National Reports
CHRISTMAN, HENRY M.
NATIONAL REPORTS Democratic Gains in the Farm Belt By Henry M. Christman Republicans held every statehouse and every Congressional seat in 1956 in the Midwest heartland states of Kansas,...
...Not only are the new Democratic Congressmen invariably more liberal than the ultra-conservative Republicans they have replaced...
...In South Dakota, Rep...
...This year, Rep...
...McGovern quickly distinguished himself as one of the bright young liberal Democrats in the House...
...The national division between the Old Guard and "modern" Republicans is particularly intense in these Midwestern states...
...Paul Cunningham joined Rep...
...As Democrats surged to victory in these four states, their triumphs were reflected in two neighboring Congressional districts...
...In Iowa, Governor Loveless, 47, won re-election handily, as did Democratic Rep...
...Most important, however, was the continued hatred among farmers for Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson and his policies...
...and a farmer-legislator in Kansas, J. Floyd Breeding...
...Hard work on the part of labor was a factor, although in the Congressional races only two districts won by Democrats-the Second in Kansas and the Fifth in Iowa-have substantial industry...
...Hill retired, and his district went Democratic...
...This November, both Docking and Loveless were up for re-election,' along with the three freshmen Demo cratic Congressmen...
...A similar split within the Republican party in Iowa helped pave the way for election of Democratic Governor Herschel Loveless, former Mayor of Ottumwa...
...In Nebraska, Democrat Ralph G. Brooks, 59-year-old educator from McCook, unseated incumbent Republican Governor Victor E. Anderson in a close race which might be reversed by a recount...
...But Republican Senator Roman L. Hruska retained his seat...
...The fact that union labor was unable to win the right-to-work referendum in Kansas shows that labor's strength still is quite limited...
...The four Republican Senators who now hold these seats- Andrew F. Schoeppel of Kansas, Carl T. Curtis of Nebraska, Thomas E. Martin of Iowa and Karl E. Mundt of South Dakota-are key members of the GOP Old Guard, The Democrats now have a fighting chance to unseat them...
...from Northwestern University) ; a Disciples of Christ minister in Iowa, Merwin Coad...
...How did the Democrats manage this Midwestern sweep...
...Coad...
...Miller also was replaced by a Democrat...
...NATIONAL REPORTS Democratic Gains in the Farm Belt By Henry M. Christman Republicans held every statehouse and every Congressional seat in 1956 in the Midwest heartland states of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota...
...McGovern was a special target, against whom the South Dakota GOP put up its ace vote-getter, popular Governor Joe Foss...
...Henry 0. Talle of Iowa, ranking Republican on the House Banking and Currency Committee, went down to defeat, as did Rep...
...In two ways, the outcome of Midwestern Congressional races has enhanced the liberal complexion of the next Congress...
...In Kansas, Democrat George Docking, a quiet, smalltown banker from Lawrence, was elected Governor after a bitter struggle between liberal and conservative Republicans...
...but these outgoing Republicans had great seniority...
...Republicans hoped to defeat all five...
...McGovern held what national Democratic leaders had termed the most closely contested Democratic Congressional seat in the nation, and a new Democratic Governor also was .'elected, Ralph Herseth, 49, a Houghton, S. D. farmer...
...Midwestern Democrats now are looking forward to 1960, when Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota each have a Senatorial seat up for election...
...For the past eighteen years, Colorado's Second Congressional District, which adjoins Kansas, has been represented by a former Kansan, GOP Congressman William S. Hill...
...Their exit has opened the way for Republican Congressmen of a more liberal persuasion to advance in committee rank...
...These were the 1958 results: • In Kansas, Governor Docking, 54, became the first Democratic Governor ever re-elected...
...Now, just two elections later, Democratic Governors have triumphed in all four states and Democrats have taken half of the region's twenty Congressional seats...
...Talle in defeat, and the seat of retiring GOP Congressman Karl LeCompte passed to the Democrats as well...
...A. L. Miller of Nebraska, ranking Republican on the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs...
...To understand the 1958 Democratic sweep, one must first look at the inroads made by Democrats in the 1956 elections...
...In 1956, too, three new Democratic Congressmen were elected in rural Midwest districts-a college professor in South Dakota, George S. McGovern (Ph.D...
...Democrat Lawrence Brock, who came within several hundred votes of ousting Republican Rep...
...Robert Harrison in 1956, succeeded this time, and GOP Rep...
...Democratic Rep...
...GOP Rep...
...And in North Dakota, veteran GOP Congressman Usher L. Burdick, who retired this year, was succeeded by his son, Quentin, a Democrat...
...Breeding also was re-elected, and Democrats toppled two veteran GOP Congressmen, Everrett P. Scrivner arid Myron V. George...
Vol. 41 • November 1958 • No. 63
