Editing Clinton Anderson

{{Short description|American politician (1895–1975)}}
{{About|the American politician|the horse trainer|Clinton Anderson (horse trainer)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
 | name               = Clinton Anderson
 | image              = Clinton P. Anderson, 13th Secretary of Agriculture, June 1945 - May 1948. - Flickr - USDAgov.jpg
 | image_size         = 220px
 | alt                = Official portrait of Clinton Anderson
 | caption            = Official portrait, {{circa|1945}}
 | jr/sr              = United States Senator
 | state              = [[New Mexico]]
 | term_start         = January 3, 1949
 | term_end           = January 3, 1973
 | predecessor        = [[Carl Hatch]]
 | successor          = [[Pete Domenici]]
 | order1             = 13th
 | office1            = United States Secretary of Agriculture
 | term_start1        = June 30, 1945
 | term_end1          = May 10, 1948
 | president1         = [[Harry S. Truman]]
 | predecessor1       = [[Claude R. Wickard]]
 | successor1         = [[Charles F. Brannan]]
 | state2             = [[New Mexico]]
 | district2          = {{ushr|NM|AL|at-large}}
 | term_start2        = January 3, 1941
 | term_end2          = June 30, 1945
 | predecessor2       = [[John J. Dempsey]]
 | successor2         = [[Georgia Lee Lusk|George Lusk]]
 | order3             = 9th
 | office3            = New Mexico State Treasurer{{!}}Treasurer of New Mexico
 | term_start3        = 1933
 | term_end3          = 1934
 | governor3          = [[Arthur Seligman]]
 | predecessor3       = Warren Graham
 | successor3         = James Connelly
 | birth_name         = Clinton Presba Anderson 
 | birth_date         = {{birth date|1895|10|23}}
 | birth_place        = [[Centerville, South Dakota]], U.S.
 | death_date         = {{death date and age|1975|11|11|1895|10|23}}
 | death_place        = [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], U.S.
 | party              = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
 | spouse             = {{marriage|Henrietta McCartney|1921}}
 | children           = 2
}}
'''Clinton Presba Anderson''' (October 23, 1895&nbsp;– November 11, 1975) was an American politician who represented [[New Mexico]] in the [[United States Senate]] from 1949 until 1973. A member of the [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]], he previously served as [[United States Secretary of Agriculture]] from 1945 until 1948 and represented [[New Mexico's at-large congressional district]] from 1941 until 1945.

==Early life and education==
Anderson was born in [[Centerville, South Dakota]], on October 23, 1895.<ref name=HD>{{cite book|last=Ryan|first=James G.|title=Historical Dictionary of the 1940s|year=2006|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|location=Armonk, NY|isbn=978-0-7656-2107-8|pages=26|author2=Leonard C. Schlup}}<!--|access-date=7 December 2011--></ref> His parents were Andrew Jay and Hattie Belle Anderson (née Presba). He was educated in the public school system of [[South Dakota]] and attended [[Dakota Wesleyan University]] (1913–1915) and the [[University of Michigan]] (1915–1916) but did not receive a degree from either institution.

== Career ==

=== Early career ===
After his father broke his back in 1916, Anderson left the University of Michigan to go home to help to support his family. He worked for several months for a newspaper in [[Mitchell, South Dakota]], until he became seriously ill with [[tuberculosis]]. He was not aware of his illness until he attempted to join the [[US military]] in 1917 upon America's entrance into [[World War I]]. Doctors gave him six months to live. One gave him the advice to check himself into the Methodist Sanitarium in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]]. He promptly did so, and while recovering there, he occasionally wrote for the ''Albuquerque Herald''.

In 1919, as soon as he was well enough to leave the sanitarium, he gained employment with the ''[[Albuquerque Morning Journal]]'', now called the ''[[Albuquerque Journal]]'', and he was sent to [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] to cover the [[New Mexico Legislature]]. Very critical of how the Republican Party was running the state, he befriended some New Mexico Democratic legislators and gave them his ideas on bills before the legislature. Some of the ideas eventually became state law, and Anderson began a lifelong association with the Democratic Party.

