Everett McKinley Dirksen (1896 - 1969)

Born 4 Jan 1896 in Pekin, Illinois, USA

Died 7 Sep 1969 at age 73 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Sabrina Farr [send private message]

Preceded by Scott W. Lucas

Everett Dirksen US Senator (Class 3) from Illinois[1] 1951—1969

Succeeded by Ralph Tyler Smith

Biography

Everett Dirksen is Notable.

Everett McKinley Dirksen was born in Pekin, Illinois, in January 1896, a son of immigrants Johann (John) F. Dirksen and his wife Antje (Anna). He had an identical twin brother, Thomas Reed Dirksen.^[2]

The 1900 U.S. Census recorded Everett McK. Dirksen and his twin as 4 years old (born January 1895), living with his family in Pekin, Illinois. John F. Dirksen was age 57 (born February 1843), a painter, who had arrived in the United States in 1866 and was a naturalized citizen. Antje Dirksen was recorded as age 56, but her recorded birth date of January 1854 indicates an age of 46. She had arrived in the United States in 1873. Both were recorded as born in Germany to parents born in Germany, but it is unlikely that German was their first language, as they were from the linguistically distinct region of Ostfriesland (East Frisia). They had been married 8 years. Antje apparently had been married previously, as the household included two teenage boys named Ailts who were identified as stepsons of John F. Dirksen. There also was an older Dirksen boy in addition to Everett and Thomas.^[3]

His father died before Everett was 10 years old. After her husband's death, Antje Dirksen ran the household on her own. The family had about an acre of land, upon which they raised vegetables and livestock. ^[2]

Everett's brothers left school before high school, but Everett continued to high school graduation. After high school he worked in a corn refining company. In the fall of 1914 he turned a visit to a half-brother in Minnesota into an opportunity to enroll in college at the University of Minnesota, while working to pay his expenses. ^[2]

In January 1917 he joined the U.S. Army, which took him to South Carolina to train at Fort Jackson and to France for World War I service. He remained in Europe for a while after the war ended returning home in October 1919, beginning a period of several years in which he worked in a variety of jobs and engaged in church (he was of the Reformed faith) and theatrical activities in and around Pekin. In 1927 he began his political career when he ran successfully for a seat on the Pekin city council.^[2]

In 1927 he married Louella Carver. They had one child, Danice Joy Dirksen, born 10 February 1929.^[2]

After an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1930, Everett was elected to the House as a Republican in 1932. He was to serve in the House for 16 years, from 1933 to 1949. He declined to run for re-election in 1948, largely due to problems he had experienced with his eyesight. In 1950 he was recruited to be the Republican candidate against the powerful incumbent U.S. Senator Scott Lucas, and he won the election. He was to win re-election three more times, serving in the U.S. Senate from January 1951 until his death in September 1969.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Died in office, vacant September 7, 1969 – September 17, 1969 when successor appointed.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} Mckaman, Frank H. Introduction to The Education of a Senator
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DZZQ-T5M?cc=1325221&wc=9BQV-NQ9%3A1030552601%2C1034440801%2C1036124901 : 5 August 2014), Illinois > Tazewell > ED 150 Pekin Township Pekin city Ward 3 > image 34 of 50; citing NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). Note: The census enumerator seems to have had some challenges with calculations of ages and dates.

• Dirksen, Everett McKinley. The Education of a Senator, with introduction by Frank H. Mackaman. University of Illinois Press, 1998. Borrow from https://archive.org/details/educationofsenat0000dirk/
• Find A Grave Memorial# 2566
• Everett Dirksen on Wikipedia
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress