Bourke B. Hickenlooper
American politician
Died when: 75 years 45 days (901 months)Star Sign: Leo
Bourke Blakemore Hickenlooper (July 21, 1896 – September 4, 1971), was an American politician and member of the Republican Party, first elected to statewide office in Iowa as lieutenant governor, serving from 1939 to 1943 and then as the 29th Governor of Iowa from 1943 to 1945.
Hickenlooper was first elected to the United States Senate in 1944.He served in the Senate from 1945 to 1969.Born in 1896 in Blockton, Iowa, Hickenlooper's college education at Iowa State College in Ames was interrupted by his service in the U.S.
Army.He served as an officer in France during World War I.After his military service Hickenlooper continued his education at Iowa State and then went on to the University of Iowa College of Law, where he received a law degree in 1922.
He practiced law in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.Hickenlooper was a Methodist.In the Senate, Hickenlooper was known as part of the most conservative and isolationistic members of the Republican Party, and as possibly one of the most conservative American congressmen.
In 1967, Hickenlooper was Congress's sole non-yea vote on a bill to suppress the slave trade.He became one of the most powerful Republicans in the Senate, serving as the Republican Policy Committee Chairman from 1962 to 1969.
In this position, he had an intense rivalry with Everett Dirksen, the Senate Republican leader at the time.Hickenlooper voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, but much like fellow conservative Barry Goldwater, voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 due to government overreach.
He also voted in favor of the 24th Amendment to the U.S.Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
He died in 1971 in Shelter Island, New York and is buried at the Cedar Memorial Park cemetery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Related People
American politician
American politician
American politician