A Journey into Illinois: Remembering Everett Dirksen

At the time of the Illinois primary, we stopped to consider a statesman of the 20th century not too much recalled these days Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896 – September 7, 1969) was an American politician of the Republican Party. He represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives (1933–1949) and U.S. Senate (1951–1969). As Senate Minority Leader for over a decade, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s, including helping to write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Open Housing Act of 1968, both landmarks of civil rights legislation. He was also one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. He was know as “The Wizard of Ooze” for his oratorical style. In this Journey into Illinois, we speak with Frank MaKaman of the Dirksen Congressional Center in Pekin, Illinois, Dirksen’s hometown. He reminds us that Senator Dirksen was a partisan but a Republican who worked with Democrats to get things done – a bi-partisanship lacking into today’s polarized political environment. He also was one of the first political leaders to embrace the new media of television (You can imagine how different history might be if JFK debated Dirksen, not Nixon in 1960). MaKaman also briefs us on the “historical collections” (Dirksen Collection, Bob Michel Collection and Ray Lahood Collection) and “Congress in the Classroom”, and “Congress Link”, all coming out of the Dirksen. In all, why Dirksen shopld still matter. To hear the podcast, go to http://conversationsontheroad.podbus.com/?p=725