Herman Welker

Herman Welker
United States Senator
from Idaho
In office
January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1957
Preceded byGlen H. Taylor
Succeeded byFrank Church
Member of the Idaho Senate
In office
January 5, 1949 – January 7, 1951
Preceded byJames Young
Succeeded byJ. Ben Wherry
ConstituencyPayette County
Prosecuting Attorney of Washington County, Idaho
In office
1929–1935
Preceded byDelton L. Carter
Succeeded byJohn J. Peacock
Personal details
Born(1906-12-11)December 11, 1906
Cambridge, Idaho, U.S.
DiedOctober 30, 1957(1957-10-30) (aged 50)
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
Resting placeArlington National Cemetery
PartyRepublican
Spouse
Gladys Taylor Pence Welker
​
​
(m. 1930)​
Children1
Alma materUniversity of Idaho (LL.B.)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service U.S. Army Air Forces
Years of service1943–44
RankCorporal
Battles/warsWorld War II

Herman Orville Welker[1] (December 11, 1906 – October 30, 1957) was an American politician from the state of Idaho. He was a member of the Idaho Republican Party and served one term in the United States Senate, from 1951 to 1957.[2][3]

As a senator, Welker was a staunch conservative, an ally of Joseph McCarthy, and supporter of the second red scare.[4] This was to such an extent that he was often nicknamed "Little Joe from Idaho."[5] In the 1956 election, Welker lost reelection in a landslide to Democrat Frank Church, and died almost 10 months later.

Early years

Born in Cambridge, Idaho, Welker was the youngest of seven children of John Thornton and Anna Zella Shepherd Welker, who had moved from North Carolina and started a potato farm. He was the grandson of Rev. George W. Welker of North Carolina.[6] He attended grade school in Cambridge and high school in Weiser. After graduation from Weiser High School in 1924, Welker went north to Moscow to attend the University of Idaho, where he started off in a general studies program and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.[7] He switched to the College of Law in 1926 and graduated with an LL.B. degree in 1929.[8]

In April 1929, Welker was appointed prosecuting attorney for Washington County; he graduated from law school in May, and was admitted to the bar later that year. He was re-elected and served as prosecutor from 1929 to 1935. In 1937, Welker moved to Los Angeles, where he had a private practice until 1943, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces for World War II. He served until 1944, when he returned to Idaho and began to practice law in Payette. He was a member of the state senate from 1949 to 1951.

U.S. Senate

In in 1950, Welker ran for the U.S. Senate,[9] as both seats were up for election that year. He won August's Republican primary over Congressman John Sanborn and Governor C. A. Robins,[10] then defeated former Democratic Senator D. Worth Clark in the general election.[11] Welker gained seats on several important committees, including the Armed Services and Judiciary committees. He soon distinguished himself as one of the most conservative and anticommunist senators, becoming a leading member and spokesperson for the Republican Party's right wing.[2]

Harmon Killebrew

In the early 1950s, Welker told Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith about Harmon Killebrew, a young baseball player from Payette who was batting .847 for a semi-professional team at the time.[12][13] Griffith told his farm director Ossie Bluege about the tip and Bluege flew to Idaho to watch Killebrew play.[14] The Boston Red Sox also expressed interest but Bluege succeeded in signing Killebrew to a $50,000 contract on June 19, 1954.[13][15][16] Killebrew (1936–2011) had a Hall of Fame career in the major leagues, with 573 home runs.

