- [Presenter] This project
is a cooperative production
of the Ken Hechler
Documentary Project LLC
and Marshall University,
being presented with
financial assistance from
the West Virginia
Humanities Council,
a state affiliate of
the National Endowment
for the Humanities.
Any views, findings, conclusions
or recommendations
expressed in this program
do not necessarily
represent those of the
National Endowment
for the Humanities.
- Your great movement
has many heroes,
the greatest heroes are
you the coal miners.
You've taken the future,
your future in your hands
and you proclaimed no longer
are we gonna live and
work and die like animals.
We're free men.
- Mark me down as one of
Ken Hechler's big fans.
This is someone that
understands that
the government has
to step in sometime
and stop the bullies from
picking on the little guy.
(upbeat guitar music)
- [Presenter] Presented
the Harry S. Truman Award
for Public Service in 2002,
Ken Hechler spent a
lifetime establishing
a formidable reputation
through his efforts
on behalf of ordinary people.
His passionate
pursuit of justice
sprang from his experience
as a political science professor
and combat historian,
as a researcher for
presidents Franklin Roosevelt
and Harry Truman,
and as a US Congressman
and West Virginia
Secretary of State.
The philosophies,
decisions, and events
shaping Ken Hechler's life offer
a detailed study in
character and the merits
and challenges of politics
and public service.
- To me it takes a very
special kind of a talent
to be the type of a servant
that Dr. Hechler has been,
to do anything else in
the way of an occupation
other than working with people.
I just don't think
you'd be successful.
(upbeat guitar music)
- Ken Hechler was
always this person who
really didn't say that much,
but his presence made
you feel comfortable
to engage him and to trust him.
- He looks at you
and kind of looks,
then he nods and listens to you.
You have the feeling
every word you say
he's digesting and that
he's gonna think about that.
- Ken had this great
zest for public service.
I mean there was an
enthusiasm that he brought
to public life that I think was
a distinguishing characteristic.
- I think politics
and public service,
and I put those two together,
are the life blood
of Ken Hechler.
He loves the challenge.
It invigorates him.
It energizes him.
- Ken always remind
me of a windmill.
I mean he was everywhere.
I mean he was in the
front row, the back row,
always button holing
somebody and always talking
about something for West
Virginia or his constituents.
I've been in politics
all my life and
I don't remember seeing
anything like it.
- Lincoln said that
governments should do
for people what people
cannot individually
or collectively
do for themselves.
- [Presenter] As a
student of history
and as a public servant, Ken
Hechler came to understand
that people make
government work,
the government must be
accessible to the people,
the government must
serve the people,
and that government
without justice
leads to people to ruin.
- What's justice?
Just a sense of fair play.
It is a level playing
field that all people
regardless of their
station in life,
regardless of their class,
regardless of how
much money they have,
regardless of their ethnicity,
regardless of they look,
everybody is treated equally.
That's justice.
- The mark of a good politician
is to provide justice.
- I'm gonna fight for
a labor reform bill
which will help clean
up racketeering--
- It's one of the things, it's
the hallmark of Ken Hechler.
But whatever you may
disagree with him
I don't think you could
ever question his motive
that he tried to do what
he thinks is in fact just.
- The preamble to
the Constitution of
the United States
sets certain priorities.
The very first priority
is establish justice.
We the People of
the United States,
in Order to form a more perfect
Union, establish Justice.
Establish for whom?
For we the people,
the most important
individuals, human beings,
not special interest,
not corporations,
not heads of labor unions,
not any other special
interest, but We the people.
- [Presenter] Central to
the story of Ken Hechler
are individuals in
government, in politics,
acting on behalf of the
people they represent.
- Politics is a
noble profession.
To go into politics is to enter
one of the most important
human endeavors.
- It's hard work,
it's challenging,
but it can also be
enormously gratifying.
If you know what you're doing
and you're effective at it,
you can make positive
things happen that otherwise
would not happen.
- Politics is the
authoritative allocation
of scare resources.
There is never
enough to go around
for everything that is good.
Someone in authority
has to determine
what are we going to do.
Shall we build a new school
room or a new highway?
Shall we develop more tourism
or shall we help mental health?
That's what politics
is, pure and simple.
So if you really want to
do good with a capital G,
politics is where it's at.
- But in the popular sense
politics is thought of
as a game of winning
elections at whatever cost.
- I must say for my experience
it's the politicians
that have given
politics a bad name by
just winning to hold
office and wanting
to get re-elected rather than
using their office as
what Theodore Roosevelt
described as a bullied pulpit.
It was very inspiring
because he set an example.
He always had the underlying
principle of justice.
(calm music)
- [Presenter] Ken Hechler's
pursuit of justice
is rooted in progressivism
driven most notably
by Theodore Roosevelt,
the movement tackled
social and economic woes
arising during the
industrial revolution.
- Progressives were driven by
a true sense of social justice
for the poor, let's say,
or the dispossessed
on the one hand,
and seeing their
self interest served
by rectifying that injustice.
And also seeing their
self-interest served by
a continuation of capitalism.
