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Bourke B. Hickenlooper

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Bourke B. Hickenlooper
Hickenlooper in 1945
United States Senator
from Iowa
In office
January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1969
Preceded byGuy Gillette
Succeeded byHarold Hughes
29th Governor of Iowa
In office
January 14, 1943 – January 11, 1945
LieutenantRobert D. Blue
Preceded byGeorge A. Wilson
Succeeded byRobert D. Blue
29th Lieutenant Governor of Iowa
In office
January 12, 1939 – January 14, 1943
GovernorGeorge A. Wilson
Preceded byJohn K. Valentine
Succeeded byRobert D. Blue
Member of the Iowa House of Representatives
from the 48th district
In office
January 1935 – January 12, 1939
Personal details
BornBourke Blakemore Hickenlooper
(1896-07-21)July 21, 1896
Blockton, Iowa, U.S.
DiedSeptember 4, 1971(1971-09-04) (aged 75)
Shelter Island, New York, U.S.
Resting placeCedar Memorial Park cemetery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
PartyRepublican
Spouse
Verna Eilene Bensch
​
(m. 1927)​
Children2
Alma materIowa State College
University of Iowa Law
OccupationPolitician, Attorney
Military service
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Years of serviceMay 1917-March 1919
RankSecond Lieutenant
Unit339th Field Artillery Regiment of the 85th Infantry Division
Battles/warsWorld War I

Bourke Blakemore Hickenlooper (July 21, 1896 – September 4, 1971), was an American politician and member of the Republican Party, first elected to statewide office in Iowa as lieutenant governor, then 29th governor of Iowa, then U.S. senator.[1][2][3][4][5]

Early life and education

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Born in 1896 in Blockton, Iowa, to Nathan O. and Margaret A. Hickenlooper.[1][2][3][6] His college education at Iowa State College in Ames was interrupted by his service in the U.S. Army.[2][6][3]

In 1927, he married Verna Eilene Bensch and had two children.[3]

World War I

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He served as a Second Lieutenant of the 339th Field Artillery Regiment of the 85th Infantry Division in France during World War I.[1][2][6] He served from May 1917 to March 1919.[3]

Higher education

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After his military service, Hickenlooper finished his education at Iowa State, graduating in 1919, and then went on to the University of Iowa College of Law, where he received a law degree in 1922.[1][3] He was admitted to the bar in 1922 and started practicing law in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.[1][3]

Religion

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Hickenlooper was a Methodist.

Political career

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Local office

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Hickenlooper was first elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 1934, serving from 1935 to 1939.[1][2][3]

Governor of Iowa

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In 1938, he was elected to be the Lieutenant Governor of Iowa, serving from 1939 to 1943.[1][2][3]

In the 1942 gubernatorial election, Hickenlooper ran to succeed George A. Wilson, who instead ran for a U.S. Senate seat. Hickenlooper defeated former governor Nelson Kraschel by a margin of 63% to 37%, serving one term from 1943 to 1945.[1][2][3] As governor, Hickenlooper oversaw the rejection of the federal government's soldier vote ballot. He also directed state funding to fund the World War II effort and endorsed participation in a world peace international organization. He did not seek another term as governor in 1944, instead running for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He narrowly defeated incumbent Democratic senator, Guy Gillette, and took office in January 1945.[1][2] (Gillette would defeat Wilson in 1948 to take the state's other Senate seat and serve as Hickenlooper's colleague for six years.)

United States Senator

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In the Senate, Hickenlooper was known as one of the most conservative and isolationist members of the Republican Party, and perhaps one of the most conservative members of Congress. He became one of the most powerful Republicans in the Senate, serving as the Republican Policy Committee Chairman from 1962 to 1969. In this position, he had an intense rivalry with Everett Dirksen, the Senate Republican leader at the time. Hickenlooper voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960,[7][8][9] but along with fellow conservative Barry Goldwater, voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[10] He also voted in favor of the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[11][12][13]

Hickenlooper won reelection to his Senate seat in 1950, 1956, and 1962. He did not run for reelection in 1968, and was succeeded by Democratic Governor Harold E. Hughes.

Legislation

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The 1962 Hickenlooper Amendment to the foreign aid bill cuts off aid to any country expropriating U.S. property. The amendment was aimed at Castro's Cuba, which had expropriated U.S.-owned and U.S.-controlled sugar plantations and refineries.[14]

USS Liberty incident

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Senator Hickenlooper was outraged by the 1967 USS Liberty incident and was one of the few Congressmen to call for an investigation. He was openly skeptical of Israel's mistaken identity explanation:

"From what I have read I can't tolerate for one minute that this was an accident. I think it was a deliberate assault on this ship. I think they had ample opportunity to identify it as an American ship. … What have we done about the Liberty? Have we become so placid, so far as Israel is concerned or so far as that area is concerned, that we will take the killing of 37 [sic] American boys and the wounding of a lot more and the attack of an American ship in the open sea in good weather? We have seemed to say: 'Oh, well, boys will be boys.' What are you going to do about it? It is most offensive to me…It is inconceivable to me that the ship could not have been identified. According to everything I saw, the American flag was flying on this ship. It had a particular configuration. Even a landlubber could look at it and see that it has no characteristic configuration comparable to the so-called Egyptian ship they now try to say they mistook it for. It just doesn't add up to me. It is not at all satisfactory."[15]

Death

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On September 4, 1971, Hickenlooper died at the age of 75 while visiting friends in Shelter Island, New York, after suffering a heart attack.[3] He was buried at the Cedar Memorial Park cemetery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.[1][2] His wife had died the year before in 1970.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Governor Bourke Blakemore Hickenlooper". National Governors Association. Retrieved May 3, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Bourke Blakemore Hickenlooper Linn County". Iowa State House of Representatives. Retrieved May 3, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "THE BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IOWA University of Iowa Press Digital Editions Hickenlooper,Bourke Blakemore". University of Iowa. Retrieved May 3, 2025.
  4. ^ "Hickenlooper,Bourke Blakemore". United States Congress. Retrieved May 3, 2025.
  5. ^ "Bourke Hickenlooper: A Featured Biography". United States Senate. Retrieved May 3, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c "B.B. Hickenlooper" (PDF). Iowa State House of Representatives. Retrieved May 3, 2025.
  7. ^ "Senate – August 7, 1957" (PDF). Congressional Record. 103 (10). U.S. Government Printing Office: 13900. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  8. ^ "Senate – August 29, 1957" (PDF). Congressional Record. 103 (12). U.S. Government Printing Office: 16478. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  9. ^ "Senate – April 8, 1960" (PDF). Congressional Record. 106 (6). U.S. Government Printing Office: 7810–7811. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  10. ^ "Senate – June 19, 1964" (PDF). Congressional Record. 110 (11). U.S. Government Printing Office: 14511. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  11. ^ "Senate – March 27, 1962" (PDF). Congressional Record. 108 (4). U.S. Government Printing Office: 5105. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  12. ^ "Senate – May 26, 1965" (PDF). Congressional Record. 111 (2). U.S. Government Printing Office: 11752. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  13. ^ "Senate – August 4, 1965" (PDF). Congressional Record. 111 (14). U.S. Government Printing Office: 19378. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  14. ^ Cynthia Clark Northrup, Elaine C. Prange Turney, Encyclopedia of Tariffs and Trade in U.S. History: The encyclopedia
  15. ^ Scott, James (June 2, 2009). The Attack on the Liberty: The Untold Story of Israel's Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781416554820.
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