Association with Joseph McCarthy

In the early 1950s, Welker became closely associated with fellow Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin and "McCarthyism", so much so that he was often referred to by Senate colleagues as "Little Joe from Idaho."[17] In 1954, Welker was McCarthy's chief defender during censure proceedings in the U.S. Senate against McCarthy for the questionable investigative techniques McCarthy had used in pursuing individuals he accused of being communists, and others he accused of being homosexuals, within the government.[18] Welker was one of 22 Republicans (out of a total of 46 Republican senators) who voted against the censure of McCarthy in 1954 for these "red scare" communist witch hunts, and his so-called "lavender scare" tactics aimed at homosexuals in government.[19]

Welker, along with Republican Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire, was a key collaborator with McCarthy in the blackmail of Democratic Senator Lester C. Hunt of Wyoming and his son, which led to Hunt's suicide in his Senate office on June 19, 1954.[20][21][22][23] Welker threatened Hunt, a staunch opponent of McCarthy's tactics, that if he did not immediately resign from the Senate and end his re-election bid that year, Welker would see that the younger Hunt's arrest for soliciting an undercover policeman was prosecuted and would widely publicize Hunt Jr.'s alleged homosexuality. Welker also threatened Inspector Roy Blick of the Morals Division of the Washington Police Department with the loss of his job if he failed to prosecute the younger Hunt.[24][25] After Hunt's suicide, a Republican, Edward D. Crippa, was appointed by the Republican acting governor of Wyoming, Clifford Joy Rogers, to fill the vacant seat.[26]

Alex Ross in The New Yorker wrote in 2012 of an event "loosely dramatized in the novel and film Advise & Consent [in which] Senator Lester Hunt, of Wyoming, killed himself after ... Welker [and others] ... threatened to expose Hunt's son as a homosexual".[27]

In 1955, Welker would be one of two non-Southern senators to vote against the nomination of John Marshall Harlan II to the Supreme Court,[28] opposing Harlan because he was unsatisfied that Harlan "adheres to the doctrine that American sovereignty could not and must not be diluted."[29] A year later, he was one of only five senators from outside the former Conferderacy to vote against the nomination of Simon Sobeloff to the Fourth Circuit.[30]

1956 re-election bid

In 1956, Welker ran for a second term in the Senate. Although he won the Republican nomination, again defeating Sanborn, he lost the general election to 32-year-old Democrat Frank Church of Boise, by 46,315 votes, Welker received 39% to Church's 56%. One of the issues was whether the proposed Hells Canyon Dam would be publicly or privately owned with one of Church's aides saying "The campaign was Frank Church against Idaho Power. They fought him tooth and nail."[31]

The defeat increased Democratic control of the Senate and led to much anger within the Republican Party, with Joseph McCarthy even accusing President Dwight Eisenhower of not supporting Welker's reelection campaign enough.[32][33]

Election results

U.S. Senate elections in Idaho (Class III): Results 1950–1956
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
1950 D. Worth Clark 77,180 38.3% Herman Welker 124,237 61.7%
1956 Frank Church 149,096 56.2% Herman Welker (inc.) 102,781 38.7% Glen H. Taylor 13,415 5.1%

Death

After leaving the Senate in January 1957, Welker practiced law in Boise and participated in farming. After a few months, however, he became ill, and traveled to Bethesda, Maryland, for medical treatment at the National Institutes of Health. He was admitted on October 16, 1957, where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Operations were quickly performed, but Welker died later that month at age 50.[2][34] McCarthy had died earlier that year in Bethesda (Welker had attended McCarthy's funeral).

