William Knowland

William Fife “Bill” Knowland
United States Senator from California
In office August 26, 1945 – January 3, 1959
Preceded by	Hiram Johnson
Succeeded by	Clair Engle
State Senator from California's 16th District
In office January 7, 1935 – January 2, 1939
Preceded by	Arthur Breed, Sr.
Succeeded by	Arthur Breed, Jr.
State Assemblyman from California's 14th District
In office January 2, 1933 – January 7, 1935
Preceded by	Frank Israel
Succeeded by	Charles Wagner
Born	June 26, 1908 Alameda, California
Died	February 23, 1974 Guerneville, California
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	(1) Helen Davis Herrick (m. 1926, div. 1972) (2) Ruth Ann Dickson (m. 1972)
Children	Three (with Helen): • Emelyn Knowland Jewett (1928–1988)[1] • Joseph William "Joe" Knowland (died 2019)[2][3] • Estelle Knowland Johnson[4] Two stepchildren (with Ruth Ann)
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley
Religion	Methodist[4][5]
Military Service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1942–1945
Rank	Major
Unit	Forward Echelon Communications Zone Fifteenth United States Army
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	• American Campaign Medal • European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal • World War II Victory Medal • Army of Occupation Medal

William Fife Knowland (June 26, 1908 – February 23, 1974), known as William F. Knowland and Bill Knowland,^[6] was a California Republican who served as the state's U.S. senator from the mid-1940s to the late 50s, previously being a member of the state legislature. He was known as an ardent anti-Communist throughout his tenure.

Knowland was born in Alaeda, California (located in Alameda County) to Elinor Fife and Joseph Russell Knowland, a congressman. Following the death of his mother shortly after his birth, Knowland's father Joseph married the former Emelyn West.

Setting sights on a political career before reaching adulthood. Knowland gave speeches advocating for the election of Warren G. Harding during the 1920 presidential race when he was only twelve.^[4] After completing public schools, he attended the University of California at Berkeley, then proceeding to join the newspaper publishing business.

At the age of nineteen while being a sophomore in the University of California, Knowland married the former Helen Davis Herrick, a childhood sweetheart who he met in sixth grade.^[4] They had three children: Emelyn, Joseph, and Estelle.

At the age of twenty-five, Knowland became a state assemblyman in the lower California legislature, notably being the youngest member of the body.^[4] Two years later, he became the youngest state senator in California.

From 1940 to 1942, Knowland was the executive committee chair of the Republican National Committee.^[4]

U.S. Senate

After the death of incumbent RINO senator Hiram Warren Johnson, then-governor of California Earl Warren appointed Knowland as an interim to the seat.^[7] During this time, he was serving in World War II as an enlisted officer and military historian for the U.S. in Europe, learning of his appointment from a newspaper.^[4] Knowland was discharged from the military in 1945.

In 1946, Knowland and Homer Ferguson of Michigan pushed through an amendment which halted rent controls on the federal level in states that already have established such controls.^[8] The motion easily passed on July 11 by a 59–20 vote.^[9]

Sen. Knowland decried the takeover of China by the Chinese Communists in 1949 and strongly supported Chiang Kai-Shek,^[7] who led the Chinese Nationalist Party. Following the downfall of Kai-Shek, Knowland opposed the entry of the China into the United Nations.^[10] During the same congressional session (81st Congress), Knowland voted with the conservative side three-quarters of the time.^[11] In addition, he backed cloture for Robert A. Taft's "voluntary Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC)" bill against a Southern filibuster^[12] as well as the Lucas Amendment supporting President Harry Truman's desegregation of the army.^[13]

In 1955, Knowland interestingly came out against sending arms to Israel due to concerns of an escalating proxy war where communists would respond by sending additional arms to Arabs, stating:^[14]

A supporter of right-to-work laws, Knowland opposed closed shops.^[4]

Knowland, who backed Joseph McCarthy, was one of twenty-two mostly conservative senators voting against the censure of Wisconsin Republican who had investigated and exposed communist infiltration of the U.S. government.^[15][16] The censure was backed by both moderate/liberal Republicans and the large majority of Democrats, including the Southern segregationists.

TIME Magazine featured Knowland on a cover for their January 14, 1947 entry.^[17]

Civil Rights Act of 1957

Largely a civil rights advocate despite initial opposition towards such major legislative action,^[18] Knowland gave strong support to the Civil Rights Act of 1957,^[19] which he was the floor manager of,^[10] ensured final Senate passage,^[20] and voted for along with over 90% of Senate Republicans.^[21] He opposed efforts supported by the majority of Senate Democrats (both Northern and Southern) at the direction of future president Lyndon B. Johnson (who was the Senate Majority Leader at the time) which watered down the bill, voting against the removal of Title III (which allowed the United States Attorney General to seek preventative relief in civil rights cases)^[22] and the instituting of a jury trial amendment.^[23] The amendments passed with the support of the majority of Senate Democrats, both Northern and Southern (contrary to the naive narrative promoted by advocates of the party switch myth narrative that Northern liberal Democrats were simply "pro-civil rights").

Based on accounts documented by authors and historians, Knowland was heavily frustrated by the weakening of the legislation.^[24] According to Johnson biographer Robert A. Caro following the passage of the O'Mahoney^[25] jury trial amendment:^[26]

The 1957 civil rights debate was not the only time Knowland proved to be outmaneuvered by the deceitful and shrewd Johnson.^[10][27] Due to his overall inability to outsmart the Texas Democrat, he was replaced as the GOP leader after leaving the Senate by fellow Illinois conservative Everett Dirksen, who defeated Kentucky Moderate Republican John Sherman Cooper for the post by a 20–14 vote.^[28]

Moderate Republican?

The New York Times states in its obituary on Knowland:^[4]

While Knowland may not have taken the conservative side on all issues,^[29] he consistently stood as a member of the Old Right, ranging from his aggressive anti-communism to opposing excessive labor union power. Knowland furthermore always supported conservative Republican candidates for party presidential nominations.

1958 gubernatorial bid

In the 1958 Midterm Elections, Knowland retired from the Senate to run for Governor of California. He lost the general election by nearly twenty percentage points to Democrat Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, Sr., the father of Jerry Brown.^[30] This was largely attributed to Knowland's support for right-to-work laws.^[4]

Later political involvement

Knowland supported the candidacy of conservative Barry Goldwater for president in the 1964 election and served on the Arizona senator's campaign committee.^[4] Although Goldwater lost the election to incumbent Democrat president Lyndon Johnson by a landslide, he sparked a revival of the conservative movement which eventually propelled Ronald Reagan to the presidency.

During the 1968 presidential election, Knowland was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, where he supported the more conservative Ronald Reagan over incumbent Moderate Republican president Gerald R. Ford.^[4] He was also an opponent of the radical Black Panthers and successfully opposed their efforts to boycott a grocery store in Oakland.

During his time in the Senate, Knowland's wife Helen carried an extramarital affair with his Michigan senatorial colleague Arthur Edson Blair Moody, known as Blair Moody.^[31] Unaware of his wife's infidelity, Knowland coincidentally carried an affair with Moody's wife Ruth.

Suicide

Following continued and perpetuating turmoil ever since his divorce from Helen,^[31] Knowland was found dead in late February 1974 in what appeared to be a suicide by gunshot,^[4] which was soon confirmed by an autopsy.^[6] Then-Vice President Gerald Ford stated:

Governor Ronald Reagan asserted:^[4]

Newspaper business

After leaving political office, Knowland worked as the publisher of The Oakland Tribune, which his father had operated.^[6] Following his death, Knowland's son Joseph took over as the editor-in-chief and publisher of the Oakland Tribune.^[2] Known as Joe Knowland and described by his son as "a vaudevillian at heart,"^[3] he died in 2019 at the age of eighty-eight.

• Thomas Kuchel, Knowland's Moderate Republican senatorial colleague
• Styles Bridges, conservative Republican senator from New Hampshire who like Knowland was staunchly anti-communist
• Eugene Millikin, Republican U.S. senator from Colorado
• William Purtell, Republican U.S. senator from Connecticut
• Bourke Hickenlooper, Republican U.S. senator from Iowa

• Profile at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Find a Grave