Millard Tydings

Millard Evelyn Tydings (April 6, 1890 – February 9, 1961) was an American attorney, author, soldier, state legislator, and served as a Democratic Representative and Senator in the United States Congress from Maryland, serving in the House from 1923 to 1927 and in the Senate from 1927 to 1951.

Millard Tydings
United States senator from Maryland
In office March 4, 1927 – January 3, 1951
Preceded by	Ovington Weller
Succeeded by	John Marshall Butler
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 2nd district
In office March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1927
Preceded by	Albert Blakeney
Succeeded by	William Purington Cole, Jr.
87th Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates
In office January 1920 – September 1920
Preceded by	Herbert R. Wooden
Succeeded by	John L. G. Lee
Member of the Maryland Senate
In office 1922–1923
Personal details
Born	Millard Evelyn Tydings (1890-04-06)April 6, 1890 Havre de Grace, Maryland
Died	February 9, 1961(1961-02-09) (aged 70) near Havre de Grace, Maryland
Political party	Democratic
Education	University of Maryland
Profession	Civil engineer, lawyer, politician, author
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1917–1919
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Battles/wars	World War I

Early life and education

Tydings was born in Havre de Grace, located in Harford County, and was the son of Mary Bond (O'Neill) and Millard Fillmore Tydings.[1] He attended the public schools of Harford County and graduated from Maryland Agricultural College (now the University of Maryland, College Park) in 1910. He engaged in civil engineering with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in West Virginia in 1911. He studied law at the University of Maryland School of Law, in Baltimore, and was admitted to the bar; he started practice in Havre de Grace in 1913.

In 1916 Tydings was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates; he was elected as Speaker of the House by his colleagues from 1920 to 1922. He served in the Maryland State Senate during 1922-1923.

Tydings served in the U.S. Army during World War I and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and Division Machine-gun Officer in 1918. He served on the Western Front with the American Expeditionary Forces and received the Distinguished Service Cross and Army Distinguished Service Medal.[2]

House and Senate career

In 1922, Tydings was elected as a Democrat to the 68th session of the US Congress, and was re-elected to the 69th session, representing the second district of Maryland (March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1927) in the House of Representatives. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1926, having become a candidate for the United States Senate.

He was elected to the Senate in 1926, 1932, 1938 and 1944, and served from March 4, 1927, to January 3, 1951. With Alabama Representative John McDuffie, he co-sponsored the Philippine Independence Act, commonly known as the Tydings–McDuffie Act, which established an autonomous 10-year Commonwealth status for the Philippines. It was planned to culminate in the withdrawal of American sovereignty and the recognition of Philippine Independence.

In January 1934, Tydings introduced a resolution "condemning Nazi oppression of Jews in Germany, and asking President Roosevelt to inform the Hitler government that this country was profoundly distressed about its antisemitic measures." His resolution was bottled up in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.[3]

In 1936, Senator Tydings introduced a bill in Congress calling for independence for Puerto Rico, but it was opposed by Luis Muñoz Marín, an influential leader of the Liberal Party.[4] All the Puerto Rican parties supported the bill. Tydings did not gain passage of the bill.[4] (The US senator had co-sponsored the Tydings–McDuffie Act, which provided independence to the Philippines after a 10-year transition under a limited autonomy.)

During his time in the Senate, Tydings was well known for taking principled, controversial, often unusual stands on various issues. He opposed the New Deal due to his fiscal conservatism, and proposed a constitutional amendment requiring the federal budget to be balanced at all times. He was a strong critic of Prohibition prior to its repeal in 1933.[5]

Following the end of World War II, when the US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, Tydings sponsored a bill calling for the U.S. to lead the world in nuclear disarmament.[5]

In March 1950, Tydings was appointed to head a committee, generally known as the Tydings Committee, to investigate Joseph McCarthy's early claims of Communist penetration of the federal government and military.[6] The hearings revolved around McCarthy's charge that the fall of the Kuomintang regime in China had been caused by the actions of alleged Soviet spies in the State Department, and his allegation that the Sinologist Owen Lattimore was a "top Russian agent." The hearings, held from March to July 1950, were stormy as charge was met with counter-charge. In McCarthy's first 250 minutes on the stand, Tydings interrupted him 85 times with questions and demands for substantiation,[7] enraging McCarthy who condemned Tydings as an "egg-sucking liberal" [8]. As such, the trial attracted much media attention, especially after Louis F. Budenz entered the proceedings as a surprise witness supporting McCarthy's charges. In July, the committee published its report, concluding that McCarthy's accusations were spurious and condemning his charges as an intentionally nefarious hoax.

