Alphonzo E. Bell Jr.

Bell first entered politics in the mid-1950s, holding several Republican Party positions.

He served as chairman of the Republican Central Committee of Los Angeles County, chairman of the Republican State Central Committee of California, and as a member of the Republican National Committee.

Although Bell's political idol, and his original inspiration to enter public service, had been President Franklin Roosevelt, he switched from the Young Democrats while a college student to later registering as a Republican, and actively supported General Dwight D. Eisenhower for president in 1952.

Bell served as chairman of the Republican State Central Committee of California from 1956 to 1959, and as a member of the Republican National Committee from 1956 to 1959.

Bell as a Congressman.

In 1960, Bell was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-seventh Congress, and won re-election to the seven succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1961 - January 3, 1977.[2]

While in Congress, Bell represented a vast Congressional District — the 28th and, after re-districting, the 27th — running along the California coast from Malibu to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and encompassing all or part of Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Bel-Air and West L.A. Then considered a Republican stronghold, the district nevertheless had only 40% to 49% GOP voter registration, making bi-partisan support for a candidate for office essential.

In Congress, Bell became known as tending toward conservative positions on foreign policy and defense — he backed the Vietnam War through three presidential administrations — but often took more moderate to liberal positions on domestic issues, including open housing laws and other civil rights legislation, as well as on environmental and preservation issues, and on education policy and reform.

Some called Congressman Al Bell a political conservative, others a moderate. A Ralph Nader study on Bell's voting record in 1972 said: "It's hard to say exactly what he is. He leans in many areas, especially those concerning economic regulation, toward the conservatives. When it comes to the people issues, especially those concerning the downtrodden in American society, Bell is a liberal."[3]

The congressman once described himself as "middle-ground" and said he voted according to principle and on an issue's merits, rather than political expediency. "A moderate", he told a Los Angeles Times columnist in 1970, "has to study harder. The extremist at either end doesn't have to do most of the work or most of the thinking - he knows what he's for and against beforehand. A moderate has to decide each question on its own merits."[4]

As a ranking member of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, and on the Committee on Education and Labor, he earned bi-partisan approval for his work on such diverse bills as the Older Americans Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, as well as laws improving labor standards, workers' safety, veterans' benefits and environmental protection and ecosystem and wildlife preservation programs.[5]

Bell also supported every major piece of Civil Rights legislation considered in the Congress during his tenure, often working at odds with his own party, which frequently opposed these bills, and became a tireless advocate early on for the legislation which eventually became the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the bill needed substantial bi-partisan support from Republicans to gain approval to counter-act the opposition of Democrats, Bell contributed significantly to passage of the Civil Rights Act in the House by helping to round up the necessary Republican votes. In this effort, he worked closely with and became close personal friends with Clarence Mitchell, Jr., of the NAACP. He and Mitchell walked side by side during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom with Martin Luther King, Jr., and both were honored by being seated behind the podium, in front of the Lincoln Memorial, as King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Writing later about passage of the historic 1964 legislation, Bell said: "I am proud to have supported the Civil Rights Act from the first. It was a bill that embraced the goal of equal opportunity for all people. A coalition of law-makers forged a consensus on the meaning of justice and equality in American life. This was a consensus based on the compelling principle of non-discrimination for all individuals, no matter what their race, religion ethnicity, or sex."

Wealthy, easy-going, friendly, handsome, and mild-mannered, Bell had no trouble appealing to voters in both parties, and won his first primary race for Congress by a margin of 50% to 12% over his opponent. He consistently enjoyed a wide spectrum of diverse political endorsements in elections, having been, for example, endorsed in his initial run for Congress by both former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and by future California Governor and President Ronald Reagan, who, even as recently as 1960, was a nominal Democrat, and served as chairman of a committee he organized as "Democrats for Al Bell". Late in his political career, during his run for the U.S. Senate in 1976, Bell was endorsed by both Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, and by well-known actor/director John Wayne.

Congressman Bell was never able, however, to transfer his popularity and long record of public service to winning higher office. He had attempted to do so on two occasions — running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat John V. Tunney of California in 1976, and in an earlier effort in 1969 to unseat incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty. Yorty retained his office in 1969, but was defeated—due in part to Bell's support for his opponent—in the next mayoral election by Tom Bradley; and Tunney was eventually unseated by S.I. Hayakawa in 1976, who had defeated Bell in the Republican primary. In order to run in the Senate primary, Bell had not sought reelection to the House in 1976.

The mayoral race against Yorty had illustrated Bell's independence and determination to do what he believed in, even though it could harm him politically. After losing the primary, Bell actively campaigned for Yorty's general election opponent, Tom Bradley, and though of opposing political parties, they became lifelong friends, with Bradley later supporting Bell in his Congressional races and in his Senate effort. Bell had long opposed Yorty, claiming he was "temperamentally unsuited" to govern Los Angeles and that his constant bickering with Washington had prevented the city from getting federal funds. Bell also despised Yorty's racial-based campaign against Bradley, along with earlier smear tactics against other opponents, which he said filled him with revulsion. But Bell's support of Bradley in the non-partisan race so irked some conservative Republican constituents, such as fellow oilman and Yorty backer Henry Salvatori, that Republican attorney John LaFollette was put on the primary ballot to run for Bell's Congressional seat in 1970. Bell prevailed, however, and remained in Congress for three more terms, until his retirement in 1976.

In a tribute to retired Congressman Bell in 1998, former President George H. W. Bush said of Bell's career of public service: "He served and he served with honor. For sixteen years he served in Congress, always voting his conscience, but always serving the people of his district, never forgetting who sent him to Washington. We need more Al Bell's, with his flawless service in the U.S. Congress. He showed his state and nation a lot of class."