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Frederick Hale (American politician)

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Frederick Hale
United States Senator
from Maine
In office
March 4, 1917 – January 3, 1941
Preceded byCharles Johnson
Succeeded byOwen Brewster
Personal details
Born
Frederick Hale

(1874-10-07)October 7, 1874
Detroit, Michigan
DiedSeptember 28, 1963(1963-09-28) (aged 88)
Portland, Maine
Political partyRepublican
ParentEugene Hale
RelativesChandler Hale (Brother)
Zachariah Chandler (Grandfather)
Robert Hale (Cousin)
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Columbia University

Frederick Hale (October 7, 1874 – September 28, 1963) was the United States senator from Maine from 1917 to 1941. He was the son of Eugene Hale and the grandson of Zachariah Chandler, both also U.S. senators. He was the brother of diplomat Chandler Hale, and the cousin of U.S. Representative Robert Hale.

Biography

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Frederick Hale, United States Senator, “Progressive Legislation” art in 1918 book, Mother Goose comes to Portland

Hale was born on October 7, 1874, in Detroit, Michigan, to Eugene Hale. He attended the Lawrenceville School, and graduated from Groton School in 1892. He graduated from Harvard University in 1896 and attended Columbia Law School in New York City from 1896 to 1897. He was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Portland, Maine, in 1899.

Hale was a Republican member of the Maine House of Representatives, 1905–1906; and a member of the Republican National Committee, 1912-1918. In 1916, he was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate, defeating incumbent Democrat Charles Fletcher Johnson to reclaim the Senate seat that had been held by his father Eugene Hale.

He was reelected in 1922, 1928, and again in 1934, serving from March 4, 1917, to January 3, 1941.

Hale opposed[1] and voted against[2] the Sedition Act of 1918 during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. He also opposed the internationalist League of Nations.[3]

During the presidency of Calvin Coolidge, a proposal was made by fellow Republican senator Reed Smoot of Utah to reduce the top income tax rate to 32%.[4] Although the majority of the GOP including Hale supported the measure, it was defeated in a 36–47 vote.[5] Hale also voted against an amendment introduced by Furnifold Simmons[4] to raise the maximum income tax rate by 2.5%.[6]

In the 1928 Republican primary, Hale defeated incumbent governor Owen Brewster for their party's nomination which signaled the end of the Ku Klux Klan in Maine as an important political factor.

He was not a candidate for renomination in 1940. He served as chairman, Committee on Canadian Relations in the Sixty-sixth Congress, and served on the Committee on Naval Affairs in the Sixty-eighth through Seventy-second Congresses, and the Committee on Appropriations in the Seventy-second Congress.

A fierce opponent of the Ku Klux Klan faction of the Republican Party in Maine, Hale was one of a handful of senators who voted against the elevation of Hugo Black to the Supreme Court in 1937 based on his alleged Klan membership.[7][8]

Opposing the liberal agenda during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hale resisted New Deal programs[3] at an even greater frequency than his Maine senatorial colleague Wallace H. White.[9] This includes his vote against the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act), which White supported.[10]

He retired to private life and died in Portland, Maine, on September 28, 1963. He is interred in Woodbine Cemetery in Ellsworth, Maine. At the time of his death, Hale was the last living senator who was serving at the time of the United States' declaration of war against the German Empire, which precipitated the United States' participation in World War I.

Charles Thornton Libby incident

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In May 1910, Hale attacked Charles Thornton Libby with a whip following an article about Hale's mother that was published in the Six Towns Times, of which Libby was the editor. Hale had entered Libby's office in Portland, holding a copy of the newspaper, and asked, "Are you responsible for this?" Libby looked at it and replied in the affirmative. Hale pulled a whip out from under his coat and struck Libby several times, saying, "Take that, you cur." Hale then threw the whip on the office floor and struck Libby. "This is what I do to anyone who insults my mother." After Hale left, Libby said: "I like him better than I did before. It was a manly thing to do. A man who wouldn't stand up for his mother don't amount to much."[11]

References

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  1. ^ FascinatingPolitics (April 14, 2018). The Sedition Act: Opposed by Republicans! Archived 2021-08-27 at the Wayback Machine. Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  2. ^ TO AGREE TO H.R. 8753 (STAT-40-L-553, 5/16/18), A BILL AMENDING AN ACT PUNISHING ACTS O F INTERFERENCE WITH FOREIGN RELATIONS, NEUTRALITY, FOREIGN COMMERCE AND ESPIONAGE, AND TO BETTER ENFORCE CRIMINAL LAWS. (P. 6057-1).. GovTrack.us. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  3. ^ a b September 29, 1963. Frederick Hale Is Dead at 88; Senator From Maine, 1916-41; Was Top-Ranking Republican --Favored Big Navy, Fought League and New Deal Signed Lodge Resolution Opposed Roosevelt Harvard '96 Graduate. The New York Times. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  4. ^ a b FascinatingPolitics (July 25, 2018). Racism and Tax Cuts…Are They Really Peas in a Pod? Archived 2021-08-27 at the Wayback Machine. Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  5. ^ TO AMEND, IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE, H.R. 6715, BY MAKING THE MAXIMUM SURTAX RATE 32 PER CENT.. GovTrack.us. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  6. ^ TO AGREE TO THE AMENDMENT TO H.R. 6715, WHICH AMENDMENT PROVIDES THAT THE MAXIMUM RATE ON INCOMES BE 40 PER CENT INSTEAD OF 37 1/2 PER CENT. (P. 8195-2).. GovTrack.us. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  7. ^ "Dons Robe of Supreme Court Justice in October", Nashua Telegraph, Aug. 18, 1937, p. 6
  8. ^ TO CONFIRM THE NOMINATION OF HUGO BLACK TO BE ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT.. GovTrack.us. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  9. ^ FascinatingPolitics (September 23, 2018). How the Northeast Became Democratic, Part IV: Maine (Sort of) Archived 2021-08-27 at the Wayback Machine. Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  10. ^ TO PASS S. 1958, A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR SETTLEMENT OF LABOR DISPUTES.. GovTrack.us. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  11. ^ "Charles Thornton Libby "Editor Thrashed"". Norwich Bulletin. 1910-05-03. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
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Party political offices
First Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Maine
(Class 1)
1916, 1922, 1928, 1934 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of the Senate Republican Conference
1927–1941 		Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Maine
1917–1941
Served alongside: Bert Fernald, Arthur Gould, Wallace White 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chair of the Senate Canadian Relations Committee
1919–1921 		Position abolished
Preceded by Chair of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee
1923–1933 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee
1932–1933 		Succeeded by
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