Bennett Champ Clark

Joel Bennett Clark (January 8, 1890 – July 13, 1954), better known as Bennett Champ Clark, was a Democratic United States senator from Missouri from 1933 until 1945, and was later a circuit judge of the District of Columbia Circuit. He was a leading isolationist in foreign policy.

During the Thirties, Clark opposed a number of New Deal measures such as tax reform, the NRA, and the AAA, and by 1937 had become (according to one historian) “one of the organizers of the conservative coalition in Congress.” Nevertheless, Clark identified himself with liberalism, and during his senate career publicly supported New Deal initiatives aimed at providing social security, promoting homebuilding, and improving working conditions.

Education and start of career

Clark was born into a political family; his father was Champ Clark, who served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. His mother was Genevieve Davis (Bennett) Clark. Clark's sister, Genevieve Clark Thomson was also active in politics as a women's suffrage activist. and was raised and educated in Bowling Green and Washington, D.C. In 1914, he graduated from the George Washington University Law School with a Bachelor of Laws.

Clark became parliamentarian of the United States House of Representatives in 1913, while still in law school. In 1928 he considered running for the United States Senate seat of the retiring James A. Reed, but decided not to make the race.

Clark was a delegate to the 1928 Democratic National Convention.

United States senator In the 1932 election, Clark ran for the United States Senate seat held by the retiring Harry B. Hawes, and relied on his base among veterans to defeat two other candidates for the Democratic nomination. Clark defeated Henry Kiel in the general election for the term beginning March 4, 1933.

Clark was chairman of the Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals from 1937 to 1935.

On January 29, 1944, Clark declared on the floor of the Senate that Emperor Hirohito should be hanged as a war criminal at the war's end. In the same year, he was the first senator to introduce the G.I. Bill proposal in the United States Congress.

When Congress began work on the G.I. Bill in 1944 it had originally expressed concern about possible misuse of the "blue discharge" (now called an "Other Than Honorable discharge"). In testimony before the United States Senate, Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs strongly opposed the provision to include Veterans with blue discharges on the grounds that it would undermine morale and remove any incentive to maintain a good service record. Senator Clark, a sponsor (writer) of the GI Bill, dismissed his concerns, calling them "some of the most stupid, short-sighted objections which could be raised". Clark went on to say:

The Army is giving Blue discharges, namely discharges without honor, to those who have had no fault other than they have not shown sufficient aptitude for military service. I say that when the government puts a man in the military service and, thereafter, because the man does not show sufficient aptitude gives him a blue discharge, or a discharge without honor, that fact should not be permitted to prevent the man from receiving the benefits to which soldiers are generally entitled. Guthrie's 1943 lyrics condemn pre-World War II isolationism and advocate for leaders committed to defeating fascism.