- [Theodore] Our aim is to
promote prosperity and then
to see the prosperity
is passed around,
that there is a proper
division of prosperity.
- [Presenter] Demanding
increased wages
and a shorter work day,
anthracite coal
miners in Pennsylvania
went on strike in 1902.
The strike provided
President Theodore Roosevelt
an unprecedented opportunity
to put his progressive ideals
to work for the nation.
- Up until this time any time
there was a labor conflict,
particularly after
the civil war,
the federal government
to the extent
that it did intervene
tended to intervene
when the strikers were
winning in order to beat them
and used their
authority to help out
the business or the corporate
side of the equation.
- Everybody expected,
well, this couldn't be
just one of the same old things.
Give the coal operators
what they want
and grind labor under the heels.
And Roosevelt
surprised everybody by
making sure that equity
and justice prevailed.
- Which worked
largely to the benefit
at least temporarily on
certain bread and butter issues
for the workers at the
expense of the operators.
Roosevelt saw this partly as
a national well-being issue
because he was afraid
stockpiles of anthracite coal
were going to run out
as winter approached,
and he thought this would
undermine the health
and well-being of the people
and the health and
well-being of the economy.
- [Presenter] A sound
recording made 10 years later
captured the essence or
Theodore Roosevelt's commitment
to social and
industrial justice.
- [Theodore] As a
people we cannot afford
to let any group of citizens
or any individual
citizens live on labor
under conditions which are
injurious to the common welfare.
Industry therefore
must submit to such
public regulation as
well make it a means
of life and health not
of death or inhibition.
(calm music)
- [Presenter] In 1918
Theodore Roosevelt
addressed a crowd near
his Long Island home
and impressed the Hechler family
of Roslyn, New York.
- Instead of sitting up on
the stage or walking out
from behind the curtain,
he started at the back
of the audience and
walked down the aisle
shaking hands with people
grinning in such a way
that looked like his teeth
were moving from side to side.
But it was such a
dramatic difference
for most politicians
in the manner in which
he showed how
excited he was about
getting out among the people.
- [Presenter] Ken's parents,
Charles and Catherine Hechler
were staunch
Republicans and ardent
practitioners of what
Theodore Roosevelt
described as the strenuous life.
- Theodore Roosevelt denounced
what he called the
doctrine of ignoble ease.
He always used to say
as a person gets older
it's much better to wear
out than to rust out,
to be active, to participate,
to work hard, and
not to vegetate.
- [Presenter] Charles Hechler
after teaching animal
husbandry at the
University of Missouri
became superintendent
of Harbor Hill,
a 600 acre estate
owned by Long Island
millionaire Clarence Mackay.
- There are about 150
employees on the estate.
They were self-sufficient.
They had their own dairy, they
had their own chicken farm,
their own gardens and
everything that they supplied
the main house with.
- [Presenter] As the estate
attracted immigrants to work
and local children to play,
Harbor Hill reflected
America's growing diversity
and disparity.
Ester Bowman, while
visiting in her aunt
Catherine's colonial farmhouse,
marveled at the
Hechler's lifestyle.
- We always sat in
the dining room,
and there was a
buzzer on the table
that my aunt would
press when she wanted
the cook to come in.
- [Presenter] Amid the
luxurious trappings
and perks of Charles' job,
he and Catherine
committed themselves
to serving the less fortunate.
- They looked at life
and interpreted it honestly.
And they wanted to
make life better.
- [Presenter] Besides
overseeing Harbor Hill,
Charles Hechler helped organize
the Nassau County Farm Bureau.
He started the first
Boy Scout troop
and the local Kiwanis Club.
Charles also served
on City Council
and chaired the
local national bank
and the Roslyn
Board of Education.
Catherine Hechler, a
former school teacher,
painted landscapes
and cultivated
award winning chrysanthemums.
She also served as vice
president of the Nassau County
Women's Republican Federation
and worked on behalf of
the County Home Bureau,
the Red Cross, and District
Nurses Association.
- Both of them were on
the Board of Directors
of the Roslyn
Neighborhood Association
which was founded about 1915.
And that was the major
benevolent group here in Roslyn,
and they were involved
in helping to assimilate
new immigrants
through typing classes
or English classes.
- [Presenter] Members of
Trinity Episcopal Church
in Roslyn, the
Hechlers were driven by
the Judeo-Christian call
to love one's neighbor
as one's self.
- Every night my mother
used to read to me
the principles of
morality in the Bible.
They seem to have
a moral compass,
they seem to have
a sense of ethics.
- [Presenter] The merits
of duty and sacrifice
became evident to young
Kenneth in the dead of winter
when Ken chose the
warmth of his home
over the chill of
his magazine route.
Charles Hechler admonished
his youngest son
to fulfill his obligation.
- He said, "Your customers
will be wanting to
"read these over Sunday.
"Why are you neglecting them?"
And I said, "Well, look
at the snow out there.
"I can't go out in that snow."
And he said, "But think
of your customers."
I was really angry at my father.
But the first customer
was so overjoyed he said,
"Come on in.
"Isn't this wonderful?"
"Here's a cup of hot chocolate."
