Herman Welker

Herman Welker
United States Senator from Idaho
In office January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1957
Preceded by	Glen H. Taylor
Succeeded by	Frank Church
Personal details
Born	Herman Orville Welker (1906-12-11)December 11, 1906 Cambridge, Idaho
Died	October 30, 1957(1957-10-30) (aged 50) Bethesda, Maryland
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Virginia
Nationality	United States
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Gladys Taylor Pence Welker (1908–1991) (m. 1930–1957, his death)
Children	Nancy Welker (b. 1940)
Residence	Payette
Alma mater	University of Idaho College of Law, LL.B. 1929
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Episcopalian
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	U.S. Army Air Forces
Years of service	1943–44
Rank	Corporal
Battles/wars	World War II

Herman Orville Welker (December 11, 1906 - October 30, 1957) was a politician from the state of Idaho. He was a member of the Idaho Republican Party and served one term in the United States Senate, from 1951 to 1957.

Early years

Born in Cambridge, Idaho, Welker was the youngest of seven children of John Thornton and Anna Zella Shepherd Welker, who had moved from North Carolina and started a potato farm. He is the grandson of Rev. George W. Welker of North Carolina. He attended grade school in Cambridge and high school in Weiser. He graduated from Weiser High School in 1924 and went north to Moscow to attend the University of Idaho, where he started off in a general studies program and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Legal career

Welker switched to the College of Law in 1926 and graduated with a LL.B. degree in 1929. He passed the bar at age 21 and was elected as the prosecuting attorney for Washington County before he graduated. He was re-elected and served in that position from 1928 to 1936. Welker moved to Los Angeles in 1936 and had a private practice until 1943, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces and served until 1944. He returned to Idaho and practiced law at Payette until 1950 and was a member of the state senate from 1949 to 1951.

U.S. Senate

In 1950, Welker ran for the U.S. Senate. He won the Republican primary over Congressman John C. Sanborn and defeated former Senator D. Worth Clark in the general election. He gained seats on several important committees, including the Armed Services and Judiciary Committees. He soon distinguished himself as one of the most conservative and anticommunist senators, becoming a leading member and spokesperson for the right wing of the Republican Party.

Harmon Killebrew

In the early 1950s, Sen. Welker told Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith about Harmon Killebrew, a young baseball player from his hometown who was batting .847 for a semi-professional baseball team at the time. Griffith told his farm director Ossie Bluege about the tip and Bluege flew to Idaho to watch Killebrew play. The Boston Red Sox also expressed interest but Bluege succeeded in signing him to a $50,000 contract on June 19, 1954. Killebrew would go on to have a hall of fame career in Major League Baseball.

Joseph McCarthy

Welker became closely associated with Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, so much so that he was occasionally referred to as "Little Joe from Idaho." In 1954, Welker was McCarthy's chief defender during the successful attempt of Democratic senators, joined by some Republicans, to censure McCarthy for his questionable investigative techniques while pursuing individuals accused of being communists within the government.

1956 election

In 1956, Welker ran for a second term in the Senate. Although he won the Republican nomination, again defeating Sanborn, he was decisively defeated by 32-year old Democrat Frank Church; Welker less than 39 percent of the vote. This increased Democratic control of the Senate led to much anger within the Republican Party, with Joseph McCarthy even accusing President Dwight Eisenhower of not supporting Welker's reelection campaign enough.

Election results

U.S. Senate elections in Idaho (Class III): Results 1950–1956

Year		Democrat	Votes	Pct		Republican	Votes	Pct		3rd Party	Party	Votes	Pct
1950		D. Worth Clark	77,180	38.3%		Herman Welker	124,237	61.7%
1956		Frank Church	149,096	56.2%		Herman Welker (inc.)	102,781	38.7%		Glen H. Taylor		13,415	5.1%

Death

After leaving the Senate in January 1957, Welker practiced law in Boise and participated in farming. After a few months, however, he became ill, and traveled to Bethesda, Maryland, for medical treatment at the National Institutes of Health. He was admitted on October 16, 1957, where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Operations were quickly performed, but Welker died later that month. McCarthy had died earlier that year in Bethesda (Welker had attended McCarthy's funeral), as would ultimately Welker's successor, Frank Church, in 1984.

Welker was interred in Arlington National Cemetery. He married Gladys Taylor Pence in 1930, and they had a daughter, Nancy.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

External links

• Herman Welker at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• University of Idaho Library – Herman Welker (1906-1957), Papers 1950-1956
• Herman Welker at Find a Grave
• Porter, David L. (2000). Biographical Dictionary of American Sports. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-31175-7. 
• Thielman, Jim (2005). Cool of the Evening: The 1965 Minnesota Twins. Kirk House Publishers. ISBN 1-886513-71-6. 

Party political offices
Preceded by C. A. Bottolfsen	Republican Party nominee, U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Idaho 1950 (won), 1956 (lost)	Succeeded by Jack Hawley
United States Senate
Preceded by Glen H. Taylor	United States Senator (Class 3) from Idaho January 3, 1951–January 3, 1957 Served alongside: Henry Dworshak	Succeeded by Frank Church