George Harrison Bender

Background

George Bender was born on September 29, 1896, in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Joseph Bender, an employee of the General Electric Company, and of Anna Sir.

Education

George was educated in the Cleveland public schools, graduating in 1914 from West Commerce High School.

Career

Possessed of an outgoing personality, Bender directed his energies to politics, even as a teenager. When he was fifteen, he met former President Theodore Roosevelt and later, backed by the reputed 10, 000 signatures he had collected, he urged Roosevelt to run in 1912. Roosevelt informed Bender of his intention to do so in a letter sent shortly before the public announcement of his candidacy. Bender was still too young to vote when he served as a delegate to the 1916 Progressive Party Convention, while continuing campaign activities on behalf of Republican candidates in Cleveland. Characteristic of his efforts was his flair for independence within a framework of rigid party regularity. Bender defended his maverick actions as a fulfillment of his mother's advice never to cease being a disturbing element within the community.

Bender's various business connections as advertising manager of a department store, manager of the Cleveland Stadium, and owner of the Bender Insurance Company financed a political career and the life-style he felt went with it. Yet politics remained foremost: "I have always worked for a living in order to keep myself in politics. " In 1920, Bender became the youngest person to be elected to the Ohio senate up to that time. In the Ohio senate, Bender was a leader in several areas, among them the unsuccessful attempt to establish teacher tenure.

One dramatic event changed him from an ardent "dry" to a vocal critic of Prohibition. Enforcement authorities, acting on an anonymous tip, launched a surprise raid on his home. They found no alcohol, and Bender won a lawsuit over the incident. Beginning in 1930, Bender sought election to the United States House of Representatives. He finally succeeded in 1938 and, with the exception of a defeat in 1948, he retained his seat until 1954. From 1936 until 1954, he was also chairman of the Cuyahoga County Republican Central Committee, a post he held in spite of opposition from Republican authorities in the city of Cleveland and the state.

In 1934, Bender began publishing two newspapers for party workers, the Ohio Republican and the National Republican. He worked closely in Ohio Republican circles with U. S. Senator Robert A. Taft. In Congress, Bender vigorously criticized the foreign and domestic policies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, although he supported some New Deal measures of a humanitarian nature, such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA), but only as a temporary expedient. He brought together his indictment of the Roosevelt administration in The Challenge of 1940 (1940), a book that served as an extended brief for Wendell Willkie's presidential campaign.

Bender's career after World War II is chiefly remembered for his having championed measures to abolish poll taxes and having denounced the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. Although he favored humanitarian assistance to Greece and Turkey, he insisted that it be channeled through the United Nations. As for the Marshall Plan, he preferred the use of private relief agencies. Direct government aid to Greece and Turkey, Bender told Congress in 1947, showed that President Truman was accommodating the "needs of a collapsing British Empire" that sought to transfer its liabilities to the United States while keeping its assets.

Bender's love for all aspects of politics resulted in his being placed in charge of publicity and promotion for the Taft forces at the Republican conventions of 1948 and 1952. In this capacity he led demonstrations, conducted singing, provided bands, and personally undertook the ringing of a cowbell. The bell ringing and the other devices he employed to focus attention caused Bender to be ridiculed, especially within the anti-Taft segment of the Republican party, as the "Clown Prince, " an aspersion that unjustly cast him as a comic rather than serious figure in public affairs.

After Dwight D. Eisenhower won the 1952 presidential nomination, Bender transferred his loyalty to him. Following the death of Senator Taft in 1953, Bender gave up his safe House seat to run for Taft's unexpired Senate term, this time with the ardent endorsement of Eisenhower Republicans. He won that race by a narrow margin and entered the Senate to give two years of solid support to the Eisenhower program. The term "isolationist, " hurled at Bender earlier in his career, whether appropriately or not, now unquestionably applied no longer. He even reversed his views on America's relationship to Britain, seeing it as salutary that the United States had assumed the obligations once borne by the British. In 1956, when Bender sought reelection against Governor Frank J. Lausche, he did so, paradoxically, as the comparatively more liberal candidate. He was defeated.

Bender’s last government post was as special assistant to the secretary of the interior (June 1957 to May 1958). While in office he lobbied for Alaskan statehood, which was achieved in 1959. In August 1958, Bender was hired by Teamsters Union president James R. Hoffa to investigate corruption in the union. His acceptance, coupled with charges that he had benefited from Teamsters contributions in the past, caused a cloud of doubt to descend over Bender. He held the Teamsters post for a year and a half. Although he vigorously denied any impropriety, and although none has ever been established, Bender was defeated in his effort to be a delegate to the 1960 Republican Convention and again in 1961, when he sought the post of committee man for Precinct E in Chagrin Falls, a suburb of Cleveland. He was found dead of a heart attack at his home there.

Achievements

• George Bender was a well-known politician of his time who served as the United States Senator from Ohio (1954-1957). Later he worked as special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior from June 1957 to May 1958 and campaigned for the incorporation of Alaska as the 49th state. Bender published and edited two newspapers for party workers, the Ohio Republican and the National Republican. He also wrote The Challenge of 1940 (1940).

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Challenge of 1940

Membership

George Bender was a member of the Republican party; the U. S. House of Representatives from Ohio's At-large district (1939-1949); the U. S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 23rd district (1953-1954).

Connections

On June 2, 1920, George Bender married Edna Eckhardt; they had two daughters.

Father:

Joseph Bender

He was an employee of the General Electric Company.

Mother:

Anna (Sir) Bender

Wife:

Edna (Eckhardt) Bender