This happened at
virtually every house
where I stopped that evening.
And I began to think
as I trudged back,
my father's a lot smarter
than I thought he was.
(calm music)
- [Presenter] Despite
such significant gains
as the right of women to
vote in national elections,
progressivism lost
momentum among Republicans
in the 1920s.
The ebb followed the death
of progressive champion,
Theodore Roosevelt, in 1919
in the end of the
First World War.
- Increased wages and
improved working conditions,
the eight-hour day, all
those things that workers
have won during the war.
In the post-war era, business
is gonna react against that.
And the Republican Party is
gonna provide the leadership
that progressive
wing which had been
interested in reform at
the end of World War I
is much more
interested in promoting
the interest of business.
- [Presenter] The gulf
between rich and poor
increased to the
point that production
began to exceed demand.
Relaxed lending
practices meanwhile
drove overly optimistic
speculation in the stock market.
The market's subsequent
crash in 1929
helped cripple the
nation's banking system.
The Great Depression,
a decade of unprecedented
economic hardship
enveloped the nation and much
of the industrialized world.
- And the slums particularly
and among laboring people,
they were selling apples
for a nickel a piece
in the streets of New
York in order to eke out
enough to get food
for their families.
- [Presenter] As a
third of the nation's
available labor force
became unemployed,
Americans were
forced to reconsider
progressivism and the
meaning of justice.
- At the dawn of
the Progressive Era
the notion of justice
is simply to provide
everybody an opportunity.
The depression really
changes that notion somewhat.
People are interested
in opportunity still,
but they're also thinking about
the role the government
can play in security,
and providing a
sense of fairness
and being able to respond
to the needs of the poorest.
- [Presenter] President
Herbert Hoover initially
opposed large-scale
government relief,
expecting the nation's
industrial giants
to make economic concessions.
The federal government,
fearing inflation,
restricted cash flow
while increasing
tariffs and taxes.
President Hoover's
response to America's
deepening depression
helped shape
15 year-old Ken Heckler's view
of the role of government.
- Herbert Hoover kept
saying prosperity
is just around the corner.
And if we only wait
prosperity will come.
And I began to develop
an antipathy to inaction.
I said, "The President
of the United States
"is the leader of our country,
"why doesn't he do
something about all this
"unemployment and suffering
that's taking place?"
- [Presenter] In 1932
the American people
elected a Democrat to serve as
the nation's chief executive.
- I, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
- [Presenter] Franklin
Roosevelt wielded his
presidential powers as
freely as his cousin
Theodore before him.
- He set up the Civilian
Conservation Corp
not only to save our
forests but to employ
people that were out of work.
He saved the farmers
who were getting
foreclosed on their mortgages.
And he gave inspiration and
leadership to the country
which was so dramatically
different from
the inaction of Herbert Hoover.
- Fear is vanishing
and confidence is
growing on every side.
(calm music)
- [Presenter] In 1931
Ken Hechler enrolled
at Swarthmore College
near Philadelphia.
Valued for its
rigorous academics and
progressive ideals,
Swarthmore College
challenged students
academically, socially,
and politically.
- This was the constant
goal of the faculty
not only to challenge
the students
to think for themselves
but also to think
socially and to think
about other people.
- [Presenter] Faculty
challenged students to act,
to lend a hand in
neglected communities,
to inspire neighbors
to help one another.
Helen Hornbeck
received a helping hand
from college press board
Chairman Ken Hechler
when he appointed her
Swarthmore's first
female reporter.
- I thought that
it was such a kind
and benevolent act.
He was a recognized
eccentric in the student body
and I think one
eccentric sometimes
recognizes another.
- [Presenter] Ken
Hechler's considerate,
unflappable, and
optimistic nature made him
well suited for public service.
- He was always so
cheerful and upbeat
and would see the positive
side of practically anything,
and he had this pixie-ish
sense of humor which
has been evident in his
subsequent political behavior.
- [Presenter] Hechler graduated
from Swarthmore College
in 1935.
At Columbia University he
earned a master's degree in 1936
and his PhD in public law
and American history in 1940.
For his doctoral dissertation,
Hechler examined
a movement during
William Howard Taft's presidency
to return control of Congress
to progressive reformers
devoted to the policies
of Taft's predecessor
Theodore Roosevelt.
While members of the press
dubbed it an insurgency
the movement relied upon
words and parliamentary
procedures rather than
guns and explosives.
- These insurgents
were a group of
liberal Republicans
who decided to
revolt against the
right wing conservative
Republicans who are
ruling the Senate
and the House of Representatives
which at that time
was under the thumb of
very determined, self-centered
friends of corporations
who were not carrying out the
principles of Abraham
Lincoln who would
help found the Republican party.
- [Presenter] As Hechler
hitchhiked across the mid West,
surviving insurgents
granted interviews
and access to their
long, forgotten journals
and correspondents.
The young historian
gradually pieced together
the motives and actions
shaping the insurgent movement
to reform government
during the Taft era.
- It drove home to me
the necessity of the
personal side of politics,
the fact that politics
is made up of a
bunch of individual
human beings,
you have to work with
those human beings.
