Leslie C. Arends

Born in Melvin, Illinois, on September 27, 1895,[1] Arends was the youngest of ten children (only seven lived to adulthood) born to George Teis Arends and Talea (née Weiss) Arends.[2] His father was born in Peoria to parents who were both natives of Germany; his mother was born in Hanover, Germany.[3]

Arends attended the local schools and from 1912 to 1913 was a student at Oberlin College in Ohio.[1] He enlisted in the United States Navy during World War I, where he played in the Navy band at numerous war bond rallies.[2] After his discharge he acquired and rented out several farms, and became active in banking.[4] He eventually became president of the Commercial State Bank in Melvin, which had been founded by his father.[1][4] He was a member of the Ford County Farm Bureau,[2] and a member of the board of trustees of Illinois Wesleyan University, which awarded him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1962.[5][6]

Arends with President Gerald Ford, John Rhodes, and Tip O'Neill at the third annual Congressional golf tournament at the Andrews Air Force Base Golf Course, September 1974

In 1934, Arends was elected to the 74th Congress.[1] He was reelected nineteen times, and served from January 3, 1935, until resigning on December 31, 1974, a few days before the end of his final term.[7] He alternately served as majority whip and minority whip for House Republicans from 1943 to 1974,[1] and was the longest-serving whip in U.S. House of Representatives history.[1] He rose through seniority to become the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee,[4] where one of his pet projects was preventing the closure of Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois; it remained open until 1993.[4]

Arends represented a heavily Republican, largely rural downstate Illinois district. Conservative but pragmatic, he opposed much of the New Deal and remained a staunch isolationist until America entered World War II.[1] After becoming minority whip in 1943, Arends helped create the powerful Conservative Coalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats who controlled the domestic agenda from 1937 to 1964.[8] He was reelected as whip amid Republican in-fighting following their large Congressional losses in the 1964 elections;[5] after their setback, House Republicans replaced leader Charles Halleck with Gerald Ford.[5] Ford backed Peter Frelinghuysen Jr. for Whip.[5] Arends had usually been reelected Whip without opposition, and despite a strong challenge from Frelinghuysen relied on personal relationships forged over thirty years to provide the votes that enabled him to retain the post.[5]

He supported Robert A. Taft over Dwight D. Eisenhower for the 1952 Republican presidential nomination,[9] and was an early supporter of the party's nominees Richard M. Nixon and Barry Goldwater in the campaigns of the 1960s.[10][11][12] He organized the GOP opposition to Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society.[13] Arends voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,[14] 1964,[15] and 1968,[16] and the Voting Rights Act of 1965,[17] while Arends did not vote on the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and voted present on the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[18][19] During the Watergate scandal, Arends provided unwavering loyalty to President Richard M. Nixon, and said he would not vote for impeachment, citing his strong personal friendship with Nixon and belief that Nixon had performed capably as president.[20] Despite the Whip challenge following the 1966 elections, Nixon's successor Gerald Ford and Arends maintained a close personal friendship, ensuring Arends a good relationship with the White House after Nixon's resignation.[21]

After leaving Congress, Arends served on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board,[4] and spent time at homes in Melvin, Naples, Florida, and Washington, DC.[1]

Arends died in Naples on July 17, 1985,[1] and was buried at Melvin Cemetery in Melvin. He was survived by his wife Betty (Tychon) and daughter Leslie ("Letty").[1]

• Lichtenstein, Nelson et al. Political Profiles. Volume 3, "The Kennedy Years". pg 14. New York: Facts On File, Inc, 1976.
• Schapsmeier, Edward L. and Frederick H. Schapsmeier, "Serving under Seven Presidents: Les Arends and His Forty Years in Congress". Illinois Historical Journal 1992 85(2): 105–118. ISSN 0748-8149

• Leslie C. Arends at Find a Grave
• United States Congress. "Leslie C. Arends (id: A000216)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.