Kit Francis Clardy (June 17, 1892 – September 5, 1961) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. He was also known as Michigan's McCarthy, referring to his affinity for the controversial anti-communist U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Early life

Clardy was born in Butler, Missouri, and afterwards moved with his family first to Kansas City, Missouri, and then in 1907 to a farm near Liberty, Missouri. He attended schools in Butler, Kansas City, and Liberty, and the

William Jewell College William Jewell College is a private liberal arts college in Liberty, Missouri. It was founded in 1849 by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention and endowed with $10,000 by William Jewell. It was associated with the Missouri Baptist Conventi ...

in Liberty. He graduated from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparative Law (MCL ...

at Ann Arbor in 1925 and was admitted to the bar in the same year. He practiced law in Ionia, 1925–1927; served as assistant attorney general of Michigan, 1927–1931; and was a member and chairman of the Michigan Public Utilities Commission from 1931–1934. Clardy reentered the private practice of law in 1934.

Political career

In 1950, Clardy lost to incumbent William W. Blackney in the Republican primary contest for the

U.S. 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 ...

for

Michigan's 6th congressional district Michigan's 6th congressional district is a United States congressional district in southeast Michigan. In 2022, the district was redrawn to be centered around Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County, as well as western and southern Wayne County, small ...

. In 1952, Clardy won the Republican nomination after Blackney's retirement, and went on to defeat

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 ...

Donald Hayworth Donald Hayworth (January 13, 1898 – February 25, 1982) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. Hayworth was born in Toledo, Iowa, and attended a country school in Mahaska County, Iowa, and high school in New Sharon, Iowa. He gra ...

in the general election. He served a single term in the 83rd Congress, from January 3, 1953 until January 3, 1955. While in Congress, Clardy shared Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist sentiments and participated in

House Committee on Un-American Activities The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

(HUAC) hearings. Clardy conducted HUAC hearings in November 1953 in Lansing, Michigan, in which the committee subpoenaed

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

mathematics instructor

Chandler Davis Horace Chandler Davis (August 12, 1926 – September 24, 2022) was an American-Canadian mathematician, writer, educator, and political activist: "an internationally esteemed mathematician, a minor science fiction writer of note, and among the mos ...

, pharmacology professor Mark Nickerson, and zoology professor

Clement Markert Clement Lawrence Markert (April 11, 1917 – October 1, 1999) was an American biologist credited with the discovery of isozymes (different forms of enzymes that catalyze the same reaction). He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences ...

. In May 1954 he conducted another HUAC hearing in Flint, Michigan, in which he reportedly "not only abused the witnesses but incited violence against them." Recalling how in 1937 college youths had thrown union organizers for the

UAW The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American Labor unions in the United States, labor union that represents workers in the Un ...

- CIO into the Red Cedar River. He said, "I was proud of those kids. They should also have tossed into the river the then Governor, the late

Frank Murphy William Francis Murphy (April 13, 1890July 19, 1949) was an American politician, lawyer and jurist from Michigan. He was a Democrat who was named to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1940 after a political career that included serving ...

." Reportedly, "Clardy's conduct of the hearing contributed to the lynch spirit which swept the city. A number of workers were dragged from their jobs in automobile plants by lynch gangs and beaten; hostile witnesses were evicted from their homes; their families had to go into hiding to escape the fury of mob hoodlums; the office of the lawyer for the witnesses was smeared with red paint." Clardy was defeated in the general election by Hayworth in 1954. In 1956, Clardy lost the Republican primary to Charles E. Chamberlain, who went on to defeat Hayworth in the general election.

Later life

In 1956 Clardy moved to

Palos Verdes Estates, California Palos Verdes Estates (''Palos Verdes'', Spanish for "Green Sticks") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The city was master-planned by the noted American landscape architect and ...

, where he resided until his death there in 1961. He is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.

References

The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clardy, Kit Francis Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan California Republicans University of Michigan Law School alumni 1892 births 1961 deaths 20th-century American politicians People from Palos Verdes Estates, California People from Ionia, Michigan People from Butler, Missouri Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) McCarthyism American anti-communists

Early life

Political career

Later life

See also

References