Alphonzo E. Bell, Jr.

Alphonzo E. Bell, Jr.

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 27th district
In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1977
Preceded by	Donald L. Jackson
Succeeded by	Robert K. Dornan
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 28th district
In office January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1975
Preceded by	James B. Utt
Succeeded by	Yvonne B. Burke
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 16th district
In office January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1963
Preceded by	Donald L. Jackson
Succeeded by	Bernice F. Sisk
Personal details
Born	(1914-09-19)September 19, 1914 Santa Fe Springs, California, U.S.
Died	April 25, 2004(2004-04-25) (aged 89) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Marian McCargo
Relations	James George Bell (grandfather) Susan Albiah Hollenbeck Bell (grandmother) Elliott Roosevelt (brother-in-law) Susan Albiah Hollenbeck Bell
Children	10
Parents	Alphonzo Bell
Alma mater	Occidental College
Occupation	elected official / businessman / cattleman / rancher

Alphonzo "Al" Bell, Jr. (September 19, 1914 – April 25, 2004) was an eight-term United States Representative from California, who represented Los Angeles, California's influential Westside.

Family background & early life

Al Bell, as he was known to his friends, was a scion of the pioneering ranching, oil and development family that gave its name to the Southern California communities of Bell, Bell Gardens, and Bel-Air. His father, Alphonzo Bell, Sr., used oil company profits to develop upscale Westside communities, including parts of Westwood, Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades and Bel-Air.

The younger Bell grew up on his father's estate and ranch just north of Los Angeles, a vast and sprawling acreage encompassing the areas that are now known as Bel Air and Pacific Palisades. Numbering among his closest childhood friends and frequent horseback riding companions was Will Rogers, Jr., whose famous father owned the large ranch just north of the Bell's. Bell began his education at the Webb School of California in the early 1930s. He went on to earn a degree in political science from Occidental College in 1938, and after serving in the Army Air Forces during World War II (from 1942 to 1945), he joined the family oil business and served as company president from 1947 until 1959. Also a rancher and cattleman, Bell sold the oil company in 1975.^[1]

Political career and public service

Bell served as chairman of the Republican State Central Committee of California from 1956 to 1959, and as a member of the Republican National Committee from 1956 to 1959. In 1960, he was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-seventh Congress, and won reelection to the seven succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1961 - January 3, 1977.^[2]

From 1961 to 1977, Bell represented a vast Congressional District — the 28th and, after redistricting, the 27th — running along the California coast from Malibu to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and encompassing all or part of Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Bel-Air and West L.A. Then considered a Republican stronghold, the district nevertheless had only 40% to 49% GOP voter registration, making bipartisan support for a candidate for office essential.

Bell first entered politics in the mid-1950s, holding several Republican Party positions. He served as chairman of the Republican Central Committee of Los Angeles County, chairman of the Republican State Central Committee of California, and as a member of the Republican National Committee. Although his political idol and his original inspiration to enter public service had been President Franklin Roosevelt, he switched from having been in Young Democrats while a college student to later registering as a Republican in line with his active support in 1952 of General Dwight D. Eisenhower for President.^[3]

In Congress, Bell became known as tending toward conservative positions on foreign policy and defense — he backed the Vietnam War through three presidential administrations — but often took more moderate to liberal positions on domestic issues, including open housing laws and other civil rights legislation, as well as on environmental and preservation issues, and on education policy and reform.^[1]

Some called Congressman Al Bell a political conservative, others a moderate. A Ralph Nader study on Bell's voting record in 1972 said: "It's hard to say exactly what he is. He leans in many areas, especially those concerning economic regulation, toward the conservatives. When it comes to the people issues, especially those concerning the downtrodden in American society, Bell is a liberal."^[4]

The congressman once described himself as "middle-ground" and said he voted according to principle and on an issue's merits, rather than political expediency. "A moderate," he told a Los Angeles Times columnist in 1970, "has to study harder. The extremist at either end doesn't have to do most of the work or most of the thinking -- he knows what he's for and against beforehand. A moderate has to decide each question on its own merits."^[5]

As a ranking member of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, and on the Committee on Education and Labor, he earned bipartisan approval for his work on such diverse bills as the Older Americans Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, as well as laws improving labor standards, workers' safety, veterans' benefits and environmental protection and ecosystem and wildlife preservation programs.^[6]

