Thomas Henry Kuchel
United States Senator from California
In office January 2, 1953 – January 3, 1969
Preceded by	Richard M. Nixon
Succeeded by	Alan Cranston
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	University of Southern California
Profession	Attorney
Military service
Service/branch	United States Navy
Unit	Reserves
Battles/wars	World War II

Thomas Henry Kuchel (August 15, 1910 – November 21, 1994)^[1] was a moderate Republican U.S. Senator from California. From 1959 to 1969 he was the minority whip in the Senate, where he was the co-manager on the floor for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.^[2]

[edit] Biography

Kuchel (pronounced KEEK-uhl) was born in Anaheim in Orange County, the son of Henry Kuchel, a newspaper editor and the former Letitia Bailey.^[2][3][4] While he was at Anaheim High School, he joined the debate team. He debated a team from Whittier High School, winning his own debate against his opponent and later intraparty rival, Richard M. Nixon. He was educated as a lawyer at the University of Southern California Law School before he entered state government. He served in the California State Assembly from 1937 to 1941, in the California State Senate from 1941 to 1945, and as California State Controller from 1946 to 1953. During World War II, Kuchel was a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserves.

In 1953, Kuchel was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Governor Earl Warren to fill the vacancy created after Republican Senator Richard M. Nixon was elected Vice President.^[2] He served the remainder of Nixon's term and was elected to two subsequent terms ending in 1969. In 1962, Kuchel was reelected to the Senate but pointedly refused to endorse ticket-mate Nixon's candidacy for governor in a heated race against the incumbent Democrat Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, Sr..^[2] Kuchel had first attempted to steer clear of the factional infighting within the California GOP which took place in the 1950s between Vice President Nixon, U.S. Senate Republican Leader William F. Knowland, a conservative, and Governor Goodwin J. Knight, a liberal. Known as a moderate, Kuchel eventually backed Knowland in his campaign to oust Knight in the Republican primary for governor in 1958. Knight then ran for the United States Senate, but he and Knowland both lost that year.

Kuchel, however, broke with Knowland in 1964, when Knowland asked him to endorse Barry Goldwater for the Republican nomination for president, and Kuchel instead endorsed Nelson Rockefeller, who narrowly lost the California presidential primary to Goldwater.^[2]

While Kuchel was campaigning against Barry Goldwater a "vicious document" that purported to be an affidavit signed by a Los Angeles police officer saying that in 1949 he had arrested Kuchel. The document said the arrest was for drunkenness while Kuchel had been in the midst of a sex act. Four men were indicted for the libel: Norman H. Krause, bar owner and ex-Los Angeles policeman, who in 1950 did arrest two people who worked in Kuchel's office for drunkenness; Jack D. Clemmons, a Los Angeles police sergeant until his resignation two weeks before his arrest; John F. Fergus, a public relations man for Eversharp, Inc., who in 1947 was charged with possession of a concealed weapon and given a suspended sentence, and Francis A. Capell of Zarephath, New Jersey, the publisher of a right wing newsletter.^[5][6][7]

Kuchel was narrowly defeated in the Republican primary in 1968 by conservative state Superintendent of Public Instruction Max Rafferty, who went on to lose the general election to Alan Cranston, the former state Controller, a position once held by Kuchel himself. Kuchel returned to practicing law in California until his retirement in 1981.^[8]

He died of lung cancer on November 21, 1994 in Beverly Hills.^[1][4][2]

[edit] Legacy

Leon Panetta began in politics as a legislative assistant to Kuchel. Panetta would cite Kuchel as "a tremendous role model."^[9]

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Thomas Kuchel at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• "Honoring a True Public Servant: Senator Thomas Kuchel," Congressional Record, October 11, 2002.

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