Welker's funeral was at Fort Myer and he was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.[35][36][37] He married Gladys Taylor Pence in 1930, and they had a daughter, Nancy.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Index". Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho yearbook. 1928. p. 449. Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Former Sen. Herman Welker dead at 50 after surgery". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Associated Press. October 31, 1957. p. 1.
  3. ^ "Herman Welker, Ex-Senator from Idaho, dies". Deseret News. Salt Lake City, Utah. October 31, 1957. p. 1A. Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  4. ^ "McCarthyism and the Cold War: America's Second Red Scare". Our History. February 13, 2025. Retrieved December 1, 2025.
  5. ^ "Herman Welker: "Little Joe from Idaho"". Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History. February 16, 2025. Retrieved December 1, 2025.
  6. ^ "surnamearchive.com". Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved December 11, 2006.
  7. ^ "Juniors". Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho yearbook. 1928. p. 88. Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  8. ^ "Seniors". Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho yearbook. 1929. p. 62.
  9. ^ "Elect Herman Welker U.S. Senator". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. (advertisement). August 6, 1950. p. 10.
  10. ^ "Clark holds Senate lead". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. Associated Press. August 10, 1950. p. 1.
  11. ^ "Herman Welker defeats Clark in 6-year race". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. Associated Press. November 8, 1950. p. 1.
  12. ^ Thielman, p. 131.
  13. ^ a b Porter, p. 808.
  14. ^ Thielman, p. 133.
  15. ^ Thielman, p. 134.
  16. ^ "Senators Pay $50,000 To First Bonus Player". The New York Times. Sports. June 20, 1954. p. S3.
  17. ^ Ashby, LeRoy; Rod Gramer (1994). Fighting the Odds: The Life of Senator Frank Church. Pullman, Washington: Washington State University Press. p. 61. ISBN 0-87422-103-X.
  18. ^ Rodger McDaniel, Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins: The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt (WordsWorth, 2013), ISBN 978-0983027591
  19. ^ U.S. Senate, roll call vote on Senate Resolution 301, December 2, 1954.
  20. ^ "Ailing Wyoming Democratic solon takes own life in Senate office". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. Associated Press. June 20, 1954. p. 1. Archived from the original on January 3, 2022. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  21. ^ "Wyoming's Sen. Hunt kills self with gun". Pittsburgh Press. United Press. June 20, 1954. p. 2. Archived from the original on January 3, 2022. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  22. ^ McDaniel, Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins.
  23. ^ Michael Isikoff (June 21, 2015). "Uniquely Nasty: The blockbuster novel that haunted gay Washington". Yahoo. Archived from the original on October 10, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
  24. ^ Pearson, Drew (June 22, 1954). "The Washington Merry-Go-Round" (PDF). Detroit Free Press. Detroit, Michigan. p. 16. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  25. ^ Pearson, Drew (February 21, 1974). Abell, Tyler (ed.). Diaries, 1949–1959. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 325. hdl:2027/uc1.$b325265. ISBN 0030014263. OCLC 707040.
  26. ^ "Congressional Quiz". The Free Lance–Star. Vol. 70, no. 176. Fredericksburg, Virginia. Congressional Quarterly. July 28, 1954. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  27. ^ Ross, Alex, "Love on the March" Archived July 15, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, The New Yorker, November 12, 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
  28. ^ "NOMINATION OF JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN AS ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT. CONFIRMED". voteview.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  29. ^ Huston, Luther A. (March 10, 1955). "Senate Unit Backs Harlan For Supreme Court, 10–4: SENATE UNIT, 10–4, SUPPORTS HARLAN". New York Times. New York City, New York. p. 1.
  30. ^ "CONFIRMATION OF NOMINATION OF SIMON E. SOBELOFF TO U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, FOURTH CIRCUIT". voteview.com. Archived from the original on January 1, 2026. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  31. ^ Robert A. Caro (2002). "Chapter 38 Hells Canyon". Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Knopf Doubleday Publishing. ISBN 0-394-52836-0.
  32. ^ "Welker loss laid to Ike by M'Carthy". Wilmington Morning Star. North Carolina. Associated Press. January 5, 1957. p. 1.
  33. ^ Moore, William (January 5, 1957). "Sen. McCarthy charges Ike purged Welker of Idaho". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, part 2. Archived from the original on November 5, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  34. ^ "Herman Welker taken by death". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. October 31, 1957. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  35. ^ Burial Detail: Welker, Herman (section 34, grave 325-A) Archived October 16, 2020, at the Wayback Machine – ANC Explorer
  36. ^ "Military services scheduled for Welker at Ft. Myer, Va". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. Associated Press. November 1, 1957. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  37. ^ "Welker buried among war dead in Arlington Cemetery". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. Associated Press. November 2, 1957. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2020.

Attribution  This article incorporates public domain material from Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Federal government of the United States.

Further reading

  • McDaniel, Rodger. Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins: The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt (WordsWorth, 2013), ISBN 978-0983027591
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