The people were the
ones that really
were the root of democracy.
(calm music)
- [Presenter] While
earning his PhD,
Ken Hechler taught at
Columbia and Barner College,
popular on both campuses,
the young professor's classes
were refreshing and innovative.
Hechler brought home
the role of individuals
and government by bantering
with costumed actors
over historic events
and American politics.
- [Ken] I think that it's
very important for students to
understand the realistic
side of politics
to really prepare them
for all of the challenges
which he'll face.
- It's what they call
a West Virginia Moose.
(laughter)
- And also to get
the inspiration,
of the excitement
of public service
which they can get
from people that can
transmit their own enthusiasm
for what they're doing.
- [Presenter] Hechler
often brought James Stewart
and her Barnard
College classmates
face to face with news
makers and government
and politics.
- He believed that meeting
people was very important
not just reading
about them in books.
So we had opportunities to
go on field trips with him.
- [Presenter] Ken
Hechler, brushing aside
his personal views
of Herbert Hoover's presidency,
once arranged for his
class to interview
the former chief executive.
Students also questioned
New Deal critic and 1940
presidential candidate
Wendell Willkie.
- I will never forget
the meeting because
he called me "sweetheart"
when I asked a question.
I said, "You've recently
become a Republican.
"How is it that you're
for free trade,"
because Republicans
have not traditionally
been in that camp.
And he said, well,
if we're gonna have
one world we can't have
these artificial barriers.
- [Presenter] Ken Hechler
impressed Columbia University
student Bob Zucker by
inviting to his classroom
Earl Browder, the
controversial leader
of the Communist
Party in America.
- Russia, which was the
god of the Communist Party,
was aligned with Hitler.
They had made a pact.
I mean the pact included
splitting up Poland
and non-aggression and so on.
So it was not a very
popular move but yet he felt
his students should
be exposed to
all types of thinking.
- [Presenter] Hechler also
invited Democratic Party Chair
James Farley.
As Franklin Roosevelt's
presidential campaign manager
in 1932 Farley
combined a telephone
and amplifier to link Roosevelt
and Democratic
convention delegates.
At Columbia and later
Princeton University,
the system offered
Hechler and his students
a practical alternative to
face to face interviews.
- He would set up a
telephone connection
in the room with a loud speaker
and actually microphones.
And he'd say, well,
we're gonna talk
to Chief Justice Stone.
Sure enough Harlan
Stone was on the phone,
Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court,
and he always had surprises,
always something new
and I didn't know
anybody who didn't think
Ken was a great teacher.
- I have seen war--
- [Presenter] While teaching
at Columbia and Barnard,
Hechler also worked with
Presidential Advisor
and speech writer
Samuel Rosenman
editing FDR's public
papers and addresses.
- I give to you assurance
that the people of the United
States will not stand idly by.
- [Presenter] Ken Hechler
left his Columbia classroom
and moved to Washington in 1941.
In addition to his
work with Rosenman
Hechler secured
employment at various
federal agencies
serving in the office
for emergency management
and the bureaus
of the senses and the budget,
Hechler observed first hand
a government going to war.
(ominous drum music)
- Since the unprovoked
and dastardly attack
by Japan on Sunday,
December 7th, 1941
a state of war has existed
between the United States
and the Japanese Empire.
- [Presenter] In 1942 Ken
Hechler entered the US Army
and attended Officer
Candidate School.
There he and fellow tank
commanders in training
were assigned the
straightforward task
of putting to paper
their life stories.
- I started out with
a sentence about
the fact that I've
been born in 1914
shortly after the
assassination of
Archduke Franz
Ferdinand at Sarajevo
which was a spark that
set off World War I.
It started the smoke of Sarajevo
had scarcely drifted
away when a squalling,
brawling, infant burst
upon an unsuspecting world.
(laughter)
I got a call from the
commanding general
of the Armored Force.
He said, "When I read
the first sentence
"of your autobiography, I
just couldn't put it down."
"I could not put it down
"and I just read
all about the things
"that you had been
through and your teaching
"and working for
Franklin Roosevelt."
And he said, "You should
be doing something
"far more important than just
driving a tank in this war."
I said, "No, sir,
I've been trained
"to be a tank commander, sir."
And he said, "No, it's too late.
"We're going to send you to the
"European Theater of Operations
"and you're gonna be
a combat historian
"to get together material
that can be useful
"and lessons learned for
the service academies,"
like West Point and
command and general
staff college at Fort Levinwort.
Our major occupation
was with with notebooks
to go around and
interview all of the
soldiers involved in operations
in the most critical actions.
- [Presenter] Hechler
found in the taking
of the bridge at
Remagen, Germany
the rewards of courage,
initiative and training.
- Remagen was a
beautiful example
of how training
provided a unified group
of soldiers who were
able to work very closely
together in a
dramatic, unpredicted,
unplanned operation.
- [Presenter] World
War II helped prepare
young Americans for
post-war public service
and political office.
- Had it not been for my
service in World War II,
I never would have
entered politics.
Service itself reshaped
the minds and the character
of many young people in America.
Public tervice can
be in some cases
almost an extension
of what you were doing
in the service whether
you were in the Air Force,
Marines, whatever
branch it might be.
- We were engaged
in public service.
We thought it was
the highest endeavor.
Why, because we were up against
a miserable totalitarian force
in the form of the Axis Powers.
They were out to take
over much of the world.
And being in that
kind of experience
left one with the feeling that
this was a very
rewarding endeavor,
the feeling that somehow we were
giving ourselves,
maybe giving our lives
to a cause that was larger
than any one of us alone.
- [Presenter] Germany
surrendered in May 1945.
To better understand
German military strategy
Major Ken Hechler interviewed
the surviving members of
the German high command
including Air Marshal
Hermann Göring,
Adolf Hitler's long
time confidant.
- Göring was a very
interesting character because
he demonstrated his power
of persuasion frequently
to show where he'd
gotten where he was.
And sometimes you had
to pinch yourself to
avoid getting taken in
by some of his bravado.
- [Presenter] Sentenced to death
for crimes against humanity
Göring committed
suicide rather than
submit to public hanging.
(calm music)
After the war Ken
Hechler returned to the
US Bureau of the Budget.
He taught at
Princeton University
and helped publish Judge
Samuel Rosenman's final volume
of Franklin Roosevelt's
presidential addresses.
- I consider it of the
highest importance.
- [Presenter] In 1949
Ken Hechler impressed
President Harry Truman
with a detailed study
of the historical
role of government
in assisting private business.
Shortly thereafter Hechler
joined the White House staff
as research director
and special assistant
to the President.
In 1950 Hechler reviewed
President Abraham
Lincoln's decision
to dismiss Civil War
General George McClellan
for insubordination.
The study supported
Truman's decision
to relieve popular
World War II general
Douglas MacArthur of his command
during the Korean War.
Public frustration over the war
coupled with outrage
over Truman's
handling of the
steel worker strike
produced the lowest presidential
approval ratings to date.
Truman's steadfast convictions
amid public pressure
impressed Special
Assistant Hechler.
- President Truman had
two signs on his desk,
everybody knows about
the Buckstops here
but he also had a second
side which was a quotation
from Mark Twain.
"Always do right, this will
gratify some of the people
"and astonish the rest."
And he demonstrated to
me and instilled in me
this burning sense of justice
that you do what's
right and then
let the chips fall
where they may.
- I can take care of myself.
I believe that the
American people know me
well enough for my service
as Captain of Battery D
in World War I
to my service as President
of the United States
to know that I have always acted
with the best interest
of my country at heart.
- [Presenter] Truman's place
in history improved with time.
As President he
brought about expansion
of social security
coverage and an increase
on the minimum wage.
Truman D segregated
US Armed Forces
while working to rebuild Europe
and promoting World Peace.
He also worked to
improve education,
established national health care
and protect civil rights.
Crossing the nation by train
President Truman engaged
Americans and made friends
one whistle stop at a time.
Ken Hechler read
local newspapers
and contacted librarians
and public officials
to provide the president
with insightful details
for off the cuff remarks.
- He said call taxicab drivers,
beauty shop
operators, people that
can give you an idea what
people are talking about.
- I think both Ken
and President Truman
believed that the
backbone of the republic
is its middle class.
And the more you do to
expand the middle class
the stronger and better
a society you will have.
- [Presenter] A 1948
whistle stop in Oregon
exemplified President
Truman's ability
to portray himself as a
willing servant of the people.
- He looked out over
the crowd and said,
"I know why you're here.
"You're not here to
see Harry Truman.
"You're here to see the
President of the United States
"and see how he's
doing his job."
And he quoted Woodrow
Wilson who once said
many men come to Washington
and they grow in their jobs.
But too many men
come to Washington
and they just swell up.
And so he takes his hat,
takes a loot at it and says,
"My hat size hasn't increased
an eighth of an inch
"since I became president."
- It was liberating for
Truman to get out of the
White House which
he used to call
the Great White Jail
that enabled him to
be much more relaxed.
One of my jobs on whistle
stops incidentally
was to get out
among the crowd and
listen to what they were saying
and if they were unusually quiet
and didn't respond
why every now and then
I would say, "Give
'em hell, Harry!"
(laughter)
(calm music)
- [Presenter] As
Republican president
Dwight Eisenhower settled
into the White House,
Ken Hechler joined the
American Political
Science Association
as associate director.
He took leave in 1956
to serve as Democratic
Presidential Candidate
Adlai Stevenson's
research director.
Stevenson lost to Eisenhower
and Hechler returned to
his post at the APSA.
Hechler quickly realized
his Washington desk job
could never deliver
the kind of excitement
experienced on the
campaign trail.
- Most of the employees
would come to work
in the morning and
try to figure out
what they would do
on their coffee break
and then who they
would invite to lunch.
- [Presenter] When Hechler
learned that Marshall College
in Huntington, West
Virginia needed
a political science
teacher to fill a vacancy
during the spring
semester of 1957
he seized upon the opportunity.
