Guy George Gabrielson (May 22, 1891 – May 1, 1976) was a Republican politician from
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 ...
. He served as chairman of the
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...
from 1949 to 1952, and was a member of the
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...
from 1925 to 1929, and was its Speaker in 1929.
An attorney who later became a corporate executive, after leaving elective politics, Gabrielson turned to Republican politics. He rose through the ranks of Republican activists. He became a member of the Republican National Committee in 1944 and its chairman in 1948, leaving both posts in 1952.
Gabrielson was controversial at the
1952 Republican National Convention
The 1952 Republican National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois from July 7 to 11, 1952, and nominated the popular general and war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower of New York, nicknamed "Ike," for president and ...
because of his support for presidential hopeful Ohio Senator
Robert A. Taft
Robert Alphonso Taft Sr. (September 8, 1889 – July 31, 1953) was an American politician, lawyer, and scion of the Republican Party's Taft family. Taft represented Ohio in the United States Senate, briefly served as Senate Majority Leade ...
, but was greeted with cheers when he opened the Convention.
After dissolving his law firm in 1959, Gabrielson served as a corporate executive, retaining several posts in the years before his 1976 death.
Early life and career
Gabrielson was born May 22, 1891 in
Sioux Rapids, Iowa, the son of Frank A. Gabrielson and Ida (Janson) Gabrielson. In 1918, Gabrielson had married Cora Speer.
A lawyer in private life, he was also politically active in
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 ...
, serving in the state's
General Assembly
A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company.
Specific examples of general assembly include:
Churches
* General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...
from 1925 to 1929, and as Speaker during the 1929 session. Gabrielson lost his seat as the Depression triggered an increasing Democratic wave.
Republican politics
With few prospects in elective politics, he turned to Republican politics and became Republican National Committeeman from New Jersey in 1948. He was then elected Chairman of the RNC in 1949.
In a 1950 article in ''
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 ...
'' in the wake of
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The term origin ...
, he said homosexuals working for the
American government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...
were "perhaps as dangerous as the actual Communists".
In 1951, Gabrielson became embroiled in a loan scandal, and freshman Senator
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 ...
(R-Calif.) called for his ouster, as well as that of
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...
chairman
William M. Boyle
William Marshall Boyle Jr. (February 2, 1902 – August 30, 1961) was an American Democratic political activist from Kansas. Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1949 to 1951, he was a friend of President Harry S. Truman and is cred ...
, a close ally of President
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
, who had a similar loan involvement. Nixon feared Gabrielson would favor California's senior senator,
William F. Knowland for any national office, and desired his ouster to clear his own path to higher office. Boyle resigned, Gabrielson, whose offense was much more that of appearance, did not resign. Because of the enmity between Gabrielson and Nixon, the senator's name was never entered for formal consideration as a keynote speaker at the convention. Gabrielson would also be one of the few Republican politicians not to offer him support after Nixon, by then the Republican Vice-presidential candidate, placed his fate in the hands of the RNC in the
Checkers speech
The Checkers speech or Fund speech was an address made on September 23, 1952, by Senator Richard Nixon ( R- CA), six weeks before the 1952 United States presidential election, in which he was the Republican nominee for Vice President. Nixon had ...
, saying that Nixon's speech (which he had not heard) did not "make sense" because it would take ten days to assemble the RNC.
[ (fee for article)]
Gabrielson supported Taft at the 1952 convention, and the Eisenhower forces were afraid he would tilt the close convention for the Ohio senator. However, when the chairman came forward to open the convention, both sides burst into a round of applause for Gabrielson.
Later life
The 1952 convention ended Gabrielson's time as RNC chairman, and he stepped down in favor of
Arthur Summerfield
Arthur Ellsworth Summerfield (March 17, 1899 – April 26, 1972) was a U.S. political figure who served as the 54th Postmaster General of the United States from 1953 to 1961. As Postmaster General, he was an ardent opponent of obscenity.
Early ...
. He left his position as committeeman from New Jersey at the end of 1952.
In 1959, Gabrielson retired from his legal practice, dissolving his firm. In his retirement, he worked for several corporations or served on their boards. He had lived from 1940 to 1975 in
Bernardsville, New Jersey
Bernardsville () is a borough in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is nestled in the heart of the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 7,707, ; he then moved to the seaside community of
Mantoloking.
He died in
Point Pleasant, New Jersey
Point Pleasant is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was down from 19,306 in 2000 but still up from 18,177 in 1990.
The Borough is a Jersey Shore community situa ...
on May 1, 1976, having outlived Cora Gabrielson by three years, and was survived by a son and daughter.
References
Bibliography
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External links
The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabrielson, Guy
1891 births
1976 deaths
20th-century American politicians
People from Buena Vista County, Iowa
People from Mantoloking, New Jersey
New Jersey lawyers
Republican National Committee chairs
Speakers of the New Jersey General Assembly
Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly
20th-century American lawyers