When Tydings ran for re-election in 1950, McCarthy's staff distributed a composite picture of Tydings with Earl Browder, the former leader of the American Communist Party. Tydings had never met him before Browder testified in July 1950. The composite photo merged a 1938 photo of Tydings listening to the radio and a 1940 photo of Browder delivering a speech; the text under the composite photo stated that when Browder had testified before Tydings's committee, Tydings had said, "Thank you, sir." Although the quote was technically accurate, it was generally held to be misleading, as it implied a degree of amity between Browder and Tydings that did not exist.[9]

In the 1950 election, Tydings was defeated by John Marshall Butler. In 1956, he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate but withdrew before election due to ill health.[10]

During his congressional service, Tydings was chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Territories and Insular Affairs (73rd through 79th Congresses), the Subcommittee on the Investigation of Loyalty of State Department Employees ("Tydings Subcommittee") (81st Congress), and the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services (81st Congress).

Death and legacy

Millard E. Tydings died at his farm, "Oakington", near Havre de Grace, Maryland. He was buried in Angel Hill Cemetery. His gravestone incorrectly gives his Senate election year (1926) as the start of his Senate service, which began in 1927.

• The Millard E. Tydings Memorial Bridge, which carries Interstate 95 across the Susquehanna River, is named in his honor.
• Millard E. Tydings Hall at the University of Maryland, College Park, which houses the departments of Government & Politics and Economics, is also named for him.

His adopted son, Joe Tydings, was elected to a term as a U.S. Senator from Maryland in 1964, but was defeated for re-election in 1970, serving from 1965 to 1971.

His wife was Eleanor Davies Tydings. Her father was Joseph E. Davies, who served as US Ambassador to the USSR, Belgium and Luxembourg.[11][12]

His granddaughter Alexandra Tydings is a former actress.

The law firm which Millard Tydings formed with Morris Rosenberg continues its law practice today in Baltimore, MD.[13]

See also

Notes

1. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2007-04-08/news/0704070290_1_tydings-havre-de-grace-harford-county
2. Lawrence, Joseph Douglas (1985). Fighting Soldier: The AEF in 1918. USA: Colorado Associated University Press. pp. 148. ISBN 0-87081-158-4.
3. "Legitimating Nazism: Harvard University and the Hitler Regime, 1933–1937", American Jewish History 92.2 (2004) 189-223
4. Frank Otto Gatell, "Independence Rejected: Puerto Rico and the Tydings Bill of 1936", Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Feb., 1958), pp. 25-44, accessed 15 December 2012
5. "Papers of Millard E. Tydings". University of Maryland.
6. Keith 2
7. Evans 208
8. Stone 1395
9. Evans, M.Stanton (2007). Blacklisted by History. USA: Crown Forum. pp. 429. ISBN 978-1-4000-8105-9.
10. "TYDINGS, Millard Evelyn - US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
11. "From Roosevelt to Truman: Potsdam, Hiroshima, and the Cold War," by Wilson D. Miscamble
12. "Millard E. Tydings". www.nndb.com. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
13. Tydings. "Baltimore, Maryland Business and Litigation Law Firm". www.tydingslaw.com. Retrieved 2017-12-15.

References

• United States Congress. "Millard Tydings (id: T000446)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-01-25
• Millard E. Tydings Papers at the University of Maryland Libraries

Bibliography

• Keith, Caroline H., For Hell and a Brown Mule: The Biography of Senator Millard E. Tydings, Madison Books, 1991. ISBN 0-8191-8063-7

External links

• Works by or about Millard Tydings at Internet Archive

Party political offices
Preceded by John Walter Smith	Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Maryland (Class 3) 1926, 1932, 1938, 1944, 1950	Succeeded by George P. Mahoney
Political offices
Preceded by Herbert R. Wooden	Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates 1920	Succeeded by John L. G. Lee
Preceded by Chan Gurney	Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee 1949–1951	Succeeded by Richard B. Russell, Jr.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Albert Blakeney	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 2nd congressional district 1923–1927	Succeeded by William Purington Cole, Jr.
U.S. Senate
Preceded by Ovington Weller	U.S. senator (Class 3) from Maryland 1927–1951 Served alongside: William Cabell Bruce, Phillips Lee Goldsborough, George L. P. Radcliffe, Herbert O'Conor	Succeeded by John Marshall Butler