Charles William Sandman Jr. (October 23, 1921 – August 26, 1985) was an American Republican Party politician who represented

Cape May County Cape May County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Much of the county is located on Cape May bound by Delaware Bay to its west and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and east. Adjacent to the Atlantic coastline are f ...

in the New Jersey Senate from 1954 to 1966 and represented southern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1965 to 1975. He ran for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey three times, losing to Wayne Dumont in 1965 and William T. Cahill in 1969, but finally receiving the nomination by defeating incumbent Governor Cahill in 1973. He lost the 1973 general election to

Brendan Byrne Brendan Thomas Byrne (April 1, 1924 – January 4, 2018) was an American politician, statesman, and prosecutor, serving as the 47th governor of New Jersey from 1974 to 1982. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrne started his career as a priva ...

in a historical landslide.

Biography

Personal

Sandman was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Cape May High School, attained a bachelor's degree from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

, and a law degree from

Rutgers School of Law–Newark Rutgers Law School is the law school of Rutgers University, with classrooms in Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It is the largest public law school and the 10th largest law school, overall, in the United States. Each class in the three-year J.D. pr ...

. Sandman married Marion L. Cooney of Philadelphia and they had six children. Their sons, Robert S. Sandman, Charles W. Sandman III and Richard E. Sandman, followed their father's legal footsteps, establishing a law practice in

Cape May Court House, New Jersey Cape May Court House is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Middle Township in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States.

. Sandman had a stroke on August 18, 1985, and died at a hospital in Cape May Court House on August 26, aged 63. At the time of his death, he was a resident of the Erma section of

Lower Township, New Jersey Lower Township is a township in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area, which covers the entire county for statistical purposes. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's ...

, and was interred in Cold Spring Presbyterian Cemetery in

Cold Spring, New Jersey Cold Spring is an unincorporated community in Lower Township, Cape May County, New Jersey. History A post office was established in 1809, with Aaron Eldredge as the first postmaster. There are several historic properties in the area. The Cold S ...

Career

Sandman served in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

as a navigator during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and spent seven months as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

in Germany after being shot down. Before serving in Congress, Sandman was elected to three 4-year terms in the New Jersey Senate, in 1955, 1959, and 1963. He held the post of

Majority Leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

of that body in 1964 and 1965. In 1966, he ran for

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

while still holding his State Senate seat, which he resigned upon winning the federal office. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Jan ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

and

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

. In 1973, Sandman ran for governor as a conservative, defeating moderate incumbent Republican

William T. Cahill William Thomas Cahill (June 25, 1912July 1, 1996) was an American politician, lawyer, and academic who served as the 46th governor of New Jersey from 1970 to 1974. A Republican, Cahill previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives, repr ...

in the Republican primary election in a victory that "shocked party leaders", according to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. In the general election, Sandman lost to

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

in a landslide, following the pattern where New Jersey would often elect moderate Republicans to statewide office but consistently reject more conservative Republicans. Mike Segal, Skinny D'Amato, Charles Sandman

Mike Segal, Skinny D'Amato, Charles Sandman

Sandman was on the House Judiciary Committee when it considered

articles of impeachment Impeachment in the United States is the process by which a legislature may bring charges against an officeholder for misconduct alleged to have been committed with a penalty of removal. Impeachment may also occur at the state level if the sta ...

against President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

. He was the most vitriolic defender of Nixon in the hearings. Notably, he insisted on hearing the specifics of each alleged impeachable offense. After the release of the "smoking gun" transcript, however, Sandman announced he would vote to

impeach Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

Nixon when the articles came up before the full House (as did every Republican who opposed impeachment in committee), calling their contents "devastating–impeachable." In the 1974 Congressional elections, Republicans suffered generally because of the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...

that had by the time of the election forced Nixon to resign. Despite Sandman's change of heart on impeachment, his reputation was severely tarnished by his performance in the televised hearings. He was soundly defeated by Democrat William J. Hughes, his opponent in 1974, in an election that Sandman described as "not a Republican year" Following his defeat in his reelection bid for Congress, Sandman was approached by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller to join the Ford administration in various capacities including an ambassadorship of his choosing, Sandman declined and instead opted to accept Governor Thomas Kean's invitation to be appointed to the bench of the Superior Court of New Jersey.

Legacy

In 1986 all members of the

Lower Township School District The Lower Township School District is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade from Lower Township, in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020–21 school ...

school board agreed to rename Lower Township Consolidated School to Charles W. Sandman Consolidated School.
See previews at search page
/ref> In the 2019

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

series, For All Mankind, actor

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on ''Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...

played Sandman in a fictional storyline about

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...

and other space issues.

References

External links

Charles William Sandman Jr.
at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information. The name comes from the website's inclusion of burial locations o ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandman, Charles W. Jr. 1921 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American judges 20th-century American politicians Burials at Cold Spring Presbyterian Church Candidates in the 1973 United States elections Military personnel from New Jersey Military personnel from Philadelphia New Jersey state court judges Republican Party New Jersey state senators People from Cape May, New Jersey People from Lower Township, New Jersey Politicians from Philadelphia Presidents of the New Jersey Senate Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey Rutgers School of Law–Newark alumni Rutgers University alumni Shot-down aviators Temple University alumni United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany