Everett Dirksen

Everett McKinley Dirksen suffered from lung cancer and underwent a right upper lobectomy. On September 7, 1969, he succumbed to cardiopulmonary arrest. He was buried at the ‘Glendale Memorial Gardens’ besides the remains of his wife.

Everett McKinley Dirksen was born on January 4, 1896, in Pekin, Illinois, to Johann Friedrich Dirksen and Antje Dirksen as one of their twin sons.

His father died when he was nine years old. His mother purchased a small farm in ‘Beantown’ within the city limits to support the family.

After studying in local schools he enrolled in the ‘University of Minnesota Law School’. He left the law school in-between to join the U.S. Army during World War I. He served in a field artillery battery as a second lieutenant.

He remained a member of the ‘Reformed Church in America’ founded by Dutch immigrants in the 18th century.

At the end of the war he tried his hands at an electrical washing machine business but was unsuccessful. Later, he ran a bakery with his brothers.

In 1927, he began his political career as the finance commissioner of Pekin after being elected to the Pekin City Council.

He lost the Republican primary in 1930. In 1932 he won the congressional seat and thereafter was re-elected seven times. He was a realistic and moderate Republican who advocated for several New Deal programs. The Senate and House committees often used executive branch personnel for legislative work. To stop this practice, Everett McKinley Dirksen successfully lobbied for expanding congressional staff.

He was successful in passing an amendment of the ‘Lend-Lease’ bill by initiating a resolution. The amendment stated that the power of the President can be revoked by the House and the Senate when a concurrent resolution is passed by a simple majority.

In 1948, he refused to run for re-election due to his eye ailment. He made a comeback in politics after two years in 1950 and was elected as an U.S. Senator from Illinois. He became a prominent Senator and earned nationwide reputation as an astute, convincing and pragmatic political leader and orator.

In 1952, he supported the presidential candidacy of Robert A. Taft, a fellow Republican Senator from Ohio. He opposed presidential candidacy of General Dwight Eisenhower and spoke vehemently against his supporter Thomas E. Dewey, the then Governor of New York.

A Senate building was renamed as ‘Dirksen Senate Office Building’ in 1972 in his honour.

The federal building of ‘United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois’ was named after him.

A parkway in Illinois’s Springfield was named after him.

He was very fond of the common marigold and often used to lighten the tense atmosphere of political discussions by suggesting that marigold be named as the national flower. From 1972, Perkin, his hometown holds an annual ‘Marigold Festival’ and the town is now renowned as the ‘Marigold Capital of the World’.