Clement Zablocki
Clement John Zablocki was a Polish American politician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was one of Wisconsin's longest-serving members of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Wisconsin's 4th congressional district for 18 terms, from 1949 until his death in 1983.
A liberal Democrat, he built his reputation in foreign policy by taking strong anti-communist positions and supporting the Vietnam War. He was a sponsor of the original Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which launched the American intervention, but near the end of the war he was a driving force for the War Powers Resolution, which sought to put restraints on the war-making powers of future presidents. He rose to become chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee for the last seven years of his career.
Early life and education
Clement Zablocki was born, raised, and lived most of his life in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The son of Polish immigrants, he grew up speaking both Polish and English in Milwaukee's flourishing Polish American community. He attended St. Vincent's Catholic Parochial School and then graduated from Marquette University High School. He took lessons as an organist from age 10, and earned money for college by performing at church services and directing the church choir. He also worked as a department store clerk. He went on to attend Milwaukee's Marquette University, where he earned his Ph.B. in 1936. After graduating, he continued his work as a musician, and supplemented his income by teaching English and citizenship test preparation courses for Polish immigrants.Early political career
According to Milwaukee legend, Zablocki often emphasized with his Polish immigrant students the importance of participating in American politics. At one point, a student in his class, Mrs. Geniusz, responded to him saying that if he knew so much about politics, he should run for office. Zablocki responded by immediately declaring his candidacy for Wisconsin Senate. Whether or not that story is true, Zablocki had a strong base to begin a life in politics. His aunt, Leone Wozinski, was a leading figure in Milwaukee's Polish American community and was highly active with civic organizations which crossed over into other communities in the city. She introduced Zablocki to those organizations, and he quickly became "the life of the party".Zablocki's run for Wisconsin Senate in 1938 was his first campaign for public office. He was only 26 and was launching a primary challenge against incumbent Arthur L. Zimny of Wisconsin's 3rd Senate district. Zimny had run afoul of local Democrats and the Polish community by accepting a number of personal benefits from the Wisconsin Progressive Party in exchange for his support in organizing the legislature. As it does today, the 3rd Senate district spanned a swath of the south side of the city of Milwaukee, from Walker's Point to the Jackson Park neighborhood, comprising many of the Polish American neighborhoods of the city. In addition to Zablocki, however, six other Democrats also sought to challenge Zimny in 1938, significantly diluting the vote. Zimni won renomination, but Zablocki posted a surprisingly strong second-place finish in the primary, falling only 411 votes short.
Zimny did not run again in 1942, and Zablocki was immediately seen as a frontrunner to replace him. Nevertheless, he did still face a competitive Democratic primary against Richard F. Maruszewski. Zablocki prevailed with 53.6% of the vote.
In the state Senate, Zablocki championed common Democratic issues of the time, supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies, labor unions, and veterans benefits, but was deep in the minority and held little influence in the crafting of legislation. He defeated a primary challenge from former state representative Martin Franzkowiak in 1946, and won a landslide in the general election. In the Spring 1948 election, Zablocki sought election as Milwaukee city comptroller, but lost.
Congress
In 1946, Milwaukee's then-incumbent congressman Thaddeus Wasielewski lost the Democratic primary when seeking re-election, and then ran as an independent in the general election, splitting the Democratic vote and allowing Republican John C. Brophy to eke out a victory with 36% of the vote. When Wasielewski indicated he would not run again in 1948, Zablocki jumped into the race and quickly cleared the primary field. In the general election, however, Zablocki faced the danger of a split Democratic vote again, as the 1946 Democratic nominee Edmund V. Bobrowicz entered the race on the Progressive Party ticket. Zablocki and other prominent Milwaukee Democrats sought to head off this problem by denouncing Bobrowicz over past communist affiliations. The incumbent, Brophy, had only served on the Milwaukee City Council before his election to Congress and was regarded by the Wisconsin press as a weak campaigner relative to the gregarious Zablocki. At the general election, Zablocki won by a wide margin, taking nearly 56% of the vote.He represented Wisconsin's 4th congressional district, which at that time comprised all of the southern half of Milwaukee County, including the south side of the city of Milwaukee, and also included the city and town of Wauwatosa. He was sworn in at the start of the 81st Congress and was reelected 17 times, serving from January 3, 1949, until his death on December 3, 1983. Zablocki faced several primary challenges during his career and nearly always faced a Republican opponent in the general election, but he never received less than 60% in another election after the 1948 general.
