Thomas Kuchel

Thomas Kuchel
Appointed by	Earl Warren
United States Senator from California
In office January 2, 1953 – January 3, 1969
Preceded by	Richard M. Nixon
Succeeded by	Alan Cranston
Member of the California Senate
In office 1941–1945
Member of the California State Assembly from the 75th district
In office 1937–1941
Preceded by	Edward Craig
Succeeded by	Sam L. Collins
Personal details
Born	August 15, 1910 Anaheim, Orange County, California, U.S.
Died	November 21, 1994 (aged 84) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	University of Southern California (B.A, J.D)
Profession	Attorney
Military service
Service/branch	United States Navy
Unit	Reserves
Battles/wars	World War II

Thomas Henry Kuchel (August 15, 1910 – November 21, 1994)^[1] was a moderate Republican US Senator from California. From 1959 to 1969 he was the minority whip in the Senate,^[2] where he was the co-manager on the floor for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.^[3]

Early life

Kuchel (/ˈkiːkəl/ KEEK-uhl) was born in Anaheim in Orange County, the son of Henry Kuchel, a newspaper editor and the former Letitia Bailey.^[3][4][5] Kuchel attended public school as a child.^[2] While he was at Anaheim High School, he joined the debate team. He debated a team from Whittier High School, winning his own debate against his opponent and later intraparty rival, Richard Nixon.

He graduated from the University of Southern California in 1932,^[2] and from University of Southern California Law School before he entered state government.

Career

Kuchel served in the California State Assembly from 1937 to 1941, in the California State Senate from 1941 to 1945, and as California State Controller from 1946 to 1953. During World War II, Kuchel was a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserves.

In 1953, Kuchel was appointed to the US Senate by Governor Earl Warren to fill the vacancy created after Republican Senator Richard Nixon was elected Vice President. Kuchel was elected to the remainder of Nixon's term in 1954 and to full terms in 1956 and 1962.

Kuchel pointedly refused to endorse ticket-mate Nixon's candidacy for governor in 1962 in a heated race against incumbent Democrat Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, Sr.^[3] He had first attempted to steer clear of the factional infighting within the California GOP which took place in the 1950s between Vice President Nixon, US Senate Republican Leader William F. Knowland, a conservative, and Governor Goodwin J. Knight, a liberal. Known as a moderate, Kuchel eventually backed Knowland in his campaign to oust Knight in the Republican primary for governor in 1958. Knight then ran for the United States Senate, but he and Knowland both lost that year.

However, Kuchel broke with Knowland in 1964 when Knowland asked him to endorse Barry Goldwater for the Republican nomination for president, and Kuchel instead endorsed Nelson Rockefeller, who narrowly lost the California presidential primary to Goldwater.^[3]

Kuchel with President Lyndon Johnson in the Oval Office in 1968.

While Kuchel was campaigning against Goldwater, there circulated a "vicious document" that purported to be an affidavit signed by a Los Angeles police officer, saying that in 1949 he had arrested Kuchel. The document said the arrest was for drunkenness while Kuchel had been in the midst of a sex act. Four men were indicted for the libel: Norman H. Krause, bar owner and ex-Los Angeles policeman, who in 1950 did arrest two people who worked in Kuchel's office for drunkenness; Jack D. Clemmons, a Los Angeles police sergeant until his resignation two weeks before his arrest; John F. Fergus, a public relations man for Eversharp, Inc., who in 1947 was charged with possession of a concealed weapon and given a suspended sentence, and Francis A. Capell of Zarephath, New Jersey, the publisher of a right wing newsletter.^[6][7][8]

During the 1966 California gubernatorial primary, Thomas Kuchel was urged by moderates to run against conservative actor Ronald Reagan. Citing the hostilities of the growing conservative movement, Kuchel decided not to run. He instead issued a statement citing that the conservatives were, "A fanatical neo-fascist political cult of right-wingers in the GOP, driven by a strange mixture of corrosive hatred and sickening fear that is recklessly determined to control our party or destroy it!"^[9]