His long career of [[civil service|public service]] began as executive secretary of the New Mexico Public Health Association in 1919. There, he raised money to fight tuberculosis, established county health programs, and was instrumental in founding the [[New Mexico Department of Health]].

In the early 1920s, Anderson pursued private business affairs. In 1922, he started in the insurance business with the New Mexico Loan and Mortgage Company. Anderson was soon able to buy the business and change the name to the Clinton P. Anderson Agency, a successful and enduring enterprise.

Actively involved in the [[Rotary Club]] of Albuquerque since 1919, he was elected to the International Board in 1930 and became president of [[Rotary International]] in 1932, a position that introduced him to many business and political contacts.

=== New Mexico government and politics ===
Anderson returned to public life, becoming chairman of the [[New Mexico Democratic Party]] in 1928 and [[state treasurer]] of New Mexico in 1933. That was followed by appointments as director of the Bureau of Revenue, relief administrator for the State of New Mexico, Western States Field Coordinator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, State Director of the National Youth Administration, chairman of the New Mexico Unemployment Security Division, and managing director of the Coronado Cuarto Centennial Commission, among others. It was Anderson's style to take on a newly created position or an emergency situation, to organize it, and then to leave when he felt that all was running smoothly.

In 1940, a conflict among members of the state Democratic Party resulted in Congressman [[John J. Dempsey]] being disqualified from running for another term as New Mexico's only representative. Party members convinced Anderson to run for the seat, which he won by using his many business and political contacts throughout the state. For the next three decades, he divided his time between Albuquerque and [[Washington, D.C.]]

Anderson became known for his thorough investigative work, and during his three terms in the House of Representatives, he was assigned to several special committees, including the chairmanship of the Special Committee to Investigate Food Shortages in 1945. The committee argued for a streamlined food distribution system and emphasized long-range planning for increasing food production. His success in that assignment, along with their personal friendship, led to his appointment by President [[Harry S. Truman]] as United States secretary of agriculture.<ref>{{cite video
 | title =Video: Air Forces Come Home Via Bomber, 1945/05/28 (1945)
 | url =https://archive.org/details/1945-05-28_Air_Forces_Come_Home_Via_Bomber
 | publisher =[[Universal Newsreel]]
 | access-date = 2012-02-20
 | date = 1945-05-28
}}</ref>

===Truman administration===
{{stack|
[[File:Photograph of Secretary of Agriculture Clinton P. Anderson, evidently arriving at the White House for a Cabinet meeting. - NARA - 199137.jpg|thumb|250px|Secretary of Agriculture Clinton P. Anderson arriving at the White House for a Cabinet meeting (August 1945).]]
[[File:President Truman and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Clockwise at table, Secretary of the... - NARA - 199648.jpg|thumb|250px|Anderson (center) in the Truman Cabinet (January 1948).]]
[[File:Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the south lawn of the White House.jpg|thumb|Clinton P. Anderson and wife Henrietta McCartney at the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House (December 24, 1947).]]
}}
Shortly after Harry S. Truman became president in 1945, he selected Anderson to serve as his Secretary of Agriculture. His most immediate concern was the reorganization of the domestic agricultural economy, which for the previous four years, had been focused on supporting the American war effort in the [[World War II|Second World War]]. Anderson addressed issues such as price controls, shortages, and subsidies, and he played an important role in developing postwar agricultural policies.

The domestic situation was only one of Anderson's concerns as Secretary of Agriculture. The looming worldwide food crisis, which was becoming more evident by 1946, led President Truman to establish the Famine Emergency Committee.

Anderson made two controversial moves to change the drastic problems. Firstly, he used his organizational skills to incorporate all existing food and agricultural activities under his office. Secondly, he advised Truman to enlist former President [[Herbert Hoover]] to serve as chairman of the Famine Emergency Committee. During the crisis, Anderson, Truman, and Hoover worked together very closely. Many of Hoover's proposals on alleviating the international food shortage were adopted by the Truman administration, and it became Anderson's responsibility to implement the proposals. The three men can be credited with preventing an even larger international disaster.

U.S. food production and worldwide distribution was stabilized by 1948, and Anderson decided to retire from the Cabinet. As with every project he had undertaken, Anderson left after he had resolved the problems faced.

