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William E. Jenner

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William E. Jenner
United States Senator
fromIndiana
In office
January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1959
Preceded byRaymond E. Willis
Succeeded byVance Hartke
In office
November 14, 1944 – January 3, 1945
Preceded bySamuel D. Jackson
Succeeded byHomer E. Capehart
Member of theIndiana Senatefrom
Lawrence County,Martin County,andOrange County
In office
November 7, 1934 – June 1, 1942
Preceded byJohn Carle Sherwood[1][2][3]
Succeeded byJames Edward Armstrong
Personal details
BornJuly 21, 1908
Marengo, Indiana,U.S.
DiedMarch 9, 1985(1985-03-09)(aged 76)
Bedford, Indiana,U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseJanet Paterson Cuthill
Alma materIndiana University Bloomington
ProfessionLawyer

William Ezra Jenner(July 21, 1908 – March 9, 1985) was an American lawyer and politician from the state ofIndiana.ARepublican,Jenner was anIndiana state senatorfrom 1934 to 1942, and aU.S. senatorfrom 1944 to 1945 and again from 1947 to 1959. In the Senate, Jenner was a supporter ofMcCarthyism.

Background

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Jenner was born inMarengo, Indiana,on July 21, 1908,[4]to L.L. Woody and Jane McDonald Jenner.[5]

He attended Lake Placid Preparatory School in New York before attendingIndiana University Bloomington,where he graduated in 1930. Jenner worked as an elevator operator in theold House Office Buildingwhile attending night classes at theGeorge Washington University Law School.Jenner later graduated with a law degree fromIndiana University School of Law – Bloomington.[4]

Career

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After law, Jenner practiced law inPaoliand later inShoals.[4]

Indiana Senate

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Jenner entered politics in 1934, when he was first elected to the Indiana State Senate in 1934. He was minority leader from 1937 to 1939, and then majority leader and president pro tempore from 1939 to 1941.

In 1940, Jenner ran for Governor of Indiana, finishing second at the Republican state convention.

In 1942, duringWorld War II,Jenner resigned his seat to become afirst lieutenantin theU.S. Army Air Corps.Jenner was discharged in 1944 at the rank of captain.[4]

U.S. Senate

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One month after his discharge from the Army Air Corps, Jenner was elected to theU.S. Senateseat that had been vacated by the death ofFrederick Van Nuys.[4]He served the last few months of Van Nuys's term from November 14, 1944, to January 3, 1945; he was not a candidate for the full six-year term that began in 1945.[6][7]Jenner was the first veteran of World War II elected to the Senate and the youngest member of the Senate.[4]

He ran for the Senate in 1946 defeating CongressmanCharles M. La Follette1,994 to 105 at the Republican state convention. He then won the general election by over 150,000 votes.

He ran forgovernor of Indianafor a second time in 1948, winning a plurality on the first ballot at the Republican state convention. Jenner lost the nomination on the second ballot to Holbart Creighton 885 to 931.

Jenner was re-elected to the Senate in 1952.[4]Jenner voted in favor of the Senate amendment to theCivil Rights Act of 1957on August 7, 1957,[8]but did not vote on the House amendment to the bill on August 29, 1957.[9]

McCarthyism

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In Congress, Jenner was the chairman of theCommittee on Rules and Administrationduring theEighty-Third Congress.[7]

He was also a member of theSubcommittee on Internal Security.[10]He was a strong supporter and friend ofJoseph McCarthyand engaged inMcCarthyism.[10][11]Jenner and McCarthy were both part of "a core of isolationist Republicans in the Senate" along withHerman Welkerof Idaho andGeorge W. Maloneof Nevada.[4]In 1950, when McCarthy accused a number of State Department employees of being secret Communists (seeTydings Committee), Jenner supported him, claiming that the State Department had engaged in "the most scandalous and brazen whitewash of treasonable conspiracy in our history" and stating: "Considering the fact that we are now at war... how can weget the Reds out of Koreaif we cannot get them out of Washington? "[12]When McCarthy wascensured by the Senatein 1954, Jenner gave a speech suggesting that the censure resolution "was initiated by the Communist conspiracy."[13]

In the Senate, Jenner was a strident opponent of GeneralGeorge Marshall,who was appointedSecretary of Defensein 1950. During theconfirmationdebate, Jenner and McCarthy formed part of a group of militantly anti-communist Republican Senators that attacked Marshall. Jenner "delivered a shrill, hour-long attack on the nominee" in which he also disparaged PresidentHarry S. Trumanand Secretary of StateDean Acheson.[14]Using McCarthyist rhetoric,[15]Jenner accused the Truman administration of "bloody tracks of treason" and called Marshall "a living lie" who was "joining hands once more with this criminal crowd of traitors and Communist appeasers... under the direction of Mr. Truman and Mr. Acheson."[16]Jenner also "denounced and blamed Marshall for thePearl Harbordefeat and for his role in helping FDR 'trick America into a war,' the extension oflend-leaseto the Communist Soviet Union, the 'selling out' of Eastern Europe atYalta,theloss of China,and the inclusion of an offer of aid to the Soviet Union under theMarshall Plan."[17]When Marshall was informed of Jenner's speech, the former general replied: "Jenner? Jenner? I do not believe I know the man."[16]