Word of the new professor's
methodology quickly spread
employing many of the
innovative techniques
he crafted at Columbia and
Princeton universities,
Hechler sometimes dressed
in period costume.
He found well known public
officials from his classroom
and bus students to
Washington, DC on his own dime.
Ken Hechler's challenge
during a meeting
of young Democrats
inspired journalism student
Bobby Nelson to enter politics.
- He pointed out we are
an unusual democracy
or a representative
government where
the people really are at
the center of everything
and to the extent
that they are involved
the better the government is
and the better the
solutions to problems are.
He was a tremendous supporter of
what democracy means,
and especially as it
relate to young people.
- I would ask my students,
"What's your objection?
"Why are you holding back
"and not wanting to
take part on this
"exciting process?"
And particularly the women
in the class would say,
"There's so much mud
slinging in politics,
"so we just don't
wanna get involved
in all that mud slinging."
My answer to that was, "I
wonder what would happen
"if a candidate
would go out and not
"attack his or her
opponent but rather simply
"say what he or she stood for.
"I wonder what would happen."
- This one student said,
"If you're talking about
"all this even holding office,
"why don't you run for office?"
And Professor Hechler then said,
"Well, I just may do that."
- [Presenter] In 1958 Ken
Hechler made his first
bid for public office
as a candidate for
West Virginia's
fourth congressional
district seat,
Hechler demonstrated
three qualities
essential to politics
and public service.
- Energy, you gotta have energy.
You can be a lot of
things in politics
and be a success but
you can't be lazy.
You have to have that
concentrated energy
going for the mission.
Ethics, ethics not in the sense
of the Sunday school ethics
but you have this ethos
that you want to do good.
And finally you have
to have that ego.
You have to say
of all the people,
the thousands, ten of
thousands who are qualified
in the position I
uniquely can do it better
than anyone else.
- [Presenter] Many of
Hechler's volunteers
were students under
the age of 21.
Though too young to vote
they enthusiastically
embraced the professor's
unorthodox approach
to campaigning.
- Back then when you
got into politics,
you didn't go out
like they do today
and campaign and go door
to door and see people,
you went to the
political bosses.
You either went down with
the county court house
or the state house machine.
And they anointed
you in the party
accepted you and you
generally were elected.
Well, Hechler was just the
total opposite of that.
- Campaign is one of
the most exciting things
in life because it gives
you an opportunity to
meet new people and
to be able to interact
in such a way that
you can really
get a feel as to
what they stand for
and what they're hoping
to receive in the way of
public service.
- [Presenter] As many
campaigns concentrated
on the district's more
urban communities,
Hechler's volunteers
climbed into his convertible
and headed for small towns
along the Ohio River.
Hechler armed his
troops with copies
of his recently published book,
The Bridge at Ramagen.
The book chronicled
the allied capture
of the strategic bridge
during World War II.
Hechler's volunteers
handed out free copies
wherever they went.
West Virginians known for
their devout patriotism
embraced the book and the
war veteran who wrote it.
- The fact that he was a veteran
and wrote a book
that was popular
helped a great deal in
people getting to know him.
- [Presenter] Considered
a master of parody,
Ken Hechler
effectively used music
to set the tone when
addressing various groups.
- His entire career
he loved to write,
he loved music, he loved to
put together little parodies.
He thought music would
capture the attention more
than some windbag just talking.
- There was a group of
four coeds at Marshall
that had won a singing contest
by singing the
McGuire Sisters song.
♪ Sugar in the morning
♪ Sugar in the evening
♪ Sugar at supper time
And so we wrote
a parody on that.
♪ Hechler in the morning
♪ Hechler in the evening
♪ Hechler at election time
- That would get
us started and then
the books will be passed out.
And he was very down to earth.
He talked about his work
with Truman and Roosevelt,
about the great need for
government to respond
to the people.
And he was a tireless,
tireless worker.
I mean nobody could outwork him.
When he first
announced to Congress,
maybe 50, 60 people outside
this campus knew him.
But by the time the
primary came around
he probably knew the Fourth
Congressional District's
13 counties more than
probably 95% of the people
who lived in it 'cause
he made it a point to
really learn about the
district and know people
and know the issues.
He went everywhere.
- Probably hundreds,
maybe thousands of people
for the first time
in their lives
saw somebody who said I
wanna be your representative
in Congress.
- He didn't mind going
into the grocery store
or a filling station.
They'd climb up on coal
cars and talk to guys
that were riding in cabooses.
It was so unusual for a man
to go directly to the people.
- People are born and
raised and live and die
in this area of West Virginia.
We have nowhere
near the mobility
of population that most places
in the United States have.
That takes some learning.
You don't just
automatically know,
but he understood even
though he wasn't from here
that he was dealing
with natives.
And he understood
how to talk to them.
- He could identify with them
and they could
identify with him.
And that's real talent
for politicians.
- I was told by somebody
in Putnam County,
you know there's a farmer
out there named Benet Bailey
who really is well known,
lots of Baileys
in Putnam County.
You ought to go out to see him.
I knocked on the
door of his house
and his wife said, "He's
about two miles over the hill
"raking up hay."
