Guy Gillette

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American politician (1879–1973)

title: "Guy Gillette" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1879-births", "1973-deaths", "democratic-party-iowa-state-senators", "people-from-cherokee,-iowa", "american-military-personnel-of-the-spanish–american-war", "american-christian-zionists", "american-prosecutors", "united-states-army-soldiers", "united-states-army-personnel-of-world-war-i", "united-states-army-officers", "democratic-party-united-states-senators-from-iowa", "democratic-party-united-states-representatives-from-iowa", "military-personnel-from-iowa", "drake-university-law-school-alumni", "20th-century-united-states-senators", "20th-century-members-of-the-iowa-general-assembly", "20th-century-united-states-representatives"] description: "American politician (1879–1973)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Gillette" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1879–1973) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

FieldValue
imageSen. Guy M. Gillette, La. (Dem.) LCCN2016871060 (cropped).jpg
jr/srUnited States Senator
stateIowa
term_start1January 3, 1949
term_end1January 3, 1955
predecessor1George A. Wilson
successor1Thomas E. Martin
term_start2November 4, 1936
term_end2January 3, 1945
predecessor2Richard L. Murphy
successor2Bourke B. Hickenlooper
state3Iowa
district39th
term_start3March 4, 1933
term_end3November 3, 1936
predecessor3Ed H. Campbell (redistricting)
successor3Vincent F. Harrington
office4Member of the Iowa Senate
term_start4January 13, 1913
term_end4January 7, 1917
constituency446th District
birth_nameGuy Mark Gillette
birth_date
birth_placeCherokee, Iowa, U.S.
death_date
death_placeCherokee, Iowa, U.S.
alma_materDrake University Law School
partyDemocratic
branchUnited States Army
allegianceUnited States
rankCaptain
unit52nd Iowa Infantry Regiment
battles
::

|image = Sen. Guy M. Gillette, La. (Dem.) LCCN2016871060 (cropped).jpg |jr/sr = United States Senator |state = Iowa |term_start1 = January 3, 1949 |term_end1 = January 3, 1955 |predecessor1 = George A. Wilson |successor1 = Thomas E. Martin |term_start2 = November 4, 1936 |term_end2 = January 3, 1945 |predecessor2 = Richard L. Murphy |successor2 = Bourke B. Hickenlooper |state3 = Iowa |district3 = 9th |term_start3 = March 4, 1933 |term_end3 = November 3, 1936 |predecessor3 = Ed H. Campbell (redistricting) |successor3 = Vincent F. Harrington |office4 = Member of the Iowa Senate |term_start4 = January 13, 1913 |term_end4 = January 7, 1917 |constituency4 = 46th District |birth_name = Guy Mark Gillette |birth_date = |birth_place = Cherokee, Iowa, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = Cherokee, Iowa, U.S. |alma_mater = Drake University Law School |party = Democratic | branch = United States Army | allegiance= United States | rank = Captain | unit = 52nd Iowa Infantry Regiment | battles =

Guy Mark Gillette (February 3, 1879March 3, 1973) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a Democratic U.S. Representative (1933–1936) and Senator (1936–1945; 1949–1955) from Iowa. Throughout his Senate service, Gillette was elected, re-elected, defeated, elected again, and defeated again.

Personal background

Born in Cherokee, Iowa, he attended public school and graduated from Drake University Law School in Des Moines in 1900. He was admitted to the bar in 1900 and commenced practice in Cherokee. During the Spanish–American War, he served as a sergeant in the Fifty-second Iowa Regiment in the United States Army, but never saw combat. He volunteered to fight alongside the Boers in the Second Boer War (1898–1902), but was turned down.

Returning to Iowa, he engaged in agricultural pursuits and was the city attorney of Cherokee in 1906–1907. He became the prosecuting attorney of Cherokee County from 1907 to 1909 and a member of the Iowa State Senate from 1912 to 1916.

During the First World War, he served as a captain in the United States Army. He ran unsuccessfully for Iowa State Auditor in 1918, and returned to Cherokee to farm.

Service in the U.S. House, then U.S. Senate (1933–1945)

In 1932, in the Roosevelt landslide, he was elected as a Democrat to represent Iowa's 9th congressional district, in heavily Republican northwest Iowa. He was easily re-elected in 1934, and served nearly all of that term. He resigned upon his election to the United States Senate on November 3, 1936, to serve out the remainder of the term of Senator Richard Louis Murphy, who had died in an auto accident. Nearly two years remained in Murphy's term, which would end January 3, 1939. Although he generally supported the New Deal, he opposed the new wage and hours bill, a new farm bill, and aspects of the Social Security system.

