Kenneth William Hechler (September 20, 1914 – December 10, 2016) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

's 4th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1959 to 1977 and was

West Virginia Secretary of State The Secretary of State of West Virginia is an elected office within the U.S. state of West Virginia state government. The secretary of state is responsible for overseeing the state's election process, including voter registration and election res ...

from 1985 to 2001.

Biography

Early life and military service

Of German-American descent, Hechler was born in

Roslyn, New York Roslyn ( ) is a village in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is the Greater Roslyn area's anchor community. The population was 2,770 at the 2010 census. History Ros ...

on September 20, 1914 to Charles Henry and Catherine Elizabeth (Hauhart) Hechler. He held a BA from

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established as ...

, and an MA and PhD from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in history and government. Hechler served on the faculty of Columbia University,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, and

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

in the years leading up to World War II. Hechler held a series of minor appointed positions in the federal civil service until he was drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

in July, 1942. After graduation from Armored Force Officer Candidate School, he was assigned as a combat historian in the European Theater of Operations. Hechler helped chronicle the liberation of France, the 1944 Normandy invasion, Battle of the Bulge, and entrance into Nazi Germany. He was attached to the 9th Armored Division when an armored and infantry task force, part of Combat Command B, unexpectedly captured the

Ludendorff Bridge The Ludendorff Bridge (sometimes referred to as the Bridge at Remagen) was in early March 1945 a critical remaining bridge across the river Rhine in Germany when it was captured during the Battle of Remagen by United States Army forces durin ...

spanning the

Rhine river ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

during the

Battle of Remagen The Battle of Remagen was an 18-day battle during the Allied invasion of Germany in World War II from 7 to 25 March 1945 when American forces unexpectedly captured the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine intact. They were able to hold it against ...

. He interviewed both U.S. and German soldiers involved at the time. He was awarded a Bronze Star and 5 battle stars. He returned after the war twice to interview Germans who took part in the battle. He found Captain Willi Bratge, whom a German military court had been sentenced to death ''in absentia'' because he had been captured, and spent a week with him in the Remagen area learning about details of the battle. In 1957 he published the book ''

The Bridge at Remagen ''The Bridge at Remagen'' is a 1969 DeLuxe Color war film in Panavision starring George Segal, Ben Gazzara and Robert Vaughn. The film, which was directed by John Guillermin, was shot in Czechoslovakia. It is based on the nonfiction book ''The ...

: The Amazing Story of March 7, 1945'', which was adapted into a film in 1969. After the war ended, he was assigned to interview many of the defendants prior to the

Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...

, including

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

. (Hechler recorded him making a delusional offer to join the American side and "knock hell out of the Russians.")

Entry into politics

Next Hechler was a

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

assistant to Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953 and Research Director for Adlai Stevenson's 1956 Presidential campaign. From 1953–1957 he was associate director of the American Political Science Association in Washington, DC. Hechler then was appointed to the faculty at

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges ...

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A ...

. He ran for

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 West Virginia's Fourth Congressional District, which then included Huntington and many unionized mill towns along the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of ...

north of that industrial city, in 1958. He won a narrow victory by 3,500 votes. He never faced another general election contest anywhere near that close. In Congress, he earned a reputation as a liberal Democrat and in 1965, he was the only member of Congress to join

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

on the

Selma to Montgomery marches The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile (87 km) highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the ...

. Hechler voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1960,

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. * J ...

, and the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights m ...

. He was the principal architect of the

Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969 The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, U.S. Public Law 91-173, generally referred to as the Coal Act, was passed by the 91st United States Congressional session and enacted into law by the 37th President of the United States Richard ...

, which for the first time put a ceiling on the amount of respirable

coal dust Coal dust is a fine powdered form of which is created by the crushing, grinding, or pulverizing of coal. Because of the brittle nature of coal, coal dust can be created during mining, transportation, or by mechanically handling coal. It is a form ...

allowed in

coal mines Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...

, and stipulated stringent safety regulations. Though an opponent of the state Democratic machine, he faced little opposition in Democratic primaries and was reelected eight times.

