Bourke B. Hickenlooper

Bourke Blakemore Hickenlooper (July 21, 1896 – September 4, 1971), was an American politician and member of the Republican Party, first elected to statewide office in Iowa as lieutenant governor, serving from 1939 to 1943 and then as the 29th Governor of Iowa from 1943 to 1945. Hickenlooper was first elected to the United States Senate in 1944. He served in the Senate from 1945 to 1969.

Bourke B. Hickenlooper
Hickenlooper in 1945
United States Senator
from Iowa
In office
January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1969
Preceded byGuy M. Gillette
Succeeded byHarold Hughes
29th Governor of Iowa
In office
January 14, 1943 – January 11, 1945
LieutenantRobert D. Blue
Preceded byGeorge A. Wilson
Succeeded byRobert D. Blue
30th Lieutenant Governor of Iowa
In office
January 12, 1939 – January 14, 1943
GovernorGeorge A. Wilson
Preceded byJohn K. Valentine
Succeeded byRobert D. Blue
Personal details
Born(1896-07-21)July 21, 1896
Blockton, Iowa, U.S.
DiedSeptember 4, 1971(1971-09-04) (aged 75)
Shelter Island, New York, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseVerna Eilene Bensch
Alma materIowa State College
OccupationPolitician, Attorney

Biography

Born in 1896 in Blockton, Iowa, Hickenlooper's college education at Iowa State College in Ames was interrupted by his service in the U.S. Army. He served as an officer in France during World War I. After his military service Hickenlooper continued his education at Iowa State and then went on to the University of Iowa College of Law, where he received a law degree in 1922. He practiced law in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Hickenlooper was a Methodist.

Senate

In the Senate, Hickenlooper was known as part of the most conservative and isolationistic members of the Republican Party, and as possibly one of the most conservative American congressmen. He became one of the most powerful Republicans in the Senate, serving as the Republican Policy Committee Chairman from 1962 to 1969. In this position, he had an intense rivalry with Everett Dirksen, the Senate Republican leader at the time. Hickenlooper voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960,[1][2][3] but along with fellow conservative Barry Goldwater, voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[4] He also voted in favor of the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[5][6][7]

Legislation

The 1962 Hickenlooper Amendment to the foreign aid bill cuts off aid to any country expropriating U.S. property. The amendment was aimed at Castro's Cuba, which had expropriated U.S.-owned and U.S.-controlled sugar plantations and refineries.[8]

USS Liberty incident

Senator Hickenlooper was outraged by the 1967 USS Liberty incident and was one of the few Congressmen to call for an investigation. He was openly skeptical of Israel's mistaken identity explanation: "From what I have read I can't tolerate for one minute that this was an accident. I think it was a deliberate assault on this ship. I think they had ample opportunity to identify it as an American ship. … What have we done about the Liberty? Have we become so placid, so far as Israel is concerned or so far as that area is concerned, that we will take the killing of 37 [sic] American boys and the wounding of a lot more and the attack of an American ship in the open sea in good weather? We have seemed to say: 'Oh, well, boys will be boys.' What are you going to do about it? It is most offensive to me…It is inconceivable to me that the ship could not have been identified. According to everything I saw, the American flag was flying on this ship. It had a particular configuration. Even a landlubber could look at it and see that it has no characteristic configuration comparable to the so-called Egyptian ship they now try to say they mistook it for. It just doesn’t add up to me. It is not at all satisfactory."[9]

Death

Hickenlooper died in 1971 in Shelter Island, New York and is buried at the Cedar Memorial Park cemetery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

  1. "Senate – August 7, 1957" (PDF). Congressional Record. U.S. Government Printing Office. 103 (10): 13900. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  2. "Senate – August 29, 1957" (PDF). Congressional Record. U.S. Government Printing Office. 103 (12): 16478. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  3. "Senate – April 8, 1960" (PDF). Congressional Record. U.S. Government Printing Office. 106 (6): 7810–7811. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  4. "Senate – June 19, 1964" (PDF). Congressional Record. U.S. Government Printing Office. 110 (11): 14511. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  5. "Senate – March 27, 1962" (PDF). Congressional Record. U.S. Government Printing Office. 108 (4): 5105. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  6. "Senate – May 26, 1965" (PDF). Congressional Record. U.S. Government Printing Office. 111 (2): 11752. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  7. "Senate – August 4, 1965" (PDF). Congressional Record. U.S. Government Printing Office. 111 (14): 19378. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  8. Cynthia Clark Northrup, Elaine C. Prange Turney, Encyclopedia of Tariffs and Trade in U.S. History: The encyclopedia
  9. Scott, James (2 June 2009). The Attack on the Liberty: The Untold Story of Israel's Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship. ISBN 9781416554820.
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