Leslie C. Arends
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Leslie C. Arends | |
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United States House of Representatives Republican Whip | |
In office May 13, 1943 – December 31, 1974 | |
Leader | Joseph W. Martin Charles Halleck Gerald Ford John J. Rhodes |
Preceded by | Harry L. Englebright |
Succeeded by | Robert Michel |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 17th district | |
In office January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1973 | |
Preceded by | Frank Gillespie |
Succeeded by | George M. O'Brien |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 15th district | |
In office January 3, 1973 – December 31, 1974 | |
Preceded by | Cliffard D. Carlson |
Succeeded by | Tim Lee Hall |
Personal details | |
Born | Leslie Cornelius Arends September 27, 1895 Melvin, Illinois, U.S. |
Died | July 17, 1985 Naples, Florida, U.S. | (aged 89)
Political party | Republican |
Leslie Cornelius Arends (September 27, 1895 – July 17, 1985) was a Republican politician from Illinois.
Life and career
Born in Melvin, Illinois, Arends was the youngest of 10 children born to George Teis Arends and Talea (née Weiss) Arends. His father was born in Peoria to parents who were both natives of Germany; his mother was born in Hanover, Germany.
Arends served in the United States Navy during World War I and earned a law degree while attending Oberlin College in Ohio and Illinois Wesleyan University.[1]
Arends was the longest-serving whip in U.S. House of Representatives history, ranking second in the party in the House. He alternately served as majority whip and minority whip for House Republicans from 1943 to 1974. Arends was noted for his generally conservative voting record, his successful re-election as whip amid Republican in-fighting after the 1964 election, and his unwavering loyalty to President Richard M. Nixon at all stages of the Watergate scandal.
Arends represented a heavily Republican, largely rural downstate Illinois district in the US Congress from 1935 to 1974. A conservative but pragmatic Republican, he opposed much of the New Deal and remained a staunch isolationist until the American entry into World War II. Becoming minority whip in 1943, Arends helped create the powerful Conservative Coalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats that controlled the domestic agenda from 1937 to 1964. He supported Robert A. Taft over Dwight D. Eisenhower for the 1952 Republican presidential nomination, and was an early supporter of the party's nominees Richard M. Nixon and Barry Goldwater in the campaigns of the 1960s. He organized the GOP opposition to Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society. Arends, however, supported civil rights legislation. He defended Richard Nixon throughout the Watergate affair; his close personal friendship with Gerald R. Ford ensured a good relationship with Nixon's successor.
References
Bibliography
- Lichtenstein, Nelson et al. Political Profiles. Volume 3, "The Kennedy Years." pg 14. New York: Facts On File, Inc, 1976.
- Schapsmeier, Edward L. and Frederick H. Schapsmeier, "Serving under Seven Presidents: Les Arends and His Forty Years in Congress." Illinois Historical Journal 1992 85(2): 105-118. ISSN 0748-8149
External links
- United States Congress. "Leslie C. Arends (id: A000216)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- 1895 births
- 1985 deaths
- American military personnel of World War I
- American people of German descent
- Illinois Republicans
- Illinois Wesleyan University alumni
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois
- Oberlin College alumni
- People from Ford County, Illinois
- United States Navy personnel
- Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives
- 20th-century American politicians