Dirksen, Everett McKinley, 1896-1969

<p>Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896 – September 7, 1969) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Senate Minority Leader from 1959 to 1969, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both landmark pieces of legislation during the Civil Rights Movement. He was also one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. A talented orator with a florid style and a notably rich baritone voice, his flamboyant speeches caused his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze".</p>

<p>Born in Pekin, Illinois, Dirksen served as an artillery officer during World War I and opened a bakery after the war. After serving on the Pekin City Council, he won election to the House of Representatives in 1932. In the House, he was considered a moderate and supported much of the New Deal; he became more conservative and isolationist over time, but reversed himself to support US involvement in World War II. He won election to the Senate in 1950, unseating Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas. In the Senate, he favored conservative economic policies and supported the internationalism of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dirksen succeeded William F. Knowland as Senate Minority Leader after the latter declined to seek re-election in 1958.</p>

<p>As the Senate Minority Leader, Dirksen emerged as a prominent national figure of the Republican Party during the 1960s. He developed a good working relationship with Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and supported President Lyndon B. Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War. He helped break the Southern filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While still serving as Senate Minority Leader, Dirksen died in 1969.</p>

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<p>DIRKSEN, EVERETT MCKINLEY, (father-in-law of Howard Baker), a Representative and a Senator from Illinois; born in Pekin, Tazewell County, Ill., January 4, 1896; attended public schools and the University of Minnesota College of Law at Minneapolis; during the First World War served overseas as a private and later as a second lieutenant of Field Artillery 1918-1919; general manager of a dredging company 1922-1925; commissioner of finance of Pekin, Ill., 1927-1931; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1936 and commenced practice in Pekin, Ill.; elected as a Republican to the Seventy-third and to the seven succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1933-January 3, 1949); chairman, Committee on District of Columbia (Eightieth Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1948; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1950; reelected in 1956, 1962, and again in 1968, and served from January 3, 1951, until his death in Washington, D.C., September 7, 1969; Republican whip 1957-1959; minority leader 1959-1969; chairman, Joint Committee on Inaugural Arrangements (Ninetieth Congress); lay in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, September 9-10, 1969; interment in Glendale Memorial Gardens, Pekin, Ill.</p>

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