Everett Dirksen

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Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896-September 7, 1969) was an American politician.

He represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate as a member of the Republican Party.

He served as Senate Minority Leader from 1959 to 1969, and he was a central figure in the 1960s' politics.

He drafted and passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both historic pieces of legislation during the Civil Rights Movement.

He was also one of the Senate's top Vietnam War supporters.

His flamboyant speeches prompted his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze," according to a talented orator with a florid style and a notably strong baritone voice. Dirksen, a native of Pekin, Illinois, served as an artillery officer during World War I and established a bakery after the war.

He won the House of Representatives in 1932 after being on the Pekin City Council.

He was regarded as a moderate and advocate for much of the New Deal in the House of Commons, but he grew more conservative and authoritarian as he gained more involved in World War II. In 1950, he won the Senate, defeating Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas.

He favored conservative economic policies and praised President Dwight D. Eisenhower's internationalism in the Senate.

After William F. Knowland's departure from office in 1958 to seek re-election, Dirksen succeeded him as Senate Minority Leader. Dirksen, the Senate Minority Leader, debuted as a leading national figure of the Republican Party in the 1960s.

He maintained a positive working relationship with Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and encouraged President Lyndon B. Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War.

He was instrumental in breaking the Civil Rights Act of 1964's Southern filibuster.

Dirksen died in 1969 while serving as Senate Minority Leader.

Early life

Everett McKinley Dirksen was born in Pekin, Illinois, a small city near Peoria, on January 4, 1896. His parents, who immigrated from East Frisia, were German immigrants. Johann Friedrich Dirksen was born in Jennelt and his mother, Antje (née Conrady), was born in Loquard. Both villages are located in Krummhörn today.

The Dirksens were conservatives. After William McKinley, then a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president, Everett's parents gave him the middle name "McKinley." Thomas Reed Dirksen, his fraternal twin, was nominated for Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed, who was also a contender for the nomination at the time. Benjamin Harrison, Benjamin Harrison's brother, was given the name of President Benjamin Harrison. Thomas and Henry, Thomas and Henry, from his mother's first marriage to Beren Ailts (died 1890), Everett had two older half-brothers.

At home, Johann and Antje Dirksen spoke a Low German dialect and taught German to their children. Johann Dirksen retired and worked at Pekin Wagon Works as a design painter. Everett was five years old and died when Everett was nine years old.

Dirksen grew up on a farm owned by his mother in Bonchefiddle (Low German for "Beantown") on Pekin's outskirts. Since frugal immigrants grew beans in their front yards instead of decorative flowers, the neighborhood was known as Bonchefiddle. In 1913, he attended local schools and graduated from Pekin High School as the class salutatorian. While attending college, he helped support the family by working at a Pekin corn refining plant.

Dirksen's attendance at the University of Minnesota, where he was a pre-law student from 1914 to 1917, was aided by a trip to the Minnesota home of one of his half brothers. He paid his tuition by serving in the Minneapolis Tribune's classified advertising department as an attorney's assistant and a clerk in a railroad freight office. Dirksen served in the Student Army Training Corps and attained the rank of major in the school's corps of cadets while attending the university. During the 1916 campaign, he gained his first political experience by giving local and on-campus addresses in favor of Republican presidential nominee Charles Evans Hughes.

Personal life

The Chicago Sun-Times once reported that Dirksen's penchant for changing his mind.

Louella Durksen's widow died of cancer on July 16, 1979. On April 24, 1993, their daughter Joy, Tennessee's first wife, died of cancer.

Dirksen was a member of the Second Reformed Church, which, although a Dutch Reformed Church, was primarily German (the Reformed Church in America was established in the 18th century by Dutch immigrants).

Dirksen, a Freemason, was a member of Pekin Lodge No. 67. 29. He was the grand orator of the Grand Lodge of Illinois in 1954. In 1954, he was honoured with the 33rd degree.

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