In 1938 the Roosevelt administration targeted Gillette for replacement because of Gillette's vote against Roosevelt's plan to expand the Supreme Court and other positions. He nevertheless defeated Roosevelt's choice for the Democratic nomination, Congressman Otha D. Wearin, and was re-elected to his first full Senate term by 2,805 votes. During that term, his conflicts with the Roosevelt administration expanded, on topics as diverse as the terms of the Neutrality Act, Roosevelt's pursuit of third and fourth terms,

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (where, coincidentally, Gillette's brother Captain Claude Gillette managed the Navy yard), Gillette became "more of an internationalist". Nevertheless, he used his chairmanship on a Senate subcommittee to aggressively challenge the Roosevelt administration's failure to prepare for the prospect of a Japanese seizure of the source of the nation's rubber imports by developing synthetic farm-based alternatives. In April 1943 a confidential analysis by British scholar Isaiah Berlin of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the Foreign Office succinctly characterized Gillette:

Like several others who had opposed Roosevelt's efforts to aid the United Kingdom before Pearl Harbor but faced wartime elections, Gillette lost his seat in 1944, to Republican Governor Bourke Hickenlooper by 29,734 votes. https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=266870

Between terms

Within days of Gillette's first defeat, Roosevelt nominated him as the chairman of the three-member Surplus Property Board, prompting The Washington Post and a Life editorial to quip that the president was confusing the problem of surplus property with the problem of surplus politicians. He took an early dislike to the job, and complained that he was often outvoted by the two other members. After resigning from the Surplus Board in May 1945, he became president of the American League for a Free Palestine, serving until the committee's work ended with the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

1948 Senate Campaign

In 1948, Gillette attempted a political comeback, campaigning for Iowa's other U. S. Senate seat held by former Republican Governor George Wilson, Gillette appealed to farmers, hammering home the prices of crops falling, at a campaign event with President Harry Truman who was seeking re-election himself, Truman said to the voters of Iowa “if they failed to return Guy Gillette to the U. S. Senate there was something wrong with them”. https://www.knoxfocus.com/archives/guy-m-gillette-of-iowa/

Gillette would end up defeating Wilson by 162,448 votes, in the concurrent presidential race Truman carried Iowa en route to re-election nationwide. Gillette’s Seat was one of nine Republican senate seats that flipped to Democrats in 1948. https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1948&off=3&class=undefined&elect=0&fips=19&f=0

Return to the Senate (1949–1955)

Gillette was sworn back into the Senate on January 3rd 1949, https://lrl.texas.gov/legeleaders/members/freshmen.cfm In 1951, his Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections conducted an investigation of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy's campaign practices. Gillette served until January 3, 1955, after losing his reelection bid to U.S. Representative Thomas E. Martin by 39,697 votes. His defeat was considered an upset because it conflicted with polls. It also meant that Iowa's congressional delegation would be entirely composed of Republicans, which would not happen again until 2023.

Post-Senate

Following his second defeat, Gillette initially remained on Capitol Hill, serving as counsel with the Senate Post Office and Civil Service Committee (from 1955 to 1956) and the Senate Judiciary Committee (from 1956 to 1961).

Gillette and former U.S. Senator Henry F. Ashurst had cameo appearances as U.S. Senators in the film Advise & Consent.

He retired and resided in Cherokee until his death at age 94 on March 3, 1973.

Publications

References

Bibliography

References

  1. "Gillette, Guy Mark, (1879–1973)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  2. [https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/McClure1.pdf Oral History of Stewart McClure, Part 1 (Service on Gillette Senate Staff)], at 5.
  3. Mark R. Finlay, [http://uipress.lib.uiowa.edu/bdi/DetailsPage.aspx?id=139 "Guy Mark Gillette"], in ''The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa'', p. 188 (2008).
  4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100826102211/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848978,00.html "Iowa's Microcosm"], ''[[Time (magazine). Time]]'', June 13, 1938.
  5. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081214213138/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,771644,00.html "Rebels and Ripsnorters"], ''Time'', July 24, 1939.
  6. and choices for judgeships.[https://web.archive.org/web/20100624070954/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772715,00.html "SEC seat warming"], ''Time'', April 21, 1941.
  7. Hachey, Thomas E.. (Winter 1973–1974). "American Profiles on Capitol Hill: A Confidential Study for the British Foreign Office in 1943". [[Wisconsin Magazine of History]].
  8. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081214232854/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,801530,00.html "The New Senate"], ''Time'', November 13, 1944.
  9. Editorial, "Surplus Property", ''[[Life (magazine). Life]]'', December 18, 1944 at p. 20
  10. "Inside Washington", ''[[Vidette Times. Vidette-Messenger]]'' :Valparaiso, April 16, 1945 at p. 7.
  11. "Under the Capitol Dome", ''[[Ames Daily Tribune]]'', July 20, 1945 at p. 4.
  12. "Gillette is Upset, GOP wins State", ''Waterloo Daily Courier'', November 3, 1954, at 1-2.
  13. "Advise & Consent (1962) - IMDb".

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