Henry M. Jackson

Henry M. Jackson

Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson (* 31 May 1912 in Everett , Washington ; † 1. September 1983 ) was an American politician who the state of Washington in both houses of the US Congress represented. Jackson got his nickname "Scoop" from a cartoon character who was said to look like him.

Life and political career

Henry Jackson received his bachelor's degree from Stanford University and studied law at the University of Washington . He graduated in 1935 and practiced as a lawyer in Everett. He was immediately successful and from 1938 to 1940 prosecutor in Snohomish County .

In 1940 he successfully ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat . On January 3, 1941, he took up this mandate. Since that day, Jackson has not lost an election for Congress. In 1945 he participated as a member of the American delegation at the International Maritime Conference in Copenhagen and was elected chairman in 1946 when the conference was held in Seattle . From 1945 to 1947 he was also chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs . In the 1952 election, he gave up his seat in the House of Representatives to run for a seat in the US Senate . He won the election against Republican incumbent Harry P. Cain and remained a senator for the next 30 years; in his five re-elections he always achieved a percentage of votes between 67 and 82 percent. In 1963 he became chairman of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs . He held this post until 1977; he then chaired the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that emerged from this committee .

In addition to being successful as a politician for Washington State, Jackson also gained national recognition, leading to chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee in 1960. However, he did not get the support he needed when he tried unsuccessfully to become a Democratic candidate in 1972 and 1976.

Jackson has often been criticized for the close ties to his state's defense industry. His opponents often referred to him as "the Senator from Boeing " because he had close contacts with the company.

Jackson's legacy

Jackson died in Everett in 1983 and was buried there in Evergreen Cemetery . In his memory, the University of Washington has designated a department as the Jackson School of International Studies . The United States Navy named an Ohio-class strategic missile submarine after him, the USS Henry M. Jackson (SSBN-730) , as a result of his many years of military service. In 1998 a school in Mill Creek was named after him.

In 1984 Jackson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom .

The Henry M. Jackson Wilderness in Washington State and the Henry Jackson Society , a neo-conservative British think tank for foreign policy , were named after him .

Web links

• Henry M. Jackson in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Entry in the Washington encyclopedia HistoryLink (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Who was Henry Jackson? US Senator for Washington State, 1953-1983 , henryjacksonsociety.org, accessed April 30, 2018.