Ken Hechler

Kenneth William Hechler (born September 20 1914) --whose baptismal name was officially changed by court order to Ken Hechler -- was a long-serving West Virginia politician.

He is a member of the Democratic Party, and a strong supporter of organized labor. He was a U.S. Representative from West Virginia from 1959 to 1977 and was West Virginia Secretary of State from 1985 to 2001.

Early life and military service

Hechler was born in Roslyn, New York on September 20, 1914. He holds a BA from Swarthmore College, and an MA and PhD from Columbia University in history and government. Hechler served on the faculty of Columbia University, Princeton University, and Barnard College in the pre-war years.

Hechler held a series of minor appointed positions in the federal civil service until he was drafted into the United States Army during World War II. After graduation from Armored Force Officer Candidate School, he was assigned as a combat historian in the European Theater of Operations, and following the war was assigned to interview many of the defendants prior to the Nuremberg Trials, including Adolf Hitler's number two man, Hermann Goering.

He was also attached to the 9th Armored Division when one of its infantry-tank task forces captured the Ludendorff Bridge spanning the Rhine river at Remagen, Germany. He interviewed several of both the US and German soldiers involved, and in 1957 published the book "The Bridge at Remagen" which was adapted into a film in 1969.

Entry into politics

He then was a White House assistant to Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953 and Research Director for Adlai Stevenson's 1956 campaign. From 1953-1957 he was associate director of the American Political Science Association in Washington, DC. Hechler then was appointed to the faculty at Marshall College (now Marshall University) in Huntington, West Virginia. He ran for United States House of Representatives from West Virginia's Fourth Congressional District, which then included Huntington and many unionized mill towns along the Ohio River north of that industrial city, in 1958. He won a narrow victory by 3,500 votes despite the fact that he had moved to West Virginia only one year before, in 1957.

In Congress, he earned a reputation as an extreme liberal and an enemy of the "machine politics" of the West Virginia Democratic Party of that era. He was the principal architect of the Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969, which for the first time put a ceiling on the amount of respirable coal dust allowed in coal mines, and stipulated stringent safety regulations which eliminated the huge mining disasters which had killed hundreds of miners up to that point. Despite his opposition to the Democratic machine, he faced little opposition in Democratic primaries and was easily reelected eight times.

In 1965, he was the only member of Congress to march with Dr. Martin Luther King at Selma, Alabama.

Election of 1972

Hechler faced a close race for the first (and as it turned out, only) time in 1972. Following the 1970 Census, West Virginia's declining population cost it a congressional district. The state legislature merged Hechler's district with most of the old 5th District, comprising several machine-dominated coal-mining counties around Bluefield and Beckley. The 5th had been represented by Democrat James Kee of Bluefield since 1965, and his family had held the district continuously since 1933. The district retained Hechler's district number--the 4th--and Huntington was far and away the biggest city in the district. However, its geography favored Kee, who had represented over 65% of the new 4th. Much to the machine's embarrassment, Hechler made the most of his union ties and won the 1972 Democratic primary by a surprisingly wide margin. This was tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic district (the Republican Party was more or less nonexistent in this region). He then worked his rural and poor district tirelessly, using a red Jeep to reach remote parts of the district. The red Jeep would become his political trademark. He was completely unopposed in both the primary and general election in 1974.

Running for Governor

In 1976, he entered a multi-candidate primary for governor, but lost that statewide race by a large margin. He then attempted a write-in campaign in his old district against the Democratic nominee, Nick Rahall. Rahall was a follower and former staffer for Robert Byrd. He lost to Rahall in a close election and lost again to him in the Democratic primary of 1978. Following these unsuccessful political bids, Hechler resumed his teaching career at Marshall University, the University of Charleston and West Virginia State University.

West Virginia Secretary of State

In 1984 he ran for West Virginia Secretary of State, winning easily. He was re-elected in 1988, 1992, and 1996. In 1990, he again ran, in the middle of his Secretarial term, for his old Congressional seat, but was badly defeated by Rahall in the primary. His term as Secretary of State is most known for his successful prosecution of Johnie Owens, whose sold his position as sheriff of Mingo County for $100,000 and was sentenced to fourteen years in federal prison. Hechler was featured in three NBC specials on the prosecution. He also persuaded the West Virginia State Legislature to require that candidates publicly register loans, with specific terms of repayment. There was a growing rift between him and union leaders over his support of tough environmental laws, thought by union leaders to be at the cost of jobs.

As Secretary of State, in 1985 he moved his legal residence to Charleston. Charleston is located in the 2nd District, which was vacated in 2000 by nine-term Democrat Bob Wise, who was running for governor. He lost a three-way Democratic primary bid for that seat. In 2000, he walked 530 miles in joining Doris Haddock ("Granny D") in her cross country walk on behalf of campaign finance reform, which resulted in the passage of the McCain-Feingold Act.

In 2004 he ran yet again for his old post as Secretary of State. This time, he won the Democratic primary by a plurality, but lost the general election to Republican Betty Ireland. Ireland's victory was somewhat of an upset but it was attributed to Hechler's age of 90 years. Because of Hechler's age the campaign gained some national attention.

External links

* [http://www.trumanlibrary.org/oralhist/hechler.htm Oral History Interview with Ken Hechler] (November 1985)
* [http://www.kenhechler.us/ Official Ken Hechler website ] (August 2007)