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Dirksen, Everett McKinley
1896 - Born to German immigrant parents in Pekin, Illinois on the 4th of January.
1927 - His political career began, when he was elected to the Pekin city council.
1950 - Dirksen was elected to the Senate, when he unseated Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas.
1952 - Dirksen was a supporter of the presidential candidacy of fellow Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, the longtime leader of Republican conservatives.
1954 - Dirksen became an ally of McCarthy, and tried and failed to get him to apologize for his misdeeds to stave off censure.
1959 - He was elected Minority Leader of the Senate, defeating Kentucky's more liberal Senator, John Sherman Cooper, by a vote of 20 to 14.
1966 - On the 22nd of March, Dirksen introduced a Constitutional amendment that would permit public school administrators to provide for organized prayer by students.
1968 - He recorded four albums in his resonant bass speaking voice, one of which, Gallant Men, unexpectedly made it to #29 on the U.S. Billboard charts and won a Grammy Award for Best Documentary Recording.
1969 - Died on the 7th of September.
1972 - One of the Senate's buildings was renamed the Dirksen Senate Office Building in his honor.
1927 - His political career began, when he was elected to the Pekin city council.
1950 - Dirksen was elected to the Senate, when he unseated Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas.
1952 - Dirksen was a supporter of the presidential candidacy of fellow Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, the longtime leader of Republican conservatives.
1954 - Dirksen became an ally of McCarthy, and tried and failed to get him to apologize for his misdeeds to stave off censure.
1959 - He was elected Minority Leader of the Senate, defeating Kentucky's more liberal Senator, John Sherman Cooper, by a vote of 20 to 14.
1966 - On the 22nd of March, Dirksen introduced a Constitutional amendment that would permit public school administrators to provide for organized prayer by students.
1968 - He recorded four albums in his resonant bass speaking voice, one of which, Gallant Men, unexpectedly made it to #29 on the U.S. Billboard charts and won a Grammy Award for Best Documentary Recording.
1969 - Died on the 7th of September.
1972 - One of the Senate's buildings was renamed the Dirksen Senate Office Building in his honor.
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- "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."
- "Life is not a static thing. The only people who do not change their minds are incomptetents in asylums, who can't are those in cemeteries."