Bell also supported every major piece of Civil Rights legislation considered in the Congress during his tenure, often working at odds with his own party, which frequently opposed these bills, and became a tireless advocate early on for the legislation which eventually became the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the bill needed substantial bipartisan support from Republicans to gain approval to counteract the opposition of Southern Democrats, Bell contributed significantly to passage of the Civil Rights Act in the House by helping to round up the necessary Republican votes. In this effort, he worked closely with and became close personal friends with Clarence Mitchell, Jr. of the NAACP. He and Mitchell walked side by side during the March on Washington with Martin Luther King and both were honored by being seated behind the podium in front of the Lincoln Memorial as King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963.^[7]

Writing later about passage of the historic 1964 legislation, Bell said: "I am proud to have supported the Civil Rights Act from the first. It was a bill that embraced the goal of equal opportunity for all people. A coalition of lawmakers forged a consensus on the meaning of justice and equality in American life. This was a consensus based on the compelling principle of nondiscrimination for all individuals, no matter what their race, religion ethnicity, or sex.^[8]

Among Bell's top staff aides in Congress supporting his efforts were Richard Blades, who dealt primarily with political issues and coordination with election campaigns and headed Bell's Los Angeles area office; Janet L. Kuhn, JD, who provided professional expertise and staffing support for Bell's efforts in education, labor relations, civil rights, and consumer advocacy matters, and who served as his Administrative Assistant on Capitol Hill in Washington; Sharon Holroyd, Bell's top committee aide on the House Education and Labor Committee; John Gingles, who served as his Legislative Assistant in Washington, working principally on environmental and parkland preservation issues—such as Bell's successful initiative to prevent offshore oil exploration and drilling in Santa Monica Bay^[9]—as well as staffing Bell's efforts to strengthen copyright protections against video and film pirating for the American film industry, and in support of his successful legislative initiative to increase production at the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources during the 1970s energy crisis, which was passed and signed into law by President Ford in 1976; and Mark Armbruster based in Bell's Los Angeles office, who primarily assisted the Congressman on local California issues, and worked with him in his effort to ease the plight of Soviet Jews imprisoned in Russia, or seeking to immigrate to Israel or the United States.^[10]^[11] His key administrative staff while in Congress included: Stephany Chaconas, Dale House, and Craig Van Note in Washington; and Joel Wachs in Los Angeles.^[12]

Bell was particularly known at home in Los Angeles for his various environmental initiatives — such as his introduction of "Save the Whales" legislation in 1975; his successful efforts to open the Department of Defense owned San Onofre Beach to the public; and his leadership role in founding the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. He also worked many years in Congress in the early stages of efforts to federalize and preserve what were later enacted and established by Congressional legislation as the Santa Monica Mountains Nat'l. Recreation Area and the Channel Islands National Park in California.^[1]

Wealthy, easy-going, friendly, handsome and mild-mannered, Bell had no trouble appealing to voters in both parties, and won his first primary race for Congress by a margin of 50% to 12% over his opponent. He consistently enjoyed a wide spectrum of diverse political endorsements in elections, having been, for example, endorsed in his initial run for Congress by both former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and by future California Governor and President Ronald Reagan, who at the time in 1960 was still a Democrat and served as Chairman of a committee he organized as "Democrats for Al Bell".^[13] Late in his political career, during his run for the U.S. Senate in 1976, Bell was endorsed by both Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, and by well-known actor/director John Wayne.^[13]

In 1964, he won reelection with the largest margin of any Republican congressman that year, and in 1966 he won by the largest plurality of any congressman of either party. He was so well liked that one of his campaign aides once complained about the problems of raising Bell's visibility outside his own district, saying: "As a political figure without a breath of scandal, he never got much in the newspapers."^[1] A former Capitol Hill aide to Bell described him as "extremely well liked by his colleagues [in Congress] on both sides of the aisle" and "politically...honest to a fault".^[11]

Congressman Bell was never able, however, to transfer his popularity and long record of public service to winning higher office. He attempted to do so on two occasions — running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat John V. Tunney of California in 1976, and in an earlier effort in 1969 to unseat incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty. Yorty retained his office in 1969, but was defeated—due in part to Bell's support for his opponent—in the next mayoral election by Tom Bradley; and Tunney was eventually unseated by S.I. Hayakawa in 1976, who had defeated Bell in the Republican primary. In order to run in the Senate primary, Bell had not sought reelection to the House in 1976.