===U.S. Senate===
====Election====
{{stack|[[File:Swearing in of Secretary Leonard Carmichael.jpg|thumb|Attendees at the swearing in of Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution [[Leonard Carmichael]] in 1953. Senator Clinton P. Anderson is at left.]]}}
Anderson considered retiring altogether after resigning from the cabinet. However, state Democrats, led by retiring Senator [[Carl Hatch]], convinced Anderson to run for Hatch's seat against the formidable and distinguished diplomat [[Patrick J. Hurley]].{{fact|date=January 2025}}

The two well-established candidates faced off in one of the most heated campaigns of the [[1948 U.S. Senate election|1948 election]]. The nationwide campaigning of the Truman administration against an 'obstructionist' Republican Congress made Republicans lose across the country, including Hurley.

Anderson's [[1954 U.S. Senate election|re-election in 1954]] against former Governor of New Mexico [[Edwin L. Mechem]] was less heated but more significant because the Democrats had lost the Senate in 1952. Anderson prevailed, with the Democrats regaining control of the Senate, and went on to be re-elected by wide margins in 1960 and 1966.

==== Accomplishments ====
Anderson sponsored the final wilderness bill, which passed the Senate by a vote of 73–12 on April 9, 1963, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 373–1 on July 30, 1964, and it was signed into law by President [[Lyndon Johnson]] on September 3, 1964. Richard McArdle, chief of the Forest Service from 1952 to 1962, remarked: "Without Clinton Anderson there would have been no Wilderness Law."<ref>{{cite web|title=Wilderness.net Clinton Anderson|url=http://www.wilderness.net/nwps/Anderson|access-date=2014-10-14 }}</ref>

Anderson is also known for the [[Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act]], as well as for forcing cancellation of the 1954 [[Dixon-Yates contract]] with the AEC for power from the TVA for the city of Memphis.{{fact|date=January 2025}}

Anderson also served as chairman of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy ([[84th United States Congress|84th]] and [[86th United States Congress|86th Congresses]]), Joint Committee on Construction of Building for Smithsonian ([[84th United States Congress|84th]]-[[92nd United States Congress|92nd]]), Joint Committee on Navaho-Hopi Indians (84th-[[92nd United States Congress|92nd]]), Special Committee on Preservation of Senate Records ([[85th United States Congress|85th]] and [[86th United States Congress|86th]], Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs ([[87th United States Congress|87th]] and [[88th United States Congress|88th]]), Special Committee on National Fuel Policy ([[87th United States Congress|87th]]).{{fact|date=January 2025}}

===Failed confirmation of Lewis Strauss===
In 1959, President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] nominated [[Lewis Strauss]] to serve as Secretary of Commerce. Previously, Strauss had served in numerous government positions in the administrations of Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. The previous 13 nominees for the Cabinet position had won Senate confirmation in an average of eight days.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,892639,00.html |access-date=25 January 2025 |title= THE ADMINISTRATION: The Strauss Affair}}</ref> Because of both personal and professional disagreements, Anderson took up the cause to make sure that Strauss would not be confirmed by the Senate. Anderson found an ally in Senator [[Gale W. McGee]] on the Senate Commerce Committee, which had jurisdiction over Strauss's confirmation. During and after the Senate hearings, McGee charged Strauss with "a brazen attempt to hoodwink" the committee.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> 
After 16 days of hearings the committee recommended Strauss's confirmation to the full Senate by a vote of 9–8. In preparation for the floor debate on the nomination, the Democratic majority's main argument against the nomination was that Strauss's statements before the committee were "sprinkled with half truths and even lies... and that under rough and hostile questioning, [he] can be evasive and quibblesome."