In 1951, after President Trumandismissed General Douglas MacArthurfor insubordination, Jenner gave a speech on the floor of the Senate in which he said: "I charge that this country today is in the hands of a secret inner coterie, which is directed by agents of the Soviet Government. Our only choice is to impeach President Truman and find out who is the secret invisible government."[4]

Jenner introduced legislation that sought tostrip the Supreme Court of jurisdiction"in all the areas where it had interfered with the anticommunist program," a measure that SenatorLyndon B. Johnsonmaneuvered to oppose. Ultimately, Jenner's measure was tabled by a vote of 49-41.[18]

A consistent opponent of Americanforeign aid[19]and of any involvement in foreign affairs,[20]he opposed U.S. participation in theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization[4]and had other isolationist positions.[19][21][22]During his tenure, right-wingers wanted Jenner to run for president as afar-rightthird-party candidate.[23]

Jenner claimed that theUnited Nationshad infiltrated the American educational system in 1952.

In 1958, he did not seek re-nomination.

Later life

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After leaving the Senate, Jenner practiced law in Indianapolis and was the owner of the Seaway Corporation, a land development company.[4][19]He also owned farms in Indiana and Illinois.[19]

Personal life and death

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In 1933, Jenner married Janet Paterson Cuthill (1908–2002) and had a son, William Edward Jenner (1942–2019).

William Ezra Jenner died age 76 on March 9, 1985, of a respiratory illness at Dunn Memorial Hospital inBedford, Indiana.[4][19]

Jenner was interred at Crest Haven Memorial Gardens in Bedford, Indiana.[7]

References

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  1. ^"Offices by County".28 September 2019.
  2. ^"Offices by County".28 September 2019.
  3. ^"Offices by County".28 September 2019.
  4. ^abcdefghijklIsabel Wilkerson,William E. Jenner, Ex-Senator, Dead,New York Times(March 11, 1985).
  5. ^Irving Leibowitz, "Senator William E. Jenner" inIndiana History: A Book of Readings(ed. Ralph D. Gray: Indiana University Press, 1994), p. 365.
  6. ^James H. Madison,Indiana through Tradition and Change: A History of the Hoosier State and Its People 1920–1945(Indiana Historical Society Press, 2016), p. 403.
  7. ^abcJENNER, William Ezra, (1908-1985),Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  8. ^"Senate – August 7, 1957"(PDF).Congressional Record.103(10).U.S. Government Printing Office:13900.RetrievedFebruary 18,2022.
  9. ^"Senate – August 29, 1957"(PDF).Congressional Record.103(12).U.S. Government Printing Office:16478.RetrievedFebruary 18,2022.
  10. ^abRobert Griffith,The Politics of Fear: Joseph R. McCarthy and the Senate(University of Massachusetts Press, 1996), p. 196.
  11. ^James Cross Giblin,The Rise and Fall of Senator Joe McCarthy(Clarion Books, 2009), pp. 252-254.
  12. ^Giblin, p. 114-15.
  13. ^Giblin, p. 252.
  14. ^Ed Cray,General of the Army: George C. Marshall, Soldier and Statesman(1990: Cooper Square Press ed. 2000), pp. 685-86.
  15. ^Brian R. Farmer,American Conservatism: History, Theory and Practice(Cambridge Scholars Press, 2005), p. 256.
  16. ^abCray, p. 686.
  17. ^Farmer, p. 256.
  18. ^Lucas A. Powe Jr.,The Supreme Court and the American Elite, 1789-2008(Harvard University Press, 2009), p. 238.
  19. ^abcde"Anti-Communist Ex-Sen. William E. Jenner Dies".Los Angeles Times.March 13, 1985.
  20. ^Wilkerson, Isabel (11 March 1985)."William E. Jenner, Ex-Senator, Dead".The New York Times.
  21. ^"Who Were the Senate Isolationists?".Richard F. Grimmett.The Pacific Historical Review,Vol. 42, No. 4 (November 1973), p. 479.
  22. ^"The Literature of Isolationism, 1972–1983".Justus D. Doenecke.The Journal of Libertarian Studies,Vol. 7, No. 1 (Spring 1983), p. 174.
  23. ^Leibowitz, p. 369.
[edit]
Party political offices
Preceded by Republicannominee forU.S. SenatorfromIndiana
(Class 3)
1944 		Succeeded by
Republicannominee forU.S. SenatorfromIndiana
(Class 1)
1946,1952 		Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 3) from Indiana
1944–1945
Served alongside:Raymond E. Willis 		Succeeded by
Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 1) from Indiana
1947–1959
Served alongside:Homer E. Capehart 		Succeeded by
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