The mayoral race against Yorty had illustrated Bell's independence and determination to do what he believed in even though it could harm him politically. After losing the primary, Bell actively campaigned for Yorty's general election opponent, Tom Bradley, and though of opposing political parties, they became lifelong friends, with Bradley later supporting Bell in his Congressional races and in his Senate effort. Bell had long opposed Yorty, claiming he was "temperamentally unsuited" to govern Los Angeles and that his constant bickering with Washington had prevented the city from getting federal funds. Bell also despised Yorty's racial-based campaign against Bradley, along with earlier smear tactics against other opponents, which he said filled him with revulsion. But Bell's support of Bradley in the nonpartisan race so irked some conservative Republican constituents, such as fellow oilman and Yorty backer Henry Salvatori, that Republican attorney John LaFollette was put on the primary ballot to run for Bell's Congressional seat in 1970. Bell prevailed, however, and remained in Congress for three more terms, until his retirement in 1976.

In a tribute to retired Congressman Bell in 1998, former President George H. W. Bush said of Bell's career of public service: "He served and he served with honor. For sixteen years he served in Congress, always voting his conscience, but always serving the people of his district, never forgetting who sent him to Washington. We need more Al Bell's, with his flawless service in the U.S.Congress. He showed his state and nation a lot of class."^[14]

Personal life and family

In 1970, Bell married television/movie actress, and former tennis champion and Wightman Cup winner, Marian McCargo, who he described in his autobiography as the love of his life, and whom he had met when she was starring in the film, The Undefeated, with his long-time close friend, actor John Wayne.^[15]

Former Congressman Bell died of complications of pneumonia in 2004, just eighteen days after the death of his wife Marian from pancreatic cancer

Once divorced and twice widowed, Bell had one daughter - Fonza, and nine sons - Stephen, Matthew, Phonzo, Robert and Tony Bell; and Rick, Graham, Harry and Billy Moses. His youngest son Tony Bell serves as the Assistant Chief Deputy and spokesman for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Alphonzo Bell, with Marc L. Weber, The Bel-Air Kid: An Autobiography, Trafford Publishing, 2002, ISBN 978-1-55369-378-9
↑ Congressional Directory, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1975.
↑ The Bel-Air Kid, Trafford Publishing, 2002 - p. 79. ISBN 978-1-55369-378-9
↑ Nader, Ralph - "In the Public Interest", Voting Record Study, Washington, D.C. - October 1972.
↑ Los Angeles Times, Jan 22, 1970 - p. A3.
↑ "Alphonzo E. Bell, Jr.", Biographical Directory of the United States Congress - Website.
↑ The Bel-Air Kid, Trafford Publishing, 2002 - p. 135-ff. ISBN 978-1-55369-378-9
↑ The Bel-Air Kid, Trafford Publishing, 2002 - p. 136-7. ISBN 978-1-55369-378-9
↑ This effort led to an interesting early confrontation between Bell and an as-of-then relatively unknown Interior Department staffer during the Nixon Administration, James G. Watt, who was promoting the drilling of initial exploratory wells off the Los Angeles coastline in the mid-1970s by the Occidental Oil Co., and who would later gain wider recognition as a rather highly controversial Secretary of the Interior during the early years of the Reagan Administration; Bell's efforts, however, with the wide support of various environmental groups and organizations, and of the vast majority of southern California residents, prevailed, and drilling in the area was prevented.[cf. Gingles, John - "My Years as a Capitol Hill Legislative Aide", from A Personal Memoir, Washington, D.C., 2007.]
↑ Congressional Directory, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1974.
↑ 11.0 11.1 John Gingles, "My Years as a Capitol Hill Legislative Aide", from A Personal Memoir, Washington, D.C., 2007.
↑ Congressional Staff Directory - 1974, 1976.
↑ 13.0 13.1 The Bel-Air Kid, Trafford Publishing, 2002 - p. 97, 117. ISBN 978-1-55369-378-9
↑ Tribute to Congressman Alphonzo Bell, Jan. 18, 1998 - from transcript included in The Bel-Air Kid, Trafford Publishing, Victoria, B.C., Canada, 2002, p. v - ISBN 1-55369-378-7.
↑ Bell, Wayne & another friend even owned a vacation beach house together in Baja California in Mexico, where they enjoyed many, relaxing good times together for a number of years away from the crowds of the rapidly growing greater Los Angeles area. (cf. "The Bel-Air Kid")
↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0171101/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm#spouse Kathy Coleman Biography

External links

Alphonzo E. Bell, Jr. at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Alphonzo Bell with Marc L. Weber, "The Bel Air Kid: An Autobiography", Trafford Publishing, 2002, ISBN 978-1-55369-378-9