Early years in Congress
Zablocki was assigned to the House Foreign Affairs Committee from his first term in Congress. He immediately struck a strong anti-communist line, insisting that the United States should not recognize the newly established People's Republic of China, and asserting that the people of China—and those of Eastern Europe—would eventually overthrow Communism. Controversially, he also then said that the U.S. should sooner recognize the Franco regime than Communist China. During his first term, he also hailed the establishment of the state of Israel on the first anniversary of its founding, praising it as a haven for refugees and displaced persons after the devastation of. Zablocki's continued support for rapprochement with Francoist Spain also led him into a public dispute with then-U.S. President Harry S. Truman in 1952. Zablocki also supported the Republican plan to invite General Douglas MacArthur to testify before Congress after his dismissal by President Truman.Politically, Zablocki also clashed in these early years with the state Democratic Party leadership, particularly over patronage opportunities.
U.S. Senate special election (1957)
Zablocki made only one attempt to run for higher office after being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. That attempt occurred in the 1957 special election for U.S. Senate following the death of senator Joseph McCarthy. In the Democratic primary election, Zablocki was opposed by former state representative William Proxmire, who had been the Democratic nominee for Governor of Wisconsin in the previous three general elections. Proxmire was an enthusiastic campaigner, and was—by then—well known throughout the state. At the primary, Zablocki put up a large majority in Milwaukee County, but Proxmire won nearly every other county and took the nomination easily. After losing the primary, however, Zablocki campaigned in Catholic communities around the state for Proxmire, sometimes accompanied by Massachusetts U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy. Their combined efforts led to Proxmire winning a surprise upset in the election, and was then emulated by future Democratic statewide campaigns.Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations
During the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Zablocki was appointed as one of the United States delegates to the thirteenth session of the United Nations General Assembly.Zablocki was an early supporter of Senator John F. Kennedy's presidential ambitions, endorsing his presidential campaign in early 1959 and volunteering to run as a Kennedy delegate in the 1960 primary. Later that year, Kennedy attended a series of events in Wisconsin culminating in a Pulaski Day dinner which included a celebration of Zablocki's decade of service in Congress. Zablocki later took credit for introducing Kennedy to the Polish-American community, which became part of Kennedy's base in the 1960 election. Zablocki was ultimately elected as a delegate to the 1960 Democratic National Convention. Kennedy would, in 1962, refer to Zablocki as his campaign manager in Wisconsin.
Zablocki shepherded many of Kennedy's foreign policy initiatives through Congress, including the Peace Corps, the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and his foreign aid program.
Civil rights
Zablocki voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but saw significant backlash from his Polish American constituency. After segregationist candidate George Wallace was warmly received by his constituents in 1964, Zablocki began to waver on civil rights issues, opposing a fair housing law and taking other symbolic steps—distancing himself from activist Catholic priest James Groppi and maintaining his membership in the Fraternal Order of Eagles, which then excluded African Americans.Vietnam War
Zablocki was assigned to the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Far East and Pacific, and began taking a particular interest in checking Communist expansion in southeast Asia in the early 1950s. In response to increased activity by the Pathet Lao, he suggested that a United Nations mission might be needed for Laos, not unlike the U.S.-led UN mission that had just fought the Korean War.Zablocki traveled to South Vietnam to assess the government of president Ngo Dinh Diem just weeks before his assassination in 1963. Zablocki expressed that he believed criticism of Diem was overblown, and accusations of corruption were unfounded. Further, he expressed that there was no viable replacement for Diem, and that the Diem regime would remain stable so long as the United States support remained steadfast.
After the assassinations of Diem and Kennedy, Zablocki opposed increased American troop presence in Vietnam. He remained reticent about utilizing American troops after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, but co-sponsored the enabling Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in August 1964. In the year after Tonkin, Zablocki warmed to the idea of direct American involvement in the war, and suggested that he would be comfortable with maintaining an American presence in South Vietnam for more than 15 years.
Although Zablocki's position on Vietnam became more politically unpopular within his party as the war dragged on, he easily survived several primary challenges. He served as chair of President Lyndon B. Johnson's doomed re-election effort in Wisconsin in 1968.
Following the election of Richard Nixon as president, Zablocki continued to support the administration's Vietnam policy. Behind the scenes, however, Zablocki was souring on the war. In 1970, he began work on an early version of the War Powers Resolution. By 1971, Zablocki publicly supported a resolution from the House Foreign Affairs Committee calling for Nixon to set a date for a final American withdrawal from Vietnam as part of a broader effort to return American prisoners of war. And in 1972, Zablocki was a co-author of the Case-Zablocki Act, which required that executive agreements by the president be reported to Congress in 60 days. He ultimately helped push through the final version of the War Powers Resolution in 1973, over Nixon's veto.
Zablocki remained an advocate for the interests of Vietnam War prisoners of war and missing in action. During May 1973 hearings, Zablocki observed that returning prisoners uniformly had expressed their belief that there were no U.S. servicemen still alive in Vietnam.