Kuchel was narrowly defeated in the Republican primary in 1968 by conservative state Superintendent of Public Instruction Max Rafferty, who went on to lose the general election to Alan Cranston, the former state Controller, a position once held by Kuchel himself. Kuchel returned to practicing law in California until his retirement in 1981.^[2]

He died of lung cancer on November 21, 1994 in Beverly Hills.^[1][3][5]

Legacy

Secretary of Defense and former White House Chief of Staff and CIA Director Leon Panetta began in politics as a legislative assistant to Kuchel. Panetta would cite Kuchel as "a tremendous role model."^[10]

In August 2010, the Beverly Hills City Council paid tribute to Senator Kuchel on the 100th anniversary of his birth. His widow Betty Kuchel and daughter Karen Kuchel accepted a proclamation from then Councilman and now mayor Dr. William Warren Brien, a grandson of Governor Earl Warren, at the August 17th council meeting.

References

1. "Social Security Death Index". United States: The Generations Network. 2009. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
2. "Thomas Henry Kuchel". Retrieved 2009-12-12. Senator from California; born in Anaheim, Orange County, Calif., August 15, 1910; attended the public schools; graduated from the University of Southern California in 1932 and from the law school of the same university in 1935; admitted to the bar the same year and began practice in Anaheim, Calif.; member, State assembly 1936-1939; member, State senate 1940-1945, and while serving as State senator volunteered and was called to active duty in the United States Naval Reserve as a lieutenant (junior grade), serving until 1945; State controller 1946-1953; appointed on January 2, 1953, and subsequently elected on November 2, 1954, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Richard M. Nixon; reelected in 1956 and again in 1962 and served from January 2, 1953, to January 3, 1969; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1968; Republican whip 1959-1969; resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C. and California, until his retirement in 1981; resided in Beverly Hills, Calif., until his death on November 21, 1994.
3. Binder, David (24 November 1994). "Thomas H. Kuchel Dies at 84; Ex-Republican Whip in Senate". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-12-12. Thomas H. Kuchel, a Californian who spent 16 years in the United States Senate and who as Republican whip there played a vital role in enactment of major civil rights legislation in the 1960's, died on Monday night at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 84. He had been under treatment for lung cancer, said Dick Arnold, a former law partner.
4. "Fourteenth Census of the United States (1920), Anaheim (8th Precinct), Orange County, California, Enumeration District: 54, Page: 1B, Lines: 27-30, household of Henry Kuchel". United States: The Generations Network. 1920-01-02. Retrieved 2009-10-01.
5. "California Death Index, 1940-1997". United States: The Generations Network. 2000. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
6. "The Smear". Time. 5 March 1965. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
7. "Surrenders On Charges In Kuchel Libel". Chicago Tribune. 25 February 1965. Retrieved 2009-12-14. Francis. A. Capell, 57, one of four men indicted by the Los Angeles county grand jury for conspiracy to criminally libel Sen. Thomas H. Kuchel...
8. "Publisher Appears In Coast Libel Case". The New York Times. 25 February 1965. Retrieved 2009-12-14. Francis A. Capell of Zarephath, N.J., surrendered voluntarily here today to face an indictment charging him and three others with conspiracy to commit criminal libel against Senator Thomas H. Kuchel Republican of California.
9. Kabaservice, Goeffrey (2012). Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party (Studies in Postwar American Political Development). p. 220. ISBN 0199768404.
10. Conversation with Leon Panetta, p. 2 of 5

External links

• United States Congress. "Thomas Kuchel (id: K000335)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Thomas Kuchel at Find a Grave
• Oral History Interview with Thomas Kuchel, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
• Television interview with Senator Kuchel on Longines Chronoscope in 1955 on YouTube

Further reading

• "Honoring a True Public Servant: Senator Thomas Kuchel," Congressional Record, October 11, 2002.