Difference between revisions of "Millard E. Tydings"
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He missed a quarter of all roll call votes throughout his congressional career.<ref>[https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/millard_tydings/411014 Sen. Millard Tydings]. ''GovTrack.us''. Retrieved June 6, 2021.</ref> | He missed a quarter of all roll call votes throughout his congressional career.<ref>[https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/millard_tydings/411014 Sen. Millard Tydings]. ''GovTrack.us''. Retrieved June 6, 2021.</ref> | ||
| + | [[File:Tydings and McCarthy.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Tydings (left) and McCarthy (right).]] | ||
====Tydings Committee==== | ====Tydings Committee==== | ||
When he chaired the Subcommittee on the Investigation of Loyalty of State Department Employees, it was known as the '''Tydings Committee'''. Although tasked with investigating and identifying subversion in the U.S. government, the committee instead cleared everyone on a list complied by [[Joseph McCarthy]] who allegedly colluded with communists.<ref name=thenewamerican>Drummey, James J. (September 2, 1996). [https://thenewamerican.com/the-real-mccarthy-record/ The Real McCarthy Record]. ''The New American''. Retrieved June 6, 2021.</ref> | When he chaired the Subcommittee on the Investigation of Loyalty of State Department Employees, it was known as the '''Tydings Committee'''. Although tasked with investigating and identifying subversion in the U.S. government, the committee instead cleared everyone on a list complied by [[Joseph McCarthy]] who allegedly colluded with communists.<ref name=thenewamerican>Drummey, James J. (September 2, 1996). [https://thenewamerican.com/the-real-mccarthy-record/ The Real McCarthy Record]. ''The New American''. Retrieved June 6, 2021.</ref> | ||
Revision as of 02:46, June 7, 2021
| Millard Evelyn Tydings | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Former U.S. Senator from Maryland From: March 4, 1927 – January 3, 1951 | |||
| Predecessor | Ovington Weller | ||
| Successor | John Marshall Butler | ||
| Former U.S. Representative from Maryland's 2nd Congressional District From: March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1927 | |||
| Predecessor | Albert Blakeney | ||
| Successor | William Purington Cole, Jr. | ||
| Former State Senator from Maryland From: 1922–1923 | |||
| Predecessor | ??? | ||
| Successor | ??? | ||
| Former Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates From: January 1920 – September 1920 | |||
| Predecessor | Herbert R. Wooden | ||
| Successor | John L. G. Lee | ||
| Former State Representative from Maryland From: ??? – ??? | |||
| Predecessor | ??? | ||
| Successor | ??? | ||
| Information | |||
| Party | Democrat | ||
| Spouse(s) | Eleanor Tydings Ditzen | ||
| Military Service | |||
| Allegiance | United States | ||
| Service/branch | United States Army | ||
| Service Years | 1917–1919 | ||
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel | ||
| Battles/wars | World War I | ||
Millard Evelyn Tydings (April 6, 1890 – February 9, 1961) was a Democrat from Maryland who served as the state's U.S. senator from the 1920s to the 1950s. Tydings previously was a U.S. representative, and was a member of the state legislature prior to that. The head of the Tydings Committee, he was an ardent opponent of Wisconsin Republican Joseph McCarthy, who exposed communist infiltration of the State Department and the United States Army.
He was the stepfather of progressive Joseph Tydings.[1]
Political career
U.S. Senate
Tydings was elected to the United States Senate in 1926[2] and re-elected in 1932 by a landslide.[3]
While having backed some New Deal programs,[4] Tydings was a bitter opponent of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He dubbed the Roosevelt Administration as being a dictatorship and personally held a strong distaste for the president.[5] Along with Republicans and several conservative Democrats, Tydings helped write the Conservative Manifesto,[6] which was drafted in response to Roosevelt's liberal policies. He also helped defeat the 1937 court packing scheme.[7]
In 1938, Tydings was among the Democrats who Roosevelt sought to purge and replace with adamant New Dealers.[5] He faced a 1938 primary challenge by the liberal David J. Lewis, who the president backed.[8][9] However, Tydings emerged victorious in the Democrat primary by a significant margin[10] and proceeded to win the general election.[11]
He missed a quarter of all roll call votes throughout his congressional career.[12]
Tydings Committee
When he chaired the Subcommittee on the Investigation of Loyalty of State Department Employees, it was known as the Tydings Committee. Although tasked with investigating and identifying subversion in the U.S. government, the committee instead cleared everyone on a list complied by Joseph McCarthy who allegedly colluded with communists.[13]
Despite historical revisionism by liberals who treat Tydings as an innocent victim of McCarthyism, it was the Maryland Democrat who engaged in deceptive smears against the McCarthy; the latter sought to present his information in a closed session only for Tydings to insist on open sessions; during the first hearing, Tydings then falsely told McCarthy that the information could be presented in an executive session, which the subcommittee refused; McCarthy then announced his intent to proceed with the open session.[13] This situation was exploited to perpetrate the narrative that the public hearings were insisted upon by McCarthy despite the fact that it was Tydings who prevented closed hearings.
Tydings was subsequently accused by Indiana conservative Republican William E. Jenner, an ally of the Wisconsin senator, of having conducted:[14]
| “ | ...the most scandalous and brazen whitewash of treasonable conspiracy in our history. | ” |
Among the names provided by McCarthy was John Stewart Service, who was substantially proven to have had ties with communists; the Tydings Committee falsely insisted that Service was supposedly innocent.[13] After being cleared multiple times, Service was ultimately removed from the State Department.
References
- ↑ Barnes, Bart (October 9, 2018). Joseph Tydings, progressive one-term Maryland senator, dies at 90. Washington Post. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ MD US Senate Race - Nov 02, 1926. Our Campaigns. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ MD US Senate Race - Nov 08, 1932. Our Campaigns. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ Jay, Peter A. (May 3, 1992). Millard Tydings is Remebered in His Home Town. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Purge – FDR Edition. Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ The Other Senate Manifesto. Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ Tucker, Garland S. (October 27, 2020). TUCKER: The 1937 court-packing failure. The North State Journal. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ TYDINGS RULED OUT; Fought New Deal, Lewis Aided It President Tells Marylanders DEFENDS RIGHT TO SPEAK But Executive Says Choice of Voters Between Reaction and Progress Is Free Assertion of Right to Come Appeal for National Unity PRESIDENT PLEDGES A LIBERAL PARTY Lewis Commended to Country Contestants Defined by Symbol Tydings Silent on Address. The New York Times. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ The Fathers of Social Security: Robert F. Wagner and David J. Lewis. Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ MD US Senate Race - D Primary Race - Sep 12, 1938. Our Campaigns. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ MD US Senate Race - Nov 08, 1938. Our Campaigns. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ Sen. Millard Tydings. GovTrack.us. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Drummey, James J. (September 2, 1996). The Real McCarthy Record. The New American. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ↑ 'HIDEOUS' COVER-UP IS LAID TO TYDINGS IN REPLY BY JENNER; Committee Attack on McCarthy a 'Blasphemous Perversion,' Indiana Republican Says IVES ALSO HITS MAJORITY Lodge Renews Plea in Senate for Full Bipartisan Inquiry Into the State Department. The New York Times. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