And I said, "What direction?"
I walked out there
and Benet Bailey said,
"You must be a great
man if you'd walk out
"and be here all the
way just to see me."
I can tell you this, I
better work like hell
for you all over the county.
- [Presenter] In
August 1958 Hechler won
the Democratic nomination
for West Virginia's
fourth congressional seat.
In the general election
Hechler would face
Republican incumbent Will Neal,
a respected family
physician in Huntington.
While the two candidates
enjoyed an amiable relationship,
Hechler opponents labeled
the New York native
a carpet bagger out
to take advantage
of rural West Virginia voters.
- He never allowed to charge
bothering particularly,
and in his manner he
simply, I would say,
put his head down
and head to line
as we used to say in
football in my day.
- [Presenter] Ken Hechler
won by 3,500 votes.
- It was a stunning
victory to a lot of us
and the Republican Party.
I bet Ken $5 that he
wouldn't get 1,500 votes.
(calm music)
- [Presenter] In December 1958
as Marshall College students
headed home for Christmas
Congressman-elect
Ken Hechler prepared to
embark upon his own journey,
one that would prove
quite educational.
- I don't think it's
possible for an individual
to go in to a legislative body
and expect to get 100%
of what he believes in
or even what his
district believes in.
I had been taught
in graduate school
how all legislation in Congress
is compromised and that's
what I used to say
when I was teaching
but when I to
Congress I discovered
that the word "compromise"
is frequently used
as an umbrella to try to weaken
and drive loopholes into
otherwise good legislation.
And good legislation
has been asphyxiated,
legislation that the majority
of the Congress wants
in the fields of housing,
education, and labor reform.
- [Presenter] Hechler
joined George McGovern
and other members of the
House of Representatives
to address common concerns
and achieve mutual goals.
- When you talk to Ken
Hechler he looks at you
and kind of looks
and then he nods
and listens to you.
You have the feeling
every word you say
he's digesting and that
he's gonna think about that.
I always thought that
was an advantageous
eccentricity of Ken.
- [Presenter]
McGovern, a Democrat,
hoped to bring to Washington
the kind of fresh thinking
he helped introduce
in the predominantly
Republican state
of South Dakota.
- I thought there was a need for
a more liberal party, not
necessarily that we had
all the answers but
that out of the creative
tension and competition
between two different
political philosophies,
we'd probably end up
with a better government.
- [Presenter] Hechler also
worked with Republican members
like Kansas
Congressman Bob Dole.
- Democrats had the upper
hand, we understood that.
We were in the minority.
We understood that.
But there's still certain
things we could do
to slow up the process.
But even more important
there were certain things
we could do to
accelerate the process
and get good legislation passed
by working together with
our fellow Democrats.
- One of the greatest
challenges that a member
of Congress faces is
to try to ascertain
the public interest
and not the interest
of a single group and then
to fight for that interest.
- [Presenter] Rarely
missing a vote
Congressman Ken Hechler
enthusiastically
represented the people
of West Virginia.
- He was everywhere.
I mean he was in the
front row, the back row,
always button holing
somebody and always
talking about something
for West Virginia
or his constituents.
I've been in
politics all my life
and I had never seen
anything like it.
- He was constantly
surprising and refreshing.
If you can't stand me in
the pit with the people
then you're not a politician.
Ken enjoyed the give and take.
- And he had a great
way of eliciting a laugh
because he'd be probing
and asking questions,
and all of a sudden you realize
he was getting into a point
that he wanted to make
that was kind of funny.
- How can you possibly
expect us in Congress
to authorize over
four million dollars
when you haven't even
yet selected the state
in which you're going
to establish this site.
- Nothing seem to
shake his confidence
or his cheerfulness.
Most of us have sort
of ups and downs.
I've never seen any
downs on Ken, all ups.
But it's infectious
and it's genuine
and that's what people can spot.
- He has three I's, imagination,
intelligence, integrity.
He's a man of great imagination,
he's a man of high intelligence,
and thirdly he has absolute
bed rock integrity.
- Congressmen Ken Hechler, a
delegate to this convention
is perhaps one of
the most outspoken
of the West Virginians on
the Vietnam War situation.
You are unalterably
opposed really,
aren't you, Congressman?
- I certainly am, Bos,
and I certainly hope--
- Initially I supported
American efforts in Vietnam
but I was asked here at
Marshall to talk with
a group of foreign students.
They kept interrupting
me by saying,
"Let's talk about Vietnam.
"What right do you
have to be supporting
"our military
effort over there?"
I found it increasingly
difficult to answer
that question
because it was
essentially a civil war.
- I think he represented
the conscience
of the people
acting on Congress,
and he had any number
of ways that he
thought of in which he
would try to dramatize
what those issues
were and try to prod
his colleagues into
doing the right thing.
- Congressman, from
all these odd jobs
that you've been doing,
what have you learned?
What have your constituents
been telling you?
- Well, you know,
when you're sitting up
in Washington you get an
exaggerated sense of your
own importance and
I think it's great
to be able to get out
and work alongside
of the working
people who after all
are the backbone of the nation.
