John Hall Buchanan, Jr.
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John Hall Buchanan Jr. (March 19, 1928 – March 5, 2018) was an American military veteran, clergyman, and politician who served as a Republican in the
U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
from 1965 to 1981, representing
Alabama's 6th congressional district Alabama's 6th congressional district is a United States congressional district in Alabama that elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. It is composed of the wealthier portions of Birmingham, Alabama, Birmingham, ...
.


Background

A native of
Paris, Tennessee Paris is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 10,316. A replica of the Eiffel Tower stands in the southern part of Paris. History The present site of Par ...
, Buchanan served in the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
from 1945 to 1946 and then relocated to
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
to attend
Samford University Samford University is a Private university, private Christian university in Homewood, Alabama, United States. It was founded by Baptist Church, Baptists in 1841 as Howard College and located until 1887 in Marion, Alabama. It is governed by an in ...
in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
. After his graduation in 1949, Buchanan did graduate work at the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
at
Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Quee ...
, before he transferred to the
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. The s ...
in
Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...
,
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
. In 1957, he graduated from the seminary and served as pastor of churches in Tennessee, Alabama, and
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
.Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, as of April 10, 2007
/ref>


Early political campaigns

In 1962, Buchanan, while still an active pastor in Birmingham, was one of three unsuccessful Republican candidates for Congress. The U.S. House candidates that year ran statewide. Because state law required that voters support eight candidates for their ballot to count, the Republicans had to back five Democrats, who were technically their at-large opponents, or to write in the names of five Republicans who were not official candidates, a process that proved too burdensome to overcome. The congressional race corresponded with the controversial admission of
James Meredith James Howard Meredith (born June 25, 1933) is an American civil rights activist, writer, political adviser, and United States Air Force veteran who became, in 1962, the first African-American student admitted to the racially segregated Univers ...
, who became the first African American in history to graduate from the
University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...
in neighboring
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
. Buchanan said that the Alabama congressional delegation had responded to the desegregation crisis "only after intense pressure from the home folks. ... they nodded their heads 'yes' when the
Kennedys The Kennedy family () is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from County Wexford, Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P ...
asked them to, and have come back home and denied they were national Democrats." Buchanan led the three-candidate field in 1962 with 141,202 votes but failed to dislodge the eighth-place Democratic candidate, Representative
Carl Elliott Carl Atwood Elliott (December 20, 1913 – January 9, 1999) was a U.S. representative from the U.S. state of Alabama. He was elected to eight consecutive terms, having served from 1949 to 1965. Background Elliott was born in rural Frank ...
of
Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...
. Buchanan was also the finance director for the resurgent
Alabama Republican Party The Alabama Republican Party is the state affiliate of the Republican Party in Alabama. It has been the dominant political party in Alabama since the late 20th century. The state party is governed by the Alabama Republican Executive Committee. ...
. In 1964, he was handily elected to Congress from the Birmingham-based 6th district, having unseated the 10-year incumbent Democrat, George Huddleston Jr., by a staggering 21-point margin. This was particularly shocking since the Republican Party had been more or less nonexistent in Alabama for the better part of 80 years. Indeed, most of the 6th's living residents had never been represented by a Republican before. However, Alabama voters turned against the Democrats after
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...
signed the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
into law. Partly as a result,
Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...
easily carried the district en route to winning 69 percent of Alabama's popular vote.


Congressional tenure

During the beginning of his career in the House of Representatives, Buchanan was a conservative Republican, opposing the creation of Medicare, 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 move ...
and the
Civil Rights Act of 1968 The Civil Rights Act of 1968 () is a Lists of landmark court decisions, landmark law in the United States signed into law by President of the United States, United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during the King assassination riots. Titles ...
, but also worked with Democratic Congressman and fellow Southerner
Charles Weltner Charles Longstreet Weltner (December 17, 1927 – August 31, 1992) was an American jurist and politician from the U.S. state of Georgia. From 1963 to 1967, he served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Early years and education Welt ...
to spearhead an investigation of the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
. Along with Weltner, the FBI credited Buchanan for bringing KKK membership to its lowest level since
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. However, Buchanan's social views would begin to change due to attending church services in Riverside Baptist Church, an integrated church in southwest
Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
In an interview with the Washington Post in 1976, Buchanan explained his change on social views: "When you’re deeply involved in a biracial entity, you think of people as brothers and sisters." Buchanan would also hire African-Americans for his staff and was the first member of the Alabama congressional delegation to nominate African-American candidates to the military service academies. As a senior member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, Buchanan helped lead the fight in 1972 in the House for enactment of the Education Act, Title IX, which requires equality for women in the programs of American colleges and universities, including athletics. He served as ranking Republican on the Equal Rights Subcommittee and the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the arts. For fourteen years, he was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, where he championed the rights of people behind the
Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...
, especially
Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish and Christian dissidents, as well as the black majorities in
Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...
and
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. As ranking minority member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Operations, he was one of the principal authors of the Foreign Service Act of 1980. In that year he received the Honor Award, Women's Action Organization (State Department, ICA, AID) and the Honor Award "for commitment to the advancement of women in the Foreign Service community". Originally opposed to busing during the Nixon administration, Buchanan would eventually come to support it in order to combat desegregation in the Carter administration, as well as a woman's right to choose what to do with their bodies. Buchanan, alongside fellow centrist Republicans Alphonzo E. Bell Jr. and
John B. Anderson John Bayard Anderson (February 15, 1922 – December 3, 2017) was an American lawyer and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 16th congressional district from 1961 to 1981. A member of ...
, also supported the creation of a Martin Luther King, Jr. statue in the Capitol. He served as a member of the U. S. delegation to the 28th United Nations General Assembly, and to the Sixth Special Assembly, having
ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
ial rank with each appointment. He was a member of the U. S. delegation to the U. N. Human Rights Commission (1978–1980), was ranking Republican to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Belgrade Conference on the
Helsinki Accords The Helsinki Final Act, also known as Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration, was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland, betwee ...
. Largely due to his liberal record and support of civil rights, Buchanan became very popular in his district, even though Democrats continued to hold most local offices in the district well into the 1980s. He was reelected seven times, rarely facing serious opposition. In 1978, however, he was challenged in the primary by a considerably more conservative Republican, Albert L. Smith Jr., a longtime party activist in the Birmingham area. Buchanan fended him off but was defeated in a rematch in 1980.
Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...
historian
Wayne Flynt James Wayne Flynt (born October 4, 1940) is University Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at Auburn University. He has won numerous teaching awards and been a Distinguished University Professor for many years. His research focuses o ...
described Buchanan as a "centrist in an age where centrism was beginning to be challenged and would finally result in the polarization of American politics into left and right." Despite being to his right,
Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...
would support Buchanan in his reelection campaigns during the 1970s, and referred to Buchanan as a "fine progressive Republican." His daughter Lynn noted that in his later years, Buchanan did not relate to modern-day Republican values, and had switched to the Democratic Party.


Affiliations

Upon leaving Congress in 1981, he was appointed by President
Ronald W. Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party and became an important figure in ...
as a member of the U.S. delegation to the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
. He has also served on the
United Nations Human Rights Committee The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a treaty body composed of 18 experts, established by a 1966 human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee meets for three four-week sessions per yea ...
. Buchanan was also on the board of directors of the liberal group,
People for the American Way People for the American Way (PFAW ) is a progressive advocacy group in the United States. Organized as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, PFAW was registered in 1981 by the television producer Norman Lear, a self-described liberal who founde ...
, founded by producer
Norman Lear Norman Milton Lear (July 27, 1922December 5, 2023) was an American screenwriter and producer who produced, wrote, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear created and produced numerous popular 1970s sitcoms, including ''All in the Family'' (1 ...
. For many years, he served as PFAW's national chairman. Buchanan supported Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential election. In that capacity, he traveled extensively, participating in frequent debates with leaders of the Religious Right on radio, television, and various platforms throughout the United States. Appearances in the media included '' McNeil-Lehrer NewsHour'', ''
Crossfire A crossfire (also known as interlocking fire) is a military term for the siting of weapons (often automatic weapons such as assault rifles or sub-machine guns) so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I. ...
'', ''
Larry King Live ''Larry King Live'' is an American television talk show broadcast by CNN from June 3, 1985 to December 16, 2010. Hosted by Larry King, it was the network's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly. Ma ...
'', Charlie Rose, and other news programs. He also spoke extensively for national organizations including the Council for the Advancement of Citizenship, the Kettering Foundation, and the Close-Up Foundation. Buchanan's numerous awards have included the National Council of Jewish Women Hannah G. Solomon Award, the Common Cause Public Service Achievement Award, the National Conference of Christians and Jews Brotherhood Award, and an award from the Self-Determination for D. C. National Coalition. He served on the
Common Cause Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President Lyndon ...
President's Council, the National Council of the U.S. United Nations Association, and the Board of Advisors and Speakers Bureau of the Close-Up Foundation. He also served as the board chairman of Fund-Balance, LLC and the Nexus Holdings Group. In 2010, Buchanan was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor for his congressional contributions to furthering the rights of women and African Americans. After his defeat, Buchanan never returned to Alabama and he lived in
Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...
. He and his wife Betty have two daughters and three granddaughters.


Death

Buchanan died on March 5, 2018, in an assisted living center in
Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fourth ...
, from dementia.


Tribute

Al Quie Albert Harold "Al" Quie ( ; September 18, 1923 – August 18, 2023) was an American politician and farmer. Quie served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1958 to 1979 and as Governor of Minnesota from 1979 to 1983. Re ...
, Republican representative and governor of Minnesota, who served with Buchanan, said of him: "There was a basic goodness, solidness, that didn't take long to recognize and respect."


See also

*
List of members of the House Un-American Activities Committee This list of members of the House Un-American Activities Committee details the names of those members of the United States House of Representatives who served on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) from its formation as the "Special ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, John Hall Jr. 1928 births 2018 deaths American Christian clergy Centrism in the United States Samford University alumni University of Virginia alumni Southern Baptist Theological Seminary alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II People from Paris, Tennessee Politicians from Birmingham, Alabama Politicians from Bethesda, Maryland Military personnel from Tennessee Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Alabama People for the American Way people Maryland Democrats Maryland Republicans Deaths from dementia in Maryland Religious leaders from Birmingham, Alabama Military personnel from Birmingham, Alabama American anti-racism activists 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives Members of the House Un-American Activities Committee