Arthur
Vandenberg
Arthur
H. Vandenberg (1884-1951) was a respected Republican
senator from Michigan from 1928 to 1951. Prior to
becoming senator, Vandenberg worked as a reporter
for the Grand Rapids Herald, later becoming the managing
editor for the paper. As editor, Vandenberg made political
connections throughout the state and gradually became
an important player in the Michigan Republican Party.
Following the death of U.S. Senator Woodbridge Ferris
in March 1928, Vandenberg was appointed to fill the
vacancy, a seat that he was already campaigning for
and subsequently elected to in November. As an advocate
for limited American participation in international
affairs, Vandenberg closely associated himself with
the isolationist wing of the Republican Party. He
won reelection in 1934, 1940, and 1946, and became
one of the leading Republicans in the Senate, accepting
the post of Senate Minority Leader in 1935.
However, the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United
State's entry into World War II forced Vandenberg
to rethink his isolationist foreign policy position.
By the end of the war, Vandenberg was openly advocating
an internationalist approach to U.S. foreign policy
in order to prevent future conflict. His stint as
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
during 1947 and 1948 allowed him to further pursue
this position.
As an influential senate leader, Vandenberg worked
with former President Herbert Hoover on a number of
issues from famine relief legislation to government
reorganization. The two Republican leaders rallied
members of their party to insure the passage of key
pieces of President Truman's foreign policy including
the Marshall Plan. Vandenberg's leadership contributed
to a short-lived period of bipartisanship in the area
of foreign policy, which quickly began to unravel
following his death in 1951. For more information
see: American National Biography v.22 (1999) p. 180-181
and C. David Tompkin's Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg:
The Evolution of a Modern Republican, 1884-1945.