They're very concerned
about the fact that
government seems to
be a little unfair
to the working people
and the consumers.
So far as taxes are concerned--
- He established clearly
that there was someone
in Washington
representing West Virginia
particularly this area
that you could always
write or contact and
you could be certain
of getting an answer.
He had a rule in his office,
a letter from a
constituent had to be
acknowledged or answered
the same day it came in.
- The only thing bad I
can say about the office,
his desk was always a mess.
But if you would ask
him where something was
he would pull it from the stack,
he knew exactly where it was.
- Here's a stack, I'd say
at least six feet high,
walks over to it,
reaches in and pulls
out a sheet of paper.
I thought that was phenomenal
that somehow amidst
all the clutter
he's able to get the essence.
- Coal miners used to
joke about how messy
Ken's office was
but it was because
it was the people's office.
And they used Ken's
office to operate out of
when they were lobbying
for the Black Lung benefits
and mine health and safety,
not only was he
speaking out for him,
he was like letting
them use his office
and try to feed them
when they come in there
or take them to
lunch or whatever.
- He just loves people.
He absolutely loves people.
I've never heard Ken
Hechler say anything
derogatory about
another individual.
(calm music)
- I could see when
somebody called and said,
"I can't feed my family,
I'm having a hard time.
"I need to get my
Black Lung benefits,"
or "I need to get
my social security."
He would jump on it.
Frequently he was on the
either end of the telephone
personally working
on the problem.
He liked it.
That's what he's all about.
- He was deeply committed.
I mean there's no
question at all that
he was deeply touched
by the conditions that
he saw people living in
and the fact that
they were trapped
more often than
not that they had
no way out.
- We heard stories
that the newspaper
all during his time
in Congress about
how he would be the
one who would show up
and the farthest
corner of Wayne County
where some family have
been trying for months
unsuccessfully to get a
social security check approved
and start getting
their social security.
And he would not only
take care of it for 'em,
he would be the one
to hand deliver that
first check to them.
And he had them and everybody
in their neighborhood
to vote for him for
the rest of his life.
- There are stories
perhaps apocryphal about
how good he was.
There's one where this
lady wrote him a letter
asking for a book
of recipe from the
Department of Agriculture.
- A woman working in
downtown Huntington
finished her work in the
afternoon five o'clock
whenever it was and
went over and dropped
into the mailbox of
the old post office
which is on Fifth Avenue
a request for a cookbook.
Now it just so happened
that within minutes of that
postal people cleaned
out that inbox.
And the congressman's
mailbox was right close by
and they just shuttled
over to his mailbox
the request.
- Well he's in the
district so he goes in,
he gets the letter out.
He looks at it and this
lady wants his cookbook.
Well he happens to have
one out in the Jeep.
- He had a stack of them
in back of the red Jeep.
So he drove to the
west end of Huntington
to the woman's address.
- So he takes off, goes out
to her address in Wayne County
and is standing on her porch
when she gets back
for mailing the letter
asking for the cookbook.
- She meanwhile gets
on a bus and goes home
for the evening.
She gets inside,
closes the door,
Hechler walks up,
knocks on the door,
she opens it and he
says, "I'm your servant
"in Congress, Ken Hechler,
here's your cookbook."
- He practiced what he preached.
He truly represented all
the people in his district
and tried to meet every
one of them, I think.
- Personally I wish the
man would get a decent car.
That Jeep.
That I've always thought
attracted everybody.
When you become so
identified with a car
that anywhere in the state
everyone knows that's your car.
That's a positive.
- He was a master public
relations person, really.
As much as he was a congressman.
Every time he was
in from Washington
he would make the rounds
of the television stations
and the newspapers
and offer them
stories they couldn't refuse.
- If you wanna get
something in the paper
you'd go and try to
get it in on Sunday
because they don't have
anything for Monday,
nothing's happening on Sunday.
Everything's going to church,
they've gone out to dinner,
now they're sitting
around reading the paper
and taking it easy.
So he would come in and
beat out a little story
on a typewriter
and hand it to us.
- Here we are
again by the map of
the state of West Virginia--
- [Presenter] Ken
Hechler made frequent
and effective use of the US
House of Representatives'
recording studios.
- Ken understood mass media.
He understood mass
media's need to satisfy
an audience.
- Now this bill
will help protect.
- He looked at every
issue in terms of
how do my constituents
react to this
and what will interest them.
- Is there any experience
in other sections
of what kinds of
work will it do,
how big will it be?
How important?
Where do we go from here?
How do you determine?
Is there anything particular
that you could say,
encouraging and respected--
When you come right down to it,
a good deal of work and
focus of a congressman
is educating the
voters to decide
what is the best
and just thing to do
and then to continue to
educate your constituents
to support those
aims of justice.
(majestic music)
- [Presenter] This project
is a cooperative production
of the Ken Hechler
Documentary Project LLC
and Marshall University.
Being presented with
financial assistance
from the West Virginia
Humanities Council,
a state affiliate of the
National Endowment
For the Humanities.
Any views, findings,
conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this program do not
necessarily represent those
of the National Endowment
for the Humanities.