Background
Harley Martin Kilgore was born on January 11, 1893 in Brown, West Virginia, United States, the son of Quimby Hugh Kilgore, an oil well driller and contractor, and Laura Jo Martin. When he was a child, the family moved to Mannington.
Harley Martin Kilgore was born on January 11, 1893 in Brown, West Virginia, United States, the son of Quimby Hugh Kilgore, an oil well driller and contractor, and Laura Jo Martin. When he was a child, the family moved to Mannington.
Kilgore graduated from high school in Mannington. After considering a medical career, he took the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1914 from West Virginia University, and was admitted to the bar in the same year.
In 1914-1915, Kilgore taught school in Hancock County. After moving to Beckley in 1915, he organized the first high school in Raleigh County and served as its principal. Also in 1915, he began to practice law.
Kilgore enlisted in the army in May 1917, receiving a commission as second lieutenant. After three years of service, he left active duty with the rank of captain. He then helped to organize a National Guard regiment with the understanding that it would not be used to break strikes. In 1921 he joined the Guard, rising to the rank of colonel. From 1922 to 1932 he commanded the Second Battalion, 150th Infantry, and served in the judge advocate general's department until 1953.
During the 1920's, Kilgore and others reorganized the Democratic party in West Virginia. In 1928 they carried Raleigh County, and in 1932 and 1938 Kilgore was elected judge of the county criminal court. More interested in rehabilitation than in punishment, Kilgore manifested much concern for juvenile offenders, working diligently to reform the state juvenile system. A split in the West Virginia Democratic party in 1940 between the statehouse clique led by former Governor Guy Kump and the "federal" faction led by Senator Matthew Neely pulled Kilgore off the bench and thrust him into the United States Senate in 1941, with the backing of the prolabor and pro-New Deal "federal" wing. When Neely resigned to become governor in January 1941, Kilgore became the senior senator and soon took his place as a liberal supporter of New Deal policies.
During World War II he rose to national prominence. His conversations with Senator Harry S. Truman led to the foundation of the special committee to investigate the National Defense Program, to which Kilgore was appointed in 1941. A severe critic of military waste, he chaired many important investigations, the most important being the Canol investigation, which involved inefficient attempts by the army to obtain oil from Alaska. In 1946 he became chairman of the committee. Of more importance, Kilgore chaired the Special Subcommittee on War Mobilization of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, the investigations of which revealed weaknesses in the mobilization effort. His proposal to create the Office of War Mobilization put pressure on Roosevelt, and he did so in 1943. The investigations into scientific mobilization led Kilgore to sponsor a bill for the establishment of the National Science Foundation, for which he fought until its passage in 1950. In addition, his subcommittee exposed the harmful influence of international cartels on the war effort, thus helping to influence government policy and public opinion. With the end of the war in sight, Kilgore led Senate liberals in proposing a reconversion program that included national planning and a system of unemployment compensation. Even though his bill was not adopted in full, he did move the conservative opposition to the left in 1945. His growing national prominence caused him to be mentioned as a vice-presidential possibility in 1944 and in 1948. He also was approached about the position of secretary of labor in 1945, but he preferred to remain in the Senate.
In 1946, Kilgore won a disputed election, despite opposition from the United Mine Workers leadership. In 1952, despite attempts to link him to Communism, he soundly defeated his opponent, thus becoming the senator for the third time. During this term he conducted investigations of monopolies as chairman of the Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee. In 1954 he struggled from his sickbed to cast the deciding vote against the Bricker Amendment, which would have limited the scope of international treaties and the treaty-making power of the president. The following year he became chairman of the Judiciary Committee and was a ranking member of the Appropriations Committee.
Kilgore was the first senator from West Virginia to win three successive terms. He contributed to the organization of the West Virginia National Guard in 1921, the establishment of the National Science Foundation and of the special committee to investigate the National Defense Program. He was responsible for a draft of the liberalized Displaced Persons Act and the Youth Corrections Act, which gave judges the option of providing rehabilitation programs for young offenders.
Kilgore was a member of the Democratic Party and a supporter of New Deal policies. In his first term as a senator he fought against the labor draft, which would have used the selective service system to force workers into jobs designated by the government; and he played a major role in defeating the legislation that embodied the draft concept.
In his second term in US Congress he was a loyal supporter of President Harry Truman. In foreign policy he favored a strong defense posture, aid to Greece and Turkey, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Point Four Program, and the Marshall Plan. In domestic matters he participated in the unsuccessful filibuster against the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947. He also backed federal aid to education, increases in the minimum wage and social security, labor legislation, a federal program to combat adult illiteracy, and rural electrification. In his third term in US Congress he stood against McCarthyism.
Amiable and approachable, Kilgore was well-liked by colleagues and constituents. He was round-faced, with thinning gray hair and looked like the typical judge. An omnivorous reader of history, he wrote his speeches to appeal to the intellect rather than the emotions.
On May 10, 1921, Kilgore married Lois Elaine Lilly. They had two children.