Election of 1972

In 1972, Hechler faced a strong primary challenge for the first time since his initial run for the seat. Following the 1970 Census, West Virginia's declining population cost it a congressional district. The state legislature merged Hechler's district with most of the old 5th District, comprising several coal-mining counties around Bluefield and Beckley. The 5th had been represented by Democrat

James Kee James Kee (April 15, 1917 – March 11, 1989) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the United States House of Representatives for West Virginia's 5th congressional district from 1965 to 1973, succeeding his ...

of Bluefield since 1965, and members of his family had held the district continuously since 1933. While the new district retained Hechler's district number–the 4th–it was geographically and demographically more Kee's district. Kee retained 65 percent of his former territory. However, Hechler made the most of his union ties and routed Kee in the Democratic primary by almost 26 points. He easily won reelection in November, and was unopposed for reelection in 1974.

Running for Governor

In 1976, he entered a multi-candidate primary for

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, but lost that statewide race by a large margin. He then attempted a

write-in A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be pos ...

campaign in his old district against the Democratic nominee,

Nick Rahall Nicholas Joseph Rahall II (born May 20, 1949) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 2015. He is the longest-serving member ever of the United States Hous ...

. Rahall was a follower and former staffer for

Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician and musician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A ...

. He lost to Rahall in a close election, taking 36 percent of the vote and pushing the Republican candidate into third place, and lost again to Rahall in the Democratic primary of 1978. Following these unsuccessful political bids, Hechler resumed his teaching career at Marshall University, the

University of Charleston The University of Charleston (UC) is a private non-profit university with its main campus in Charleston, West Virginia. The university also has a location in Beckley, West Virginia, known as UC-Beckley. History The school was founded in 1888 as ...

and

West Virginia State University West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute, it is one of the original 19 land-grant colleges and universitie ...

Later career

In 1984 Hechler ran for

and won. He was re-elected in 1988, 1992, and 1996. In 1990, he again ran, in the middle of his Secretarial term, for his old Congressional seat, but was defeated by Rahall in the primary. His term as Secretary of State is most known for his successful prosecution of Johnie Owens, who sold his position as Sheriff of

Mingo County Mingo County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,568. Its county seat and largest city is Williamson. Created in 1895, Mingo is West Virginia's newest county, named for the historic ...

for $100,000 and was sentenced to fourteen years in federal prison. He also persuaded the West Virginia State Legislature to require that candidates publicly register loans, with specific terms of repayment. There was a growing rift between him and union leaders over his support of tough environmental laws, thought by union leaders to be at the cost of jobs. As secretary of state, in 1985 he moved his legal residence to Charleston. Charleston is located in the 2nd District, which was vacated in 2000 by nine-term Democrat

Bob Wise Robert Ellsworth Wise Jr. (born January 6, 1948) is an American politician who served as the 33rd Governor of West Virginia from 2001 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, Wise also served in the United States House of Representatives fro ...

, who was running for governor. He lost a three-way Democratic primary bid for that seat. In 2000, at the age of 85, he walked 530 miles in joining Doris "Granny D" Haddock in her cross country walk on behalf of campaign finance reform, shortly before the passage of the McCain–Feingold Act. In 2004 he ran yet again for his old post as secretary of state. This time, he won the Democratic primary by a plurality, but lost the general election to Republican

Betty Ireland Betty Ireland (born 1946) was the 28th Secretary of State of West Virginia from 2005 to 2009, as the first woman elected to the executive branch of West Virginia state government. She was also the first Republican elected to that position sinc ...

After the 2004 election

Beginning in 2004, Hechler campaigned against

mountaintop removal mining Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain. Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land, or overburden, above the seams. Thi ...

. On June 23, 2009, Hechler, then aged 94, participated in a protest near

sites in the West Virginia coalfields in the Coal River valley along with others. He was one of 29 protesters arrested for trespass. On July 21, 2010, Hechler filed to run in the

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

to succeed the late Senator

, running in the primary against Gov.

Joe Manchin Joseph Manchin III (born August 24, 1947) is an American politician and businessman serving as the senior United States senator from West Virginia, a seat he has held since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Manchin was the 34th governor o ...

. Hechler indicated that his primary goal in entering the race was to draw attention to what he viewed as the devastating impact of

in West Virginia. Hechler lost to Manchin, with less than 20% of the vote. He then endorsed Jesse Johnson of the

Mountain Party The Mountain Party is a political party in West Virginia, affiliated with the Green Party of the United States. It is a progressive and environmentalist party whose party platform primarily focuses on "Grassroots Democracy", "Social Justice & ...

for the Senate seat in the general election. One of his last public political endorsements was of

Charlotte Pritt Charlotte Jean Pritt (born January 2, 1949) is an American educator, businesswoman, and politician in the U.S. state of West Virginia. From 1984 to 1988, she served in the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing Kanawha County. From 1988 t ...

for

Governor of West Virginia A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

in 2016. Pritt, whom Hechler often publicly referred to as one of his protege's, was running this time as the nominee of the

. Hechler had supported Pritt in her two other bids for Governor as a Democrat in 1992 and 1996 (when she was the nominee.) Pritt later gave one of the eulogies at his Memorial Service after his death. On August 12, 2013, Hechler, at the age of 98, married his long-time companion, Carol Kitzmiller, in Winchester, Virginia. On September 20, 2014, he turned 100. "The secret of longevity is to exercise," Hechler said. "I always exercised on the tennis court until I had to give that up, but I've got a new hip." In July 2016, Hechler was placed into hospice care in

Romney, West Virginia Romney is a town in and the county seat of Hampshire County, West Virginia, Hampshire County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 1,722 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History Established by consecutive acts of the V ...

after suffering from a recurring lung infection. Hechler died on December 10, 2016 at his home in Romney from a

stroke A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...

at the age of 102.

Works

*Ken Hechler, ''The Enemy Side of the Hill: The 1945 Background on the Interrogation of German Commanders as Seen Subjectively by Major Kenneth W. Hechler'', U.S. Dept. of the Army (1949) *Ken Hechler, ''The Bridge at Remagen'', Ballantine, First edition (January 1, 1957) **''The Bridge at Remagen (Presidio War Classic; World War II''), Presidio Press (July 26, 2005), **''The Bridge at Remagen: The Amazing Story of March 7, 1945 - The Day the Rhine River was Crossed'', Pictorial Histories Pub, Rev Sub edition (December 30, 1993), *Ken Hechler, ''Endless Space Frontier: A History of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 1959-1978 (Aas History Series)'', Univelt (February 1982), *Ken Hechler, ''Working With Truman'', Putnam Adult; First Edition (November 19, 1982), **Ken Hechler, ''Working With Truman: A Personal Memoir of the White House Years (Give 'em Hell Harry Series)'', University of Missouri Press (March 1996), *Ken Hechler, ''Holding the line the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion and the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945 (SuDoc D 103.43/4:4)'', Office of History, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1988) **Ken Hechler, ''Holding the Line'', University Press of the Pacific (January 30, 2005), *Ken Hechler, ''River-Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America'', Penguin Books (1991) *Ken Hechler, ''Hero of the Rhine: The Karl Timmermann Story'', Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, (January 1, 2004), *Ken Hechler, ''Super Marine!: The Sgt. Orland D. "Buddy" Jones Story'', Pictorial Histories Publishing Company (January 2007),

References

External links

Ken Hechler
official website
Ken Hechler for West Virginia
official campaign site *
Oral History Interview with Ken Hechler
Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, November 29, 1985 by Niel M. Johnson *https://web.archive.org/web/20130501092505/http://www.news-leader.com/article/20130429/NEWS01/304290038/Ken-Hechler-99th-birthday-Marshfield-Cherry-Blossom-festival * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hechler, Ken 1914 births 2016 deaths Activists from West Virginia American centenarians American male non-fiction writers United States Army personnel of World War II Anti-mining activists Columbia University alumni Historians of World War II Marshall University faculty Men centenarians Military personnel from New York (state) People from Romney, West Virginia People from Roslyn, New York American people of German descent Politicians from Charleston, West Virginia Politicians from Huntington, West Virginia Secretaries of State of West Virginia Swarthmore College alumni Truman administration personnel United States Army historians United States Army officers Writers from New York (state) Writers from West Virginia Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from West Virginia Historians from New York (state)