Hugh Scott

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This article is about the Pennsylvanian senator, for the U.S. Army Chief of Staff see Hugh L. Scott
Hugh D. Scott, Jr.
Hugh Scott

In office
January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1977
Preceded by Edward Martin
Succeeded by H. John Heinz III

Born November 11, 1900(1900-11-11)
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Died July 21, 1994 (aged 93)
Falls Church, Virginia
Nationality American
Political party Republican

Hugh Doggett Scott, Jr. (November 11, 1900July 21, 1994) was a politician from Pennsylvania who served in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and who also served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

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[edit] Early life

He was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on November 11, 1900 and attended public and private schools. He graduated from Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia, in 1919 and the law department of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1922. He was admitted to the bar in 1922 and commenced practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a brother of the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity.

During World War I he enrolled in the Student Reserve Officers Training Corps and the Students’ Army Training Corps.

[edit] Early career

Scott served as assistant district attorney of Philadelphia, Pa. from 1926 to 1941 and was a member of the Governor’s Commission on Reform of the Magistrates System (1938–1940). During the Second World War he was on active duty for two years with the United States Navy, rising to the rank of commander.

[edit] Political career

An author, Scott was also vice president of the United States Delegation to the Interparlimentary Union. He was elected as a Republican to the 77th United States Congress and reelected to the 78th United States Congress (January 3, 1941–January 3, 1945). He failed to be reelected in 1944 to the 79th United States Congress and resumed the practice of law, serving as Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1948 to 1949. He then returned to Congress (the 80th) and was reelected to the five succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1947–January 3, 1959), leaving his seat to run for the Senate.

In 1958 Scott was elected to the United States Senate and was twice reelected, in 1964 and again in 1970, and served from January 3, 1959, to January 3, 1977. He was Republican whip in 1969 and minority leader from 1969 to 1977, serving as Chairman of the Select Committee on Secret and Confidential Documents (92nd Congress).

A memorable quote from Hugh Scott came during the U-2 Incident in 1960, when Senator Scott said that "We have violated the eleventh Commandment — Thou Shall Not Get Caught."[1]

He did not run for reelection in 1976. The same year, he chaired the Pennsylvania delegation to the Republican National Convention.

Scott was a resident of Washington, D.C., and later, Falls Church, Virginia, until his death there on July 21, 1994. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

[edit] References

  • Kotlowski, Dean J. "Unhappily Yoked? Hugh Scott and Richard Nixon." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 2001 125(3): 233-266. ISSN 0031-4587
    • Abstract: While their different public personas, political interests, and institutional duties led to occasional disagreement, President Richard Nixon and Senate Minority Leader Scott were not always unhappily tethered as evidenced by their stances on domestic and foreign issues throughout Nixon's presidency, during 1968–74. While he jousted with Nixon over racial policies and his Supreme Court nominations, including his choice of Judge Clement F. Haynsworth, Jr., of South Carolina, Scott supported much of Nixon's domestic agenda, applauded the president's conduct of foreign affairs, backed his Vietnam policy, praised his invasion of Cambodia, publicly proclaimed Nixon's innocence during the Watergate scandal, and endorsed President Gerald Ford's pardon of his predecessor. The Nixon-Scott relationship is notable because it confirms scholars' assumptions about Nixon's hot-and-cold association with Congress and indicates that sparring between moderate Republicans like Nixon and Scott was on its way out.
  • He along with Barry Goldwater is remembered as taking "tough love" to the Nixon White House during Vietnam. [1]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Evan Thomas, The Very Best Men, The Daring Early Years of the CIA., pg 219

[edit] External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
George P. Darrow
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district

1941 – 1945
Succeeded by
James Wolfenden
Preceded by
Herbert J. McGlinchey
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district

1947 – 1959
Succeeded by
Herman Toll
United States Senate
Preceded by
Edward Martin
United States Senator (Class 1) from Pennsylvania
1959 – 1977
Served alongside: Joseph S. Clark, Richard S. Schweiker
Succeeded by
H. John Heinz III
Party political offices
Preceded by
Carroll Reece
Chairman of the Republican National Committee
1948 – 1949
Succeeded by
Guy G. Gabrielson
Preceded by
Thomas H. Kuchel
California
Senate Republican Whip
1969
Succeeded by
Robert P. Griffin
Michigan
Preceded by
Everett M. Dirksen
Illinois
Senate Republican Leader
1969–1977
Succeeded by
Howard H. Baker, Jr.
Tennessee
Languages