Bourke B. Hickenlooper
Bourke Blakemore Hickenlooper, 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.
Early life and education
Born in 1896 in Blockton, Iowa, to Nathan O. and Margaret A. Hickenlooper. His college education at Iowa State College in Ames was interrupted by his service in the U.S. Army.In 1927, he married Verna Eilene Bensch and had two children.
World War I
He served as a Second Lieutenant of the 339th Field Artillery Regiment of the 85th Infantry Division in France during World War I. He served from May 1917 to March 1919.Higher education
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. He was admitted to the bar in 1922 and started practicing law in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.Religion
Hickenlooper was a Methodist.Political career
Local office
Hickenlooper was first elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 1934, serving from 1935 to 1939.Governor of Iowa
In 1938, he was elected to be the Lieutenant Governor of Iowa, serving from 1939 to 1943.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. 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 1944 [United States Senate election in Iowa|running] for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He narrowly defeated incumbent Democratic senator, Guy Gillette, and took office in January 1945.
United States Senator
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 United States [Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairman|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, but along with fellow conservative Barry Goldwater, voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He also voted in favor of the Twenty-fourth Amendment to [the United States Constitution|24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution] and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.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
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.USS ''Liberty'' incident
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 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."