Scott W. Lucas

Scott Wike Lucas (February 19, 1892 – February 22, 1968) was an American attorney and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives (1935–1939) and the U.S. Senate (1939–1951). He was the Senate Majority Leader from 1949 to 1951.

Early life Lucas was born on a tenant farm near Chandlerville, in Cass County, Illinois. He was the youngest of six children of William Douglas and Sarah Catherine (née Underbrink) Lucas. His parents named him after Scott Wike, a Democrat who served as a representative from Illinois (1875–1877, 1889–1893). His nephew was Allen T. Lucas who practiced law with Lucas and who served in the Illinois General Assembly. After attending public schools, he began his studies at Illinois Wesleyan University. He also worked as a commander of the Illinois Department of the American Legion. In 1932, he was defeated by William H. Dieterich for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican incumbent Otis F. Glenn for a United States Senate seat from Illinois.

Lucas was later appointed chairman of State Tax Commission by Governor Henry Horner, serving from 1933 to 1935. With support from Harry S. Truman, he was elected party whip in 1946. Lucas, a moderate, drew support from both conservative and liberal wings of the party. He took over the Midwest campaign for Truman and was credited with assisting Truman's 1948 re-election and bringing nine Democrats into the Senate. When Alben Barkley became vice-president and resigned his seat, Lucas became majority leader. However, he was unable to build a consensus as Senate Majority Leader with the onset of the anticommunist era, and lost in 1950, to Republican Everett Dirksen. Lucas had become a target of Republican wrath with loss of political power in the Senate and the White House. His 1950 reelection campaign featured the active intervention into Illinois politics of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, who traveled the state with Dirksen saying that Senator Lucas was "soft on communism." Dirksen would go on to decisively defeat Lucas with a 54% to 46% victory. Privately, in later years, Dirksen attributed his victory to Lucas's responsibilities as Senate Majority Leader, at the apparent expense of his state; Dirksen was free to campaign locally, often debating Lucas's Illinois Democratic Party proxies and calling attention to Lucas's prolonged absence from the state.

Policy positions Overall, as Congressman and Senator Lucas focused on civil rights, labor unions, foreign policy, and agriculture. He supported anti-lynching legislation, opposed the poll tax, and was a vocal advocate for desegregation. Lucas played a major role in the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. It established a federal minimum wage and maximum hours, and required overtime pay under specified conditions. He supported Franklin Roosevelt's main foreign policy initiatives, including Lend-Lease in 1941 for military aid to the Allies, and the creation of the United Nations. Lucas supported the New Deal farm programs, which were popular in rural Illinois, especially the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938. As Majority Leader of the Senate in 1949-1950 he supported Harry Truman's domestic and foreign agenda.