Frederick Hale (October 7, 1874September 28, 1963) was the United States Senator from Maine from 1917 to 1941. He was the son of

Eugene Hale Eugene Hale (June 9, 1836October 27, 1918) was a Republican United States Senator from Maine. Biography Born in Turner, Maine, he was educated in local schools and at Maine's Hebron Academy. He was admitted to the bar in 1857 and served for n ...

and the grandson of

Zachariah Chandler Zachariah Chandler (December 10, 1813 – November 1, 1879) was an American businessman, politician, one of the founders of the Republican Party, whose radical wing he dominated as a lifelong abolitionist. He was mayor of Detroit, a four-term sen ...

, both also U.S. Senators. He was the brother of diplomat Chandler Hale, and the cousin of U.S. Representative Robert Hale.

Biography

Hale was born on October 7, 1874 in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, to

. He attended the Lawrenceville School, and graduated from

Groton School Groton School (founded as Groton School for Boys) is a private college-preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. Ranked as one of the top five boarding high schools in the United States in Niche (2021–2022), it is affiliated ...

in 1892. He graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

in 1896 and attended

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

from 1896 to 1897. He was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

and commenced the practice of law in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

, in 1899. Hale was a Republican member of the

Maine House of Representatives The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via ...

, 1905–1906; and a member 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 ...

, 1912-1918. In 1916, he was elected as a Republican to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

, defeating incumbent Democrat

Charles Fletcher Johnson Charles Fletcher Johnson (February 14, 1859 – February 15, 1930) was a United States senator from Maine and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Johnson was nominated by President Woodrow Wi ...

to reclaim the Senate seat that had been held by his father Eugene Hale. He was reelected in 1922, 1928, and again in 1934, serving from March 4, 1917 to January 3, 1941. Hale opposed and voted against the Sedition Act of 1918 during the presidency of

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

. He also opposed the

internationalist Internationalist may refer to: * Internationalism (politics), a movement to increase cooperation across national borders * Liberal internationalism, a doctrine in international relations * Internationalist/Defencist Schism, socialists opposed to ...

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference th ...

.September 29, 1963
Frederick Hale Is Dead at 88; Senator From Maine, 1916-41; Was Top-Ranking Republican --Favored Big Navy, Fought League and New Deal Signed Lodge Resolution Opposed Roosevelt Harvard '96 Graduate
''The New York Times''. Retrieved August 27, 2021. During the presidency of

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a Republican lawyer from New England who climbed up the ladder of Ma ...

, a proposal was made by fellow Republican senator Reed Smoot of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

to reduce the top income tax rate to 32%.FascinatingPolitics (July 25, 2018)
Racism and Tax Cuts…Are They Really Peas in a Pod?
. ''Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History''. Retrieved August 27, 2021. Although the majority of the GOP including Hale supported the measure, it was defeated in a 36–47 vote. Hale also voted against an amendment introduced by Furnifold Simmons to raise the maximum income tax rate by 2.5%. In the 1928 Republican primary, Hale defeated incumbent governor

Owen Brewster Ralph Owen Brewster (February 22, 1888 – December 25, 1961) was an American politician from Maine. Brewster, a Republican, served as the 54th Governor of Maine from 1925 to 1929, in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1935 to 1941 and in ...

for their party's nomination which signaled the end of the Ku Klux Klan in Maine as an important political factor. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1940. He served as chairman, Committee on Canadian Relations in the

Sixty-sixth Congress The 66th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, comprising the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1919, to Ma ...

, and served on the Committee on Naval Affairs in the Sixty-eighth through Seventy-second Congresses, and the Committee on Appropriations in the

Seventy-second Congress The 72nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1931 ...

. A fierce opponent of the Ku Klux Klan faction of the Republican Party in Maine, Hale was one of a handful of senators who voted against the elevation of

Hugo Black Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. ...

to the Supreme Court in 1937 based on his alleged Klan membership. Opposing the liberal agenda during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hale resisted

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...

programs at an even greater frequency than his Maine senatorial colleague

Wallace H. White Wallace Humphrey White Jr. (August 6, 1877March 31, 1952) was an American politician and Republican leader in the United States Congress from 1917 until 1949. White was from the U.S. state of Maine and served in the U.S. House of Representatives ...

. This includes his vote against the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act), which White supported. He retired to private life and died in Portland, Maine, on September 28, 1963. He is interred in

Woodbine Cemetery Woodbine may refer to: * Woodbine (plant), a common name for several plants Places Australia * Woodbine, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Woodbine, Queensland Canada * Woodbine, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood Toronto, Ontari ...

Ellsworth, Maine Ellsworth is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Maine, United States. The 2020 Census determined it had a population of 8,399. Named after United States Founding Father Oliver Ellsworth, it contains historic buildings a ...

. At the time of his death, Hale was the last living Senator who was serving at the time of the United States' declaration of war against the German Empire, which precipitated the United States' participation in World War I.

Charles Thornton Libby incident

In May 1910, Hale attacked

Charles Thornton Libby Charles Thornton Libby (September 28, 1861 – May 23, 1948) was an American author, genealogist, historian and lawyer. He wrote five known books: ''The Libby Family in America, 1602–1881'' (1882), ''Cash, Panics and Industrial Depressions'' (1 ...

with a whip following an article about Hale's mother that was published in the '' Six Towns Times'', of which Libby was the editor. Hale had entered Libby's office in Portland, holding a copy of the newspaper, and asked, "Are you responsible for this?" Libby looked at it and replied in the affirmative. Hale pulled a whip out from under his coat and struck Libby several times, saying, "Take that, you cur." Hale then threw the whip on the office floor and struck Libby. "This is what I do to anyone who insults my mother." After Hale left, Libby said: "I like him better than I did before. It was a manly thing to do. A man who wouldn't stand up for his mother don't amount to much."

References

External links

Frederick Hale, a biographical sketch (1910)
a brief satirical booklet. *

External links

* , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hale, Frederick 1874 births 1963 deaths American Congregationalists Columbia Law School alumni Hale family Harvard University alumni Lawrenceville School alumni Old Right (United States) Republican Party members of the Maine House of Representatives Politicians from Portland, Maine Republican Party United States senators from Maine