Despite an overwhelming Democratic majority, the 86th United States Congress was not able to accomplish much of its agenda since the President had immense popularity and a veto pen. With the 1960 elections nearing, congressional Democrats sought issues on which they could conspicuously oppose the Republican administration. The Strauss nomination proved to be tailor-made.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Cabinet_Nomination_Defeated.htm |title=U.S. Senate: Art & History Home > Historical Minutes > 1941-1963 > Cabinet Nomination Defeated |publisher=Senate.gov |access-date=2011-12-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629132230/https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Cabinet_Nomination_Defeated.htm |archive-date=2011-06-29}}</ref>

Just after midnight on June 19, 1959, the Strauss nomination failed by a vote of 46–49. It marked only the eighth time in U.S. history that a Cabinet appointee had failed to be confirmed by the Senate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,864639,00.htm|access-date=25 January 2025|title=THE CONGRESS: Sharp Image }}</ref>

===Support for space program===
During his tenure, Anderson was one of the most outspoken proponents of the [[Us space program|U.S. space program]]. He was instrumental in gaining funding for the program while chairing the Senate [[U.S. Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences|Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences]] from 1963 to 1973. As chairman of the committee during the most active period of [[space exploration]] and the most important time of the [[space race]], Anderson held a key policy-making role in Washington, not to mention the purse strings for [[NASA]].{{fact|date=January 2025}}

In 1967, Anderson chaired the [[United States Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences|Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences]] that investigated the [[NASA]] [[Apollo 1]] accident. Deputy Administrator [[Robert Seamans]], Administrator [[James E. Webb]], Manned Space Flight Administrator Dr. [[George Mueller (NASA)|George E. Mueller]], and Apollo Program Director [[Major general (United States)|Maj Gen]] [[Samuel C. Phillips]] were all called to testify before Anderson's committee, which also featured extensive questioning by Senator [[Walter Mondale]].<ref name="anderson">{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Clinton P. |url=http://klabs.org/richcontent/Reports/Failure_Reports/as-204/senate_956/index.htm |title=Apollo 204 Accident: Report of the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, United States Senate, with Additional Views |date=1968-01-30 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |volume=Senate Report 956 |location=Washington, D.C. |ref=Anderson |author-link=Clinton Presba Anderson |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220043317/http://klabs.org/richcontent/Reports/Failure_Reports/as-204/senate_956/index.htm |archive-date=2014-12-20 }}</ref>

== Personal life ==
On June 22, 1921, Anderson married the former Henrietta McCartney, and the couple returned home to Albuquerque. They had two children together: Sherburne Presba Anderson; and Nancy Anderson.{{fact|date=January 2025}}

On January 3, 1973, due to his age and growing health problems, Anderson retired after having served four terms in the U.S. Senate.{{fact|date=January 2025}}

On November 11, 1975, just two years later, Anderson died at his home in Albuquerque from a massive stroke, at the age of 80. He was buried at Fairview Memorial Park in Albuquerque. His wife, Henrietta McCartney Anderson, died nearly two decades later, on June 7, 1994, at the age of 94.{{fact|date=January 2025}}

=== Legacy ===
In 1977, Anderson was posthumously inducted into the [[International Space Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite news|date=1977-10-30|title=Space Hall Honors Pioneers|page=6|newspaper=Las Cruces Sun-News|location=Las Cruces, New Mexico|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28241576/las_cruces_sunnews/|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

In the [[Tom Hanks]] [[Limited-run series|miniseries]] ''[[From the Earth to the Moon (miniseries)|From the Earth to the Moon]]'' (1998), which aired on [[HBO]], Anderson was played by [[Mason Adams]].{{fact|date=January 2025}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{CongBio|A000186}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[https://nmarchives.unm.edu/repositories/22/resources/1454 Clinton P. Anderson Papers, 1848-1975], University of New Mexico, Center for Southwest Research
*[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/hstpaper/anderson.htm Clinton P. Anderson Papers, 1945-1948], Harry S. Truman Library
*[https://nmarchives.unm.edu/repositories/22/resources/1985 Clinton P. Anderson Photographs, 1946-1975], University of New Mexico, Center for Southwest Research

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{{Truman cabinet}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Clinton P.}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1975 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Centerville, South Dakota]]
[[Category:American Presbyterians]]
[[Category:Secretaries of agriculture of the United States]]
[[Category:Truman administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New Mexico]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from New Mexico]]
[[Category:State treasurers of New Mexico]]
[[Category:University of Michigan alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Chairs of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]]