic reading room - Martin Dies Jr.
- Texas State Library and Archives - Papers of U.S. Representative Martin Dies
- UNT Digital Library - Oral History Interview with Martin Dies, Jr., April 23, 1966
- CSUN Digital Library - Telegram, Martin Dies to Leon Lewis, 1938
- Columbia University Libraries - Letter from Martin Dies, Chairman of the Special Committee on Un-American Activities, to Frances Perkins, requesting Harry Bridges case file
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress