Background
Bourke Blakemore Hickenlooper was born on July 21, 1896, in Blockton, Iowa, United States; the son of Nathan Oscar Hickenlooper, and Margaret Amanda Blakemore.
Bourke Blakemore
Ames, IA 50011, USA
Bourke Blakemore studied at Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa, United States, which graduated in 1919 with a degree in industrial science.
Bourke Blakemore
Ames, IA 50011, USA
Bourke Blakemore studied at Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa, United States, which graduated in 1919 with a degree in industrial science.
Bourke Blakemore Hickenlooper was born on July 21, 1896, in Blockton, Iowa, United States; the son of Nathan Oscar Hickenlooper, and Margaret Amanda Blakemore.
Bourke attended Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa, United States, until 1917 when he enlisted in the officer's training camp at Fort Snelling. Commissioned a second lieutenant, he was assigned to the 339th Field Artillery and served in France until March 1919, when he returned home to complete his education at Iowa State, graduating in 1919 with a degree in industrial science.
Hickenlooper continued his education at the State University of Iowa’s College of Law in Iowa City, Iowa, United States, receiving his law degree in 1922. That same year he was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in Cedar Rapids.
In 1934 Bourke Hickenlooper was elected as a state representative and held that post until 1937. His special interests included education, public health, highway development, child welfare, and government reorganization. He was lieutenant governor from 1939 to 1942, when he ran for governor and defeated former Democratic Governor Nelson G. Kraschel.
Hickenlooper served Iowa as governor until 1944, when he was elected by a very narrow margin as a Republican to the U.S. Senate. He eventually defeated three other Democratic contenders, in 1950, 1956, and 1962.
Hickenlooper’s role in the Senate was described as “quiet.” Thus his name rarely appeared in the media. He was considered a conservative, was a staunch supporter of the United Nations, voted for aid to Greece and Turkey in 1947, was in favor of the Marshall Plan, and promoted the organization of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. By 1949 he and others began to worry over the Atomic Energy Commission’s lack of security, and he supported an investigation of the organization. Hickenlooper endorsed General Dwight D. Eisenhower for president in 1952. In 1954 he cosponsored the Cole-Hickenlooper Atomic Energy Act, which allowed private utilities to develop nuclear power.
Hickenlooper, a tenacious anti-Communist crusader, was often called a “Cold War warrior.” He served on the infamous Tydings Subcommittee, which was assigned to conduct a complete investigation as to whether employees who were disloyal to the United States had been or were employed by the State Department. The committee’s report eventually cleared the State Department, though Hickenlooper joined the only other Republican on the committee, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, in refusing to sign the report because he considered the investigation incomplete and a whitewash of the State Department.
Serving as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, he consulted with many presidents, traveled often to foreign countries, dealt with many heads of state, and served as U.S. delegate to the United Nations in 1959. After the election of President John F. Kennedy, Hickenlooper became extremely skeptical of the development of the so-called welfare state and often opposed initiatives that contributed to it. In 1963 he voted for the Test Ban Treaty, reversing his earlier stance on the subject. He also cosponsored the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, which allowed President Lyndon Johnson to increase the forces in Vietnam. In regard to U.S.-Soviet relations, he assisted in getting Senate approval of the 1967 consular treaty, the first treaty between the two nations.
Hickenlooper was well liked and respected for his honesty. He was also considered very knowledgeable. Conservative when it came to financial decisions, he questioned everything and became known as the “consummate skeptic.”
Chairing the Republican Policy Committee and serving on Senate committees for agriculture, aeronautical and space science, banking, and foreign relations as well as the Joint Congressional Atomic Energy Committee completed his active political career. When Bourke was over 70 years old and his wife was very ill, he chose not to run for reelection. His wife died in 1970, and Bourke Hickenlooper died at Shelter Island, New York, in 1972 of a heart attack.
Hickenlooper received honorary degrees from Parsons College, Loras College, Elmira College, and Upper Iowa University.
On October 5, 1961, some 1200 gathered in Cedar Rapids in a ceremony to honor Hickenlooper's service to the state and the nation. Former Presidents Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower sent accolades. Many of his Senate colleagues came in person.
Hickenlooper was the longest-serving popularly elected US senator from Iowa until Charles Grassley surpassed Hickenlooper's four terms, with his fifth election in 2004 and his sixth in 2010. William B. Allison served thirty-five years, but his service came while the state legislatures chose senators. Hickenlooper's name was on an Iowa ballot 19 times, including primaries and general elections, he won 17 of his races.
In 1934 Hickenlooper was elected as a Republican to the state legislature, where he took a special interest in education, public health, highway development, child welfare, and government reorganization.
In the Senate, Hickenlooper was a conservative, who displayed moderate bipartisanship on foreign policy. Although previously holding isolationist views, he supported the United Nations and President Truman's policy of containment, voting for aid to Greece and Turkey, 1947, the Marshall Plan, 1948, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1949.
Hickenlooper's cooperation with the Truman administration on international policy did not, however, mitigate his fear for national security. In particular, he gained recognition when he investigated the administration of David E. Lilienthal, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.
As a member of the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy, Hickenlooper wanted the U. S. to retain a monopoly on nuclear weapons. Earlier, he had supported General Leslie R. Groves for chairman of the AEC but ultimately voted to approve Lilienthal's appointment. By 1949, however, Hickenlooper and others worried over lax security by the AEC, hence the investigation.
Although Hickenlooper endorsed General Dwight D. Eisenhower for president in 1952 over conservative Senator Robert A. Taft, Hickenlooper chided Democratic presidential nominee Adlai E. Stevenson for calling for an end to testing atomic bombs. In 1954 he sponsored the Cole-Hickenlooper Atomic Energy Act, which allowed private utilities to develop nuclear power. In 1962, he sponsored a noted amendment to the Foreign Aid Act, which denied aid to nations that expropriated American property unless compensation was offered within six months. And in 1963, adjusting to changing situations, he reversed his earlier view and voted for the Test Ban Treaty.
Then, fearing the fall of Southeast Asia to Communism, Hickenlooper helped sponsor the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, which allowed the president to increase American military involvement in Vietnam.
With regard to U. S.-Soviet relations, he helped gain Senate approval of the 1967 consular treaty, the first treaty between the two nations.
Quotations: Hickenlooper said: "I wish that the many fine things that have been said about me could be fully accurate. Friendship has a habit of putting a little more glitter on a man than is actually there".
Bourke Blakemore Hickenlooper was a member of various fraternal and professional organizations, such as the Linn County Bar Association, the Iowa Bar Association, the American Legion, Phi Delta Phi, Sigma Phi Epsilon, the Masons, the Elks, and the Moose.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette described Hickenlooper as having had "a keen sense of humor, (was) a staunch defender of the private enterprise system, an advocate of a farm economy unfettered by government controls, and an opponent of excessive spending both at home and abroad...Indeed, his was an enviable record that will serve as an inspiration to all Iowans with political aspirations. "
Hickenlooper's Senate colleague, John C. Stennis, a Mississippi Democrat, said that he regarded Hickenlooper "as one of the most valuable men we had in this body. I never saw him go off the deep end on anything without thinking the matter out, and I never saw him lose his patience though I have seen him under a lot of pressure..."
Quotes from others about the person
"We will always remember him with special admiration and affection, and our sentiments will be shared by a grateful public. His career was crowded with proofs of his determination to serve the best interests of his constituents and of the country. These accomplishments are etched for all time in the annals of our legislative history and in the hearts of the people he served..." - Richard M. Nixon on Hickenlooper's death.
On November 24, 1927, Bourke Hickenlooper married Verna Eileen Bensch. They had two children, David Hickenlooper and Jane H. (Hickenlooper) Oberlin.
