Joseph Tydings

Infobox Senator |name=Joseph Davies Tydings
nationality=American


jr/sr=United States Senator
state=Maryland
party=Democratic
term_start=January 3, 1965
term_end=January 3, 1971
preceded=James Glenn Beall
succeeded=John Glenn Beall, Jr.
date of birth=birth date and age|1928|05|04
place of birth=Asheville, North Carolina
dead=alive
date of death=
place of death=
spouse=
religion=

Joseph Davies Tydings (born May 4, 1928) was a Democratic member of the United States Senate, representing the state of Maryland from 1965 to 1971.

Born in North Carolina, Tydings moved to Maryland as a youth after he was adopted by Millard Tydings, U.S. Senator from Maryland. After serving in the military, he obtained his law degree and entered into practice. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1955 to 1961, and as United States Attorney from 1961 until his resignation in 1963 to run for Senate.

Tydings won election to the Senate in 1964, running a campaign against the Maryland political machine. However, his controversial stances on gun control and crime in the District of Columbia cost him re-election in 1970. He made another attempt at his old seat in 1976, but was defeated in the Democratic primary election by Paul Sarbanes. He later served as a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Maryland, College Park and the University System of Maryland, and continues to practice law.

Early life

Tydings was born in Asheville, North Carolina, but attended the public schools of Aberdeen, Maryland. He was adopted as a child by Millard Tydings, who also was a Maryland Senator.cite web |url=http://lib.umd.edu/archivesum/actions.DisplayEADDoc.do?source=/MdU.ead.histms.0150.xml&style=ead |title=Papers of Millard E. Tydings |accessdate=2008-06-29 |work= |publisher=University of Maryland, College Park ] He went on to graduate from McDonogh School in 1946, the University of Maryland, College Park in 1950, and the University of Maryland School of Law in 1953.cite web |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000445 |title=Tydings, Joseph Davies |accessdate=2008-07-07 |work= |publisher=United States Congress |date= ]

Following the Second World War, Tydings served as a corporal in the Sixth Constabulary Regiment of the United States Army's European occupation. After his service, he was admitted to the bar in 1952 and was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1955 from Harford County, Maryland.

Tydings served as a delegate until 1961, when he was appointed United States Attorney for Maryland by President John F. Kennedy, one of Tydings' close friends. As U.S. Attorney, Tydings oversaw the prosecution of several people in the savings and loan business.cite news | first = John | last= Maffre | title = Tydings Enters Race With Rap At 'Old Guard' | publisher = "The Washington Post" | page = B1 | date = January 15, 1964 ] In 1963, Tydings served as the United States representative at the Interpol Conference in Helsinki, Finland, and at the International Penal Conference in Bellagio, Italy.

1964 United States Senate election

For the 1964 elections, Tydings was frequently mentioned as a potential candidate to compete for the United States Senate seat of Republican J. Glenn Beall, Sr. While initially hesitant, Tydings resigned as U.S. Attorney on November 21, 1963 to test his political support across the state.cite news | first = John | last= Maffre | title = Tydings Quits U.S. Post To Test Political Support | publisher = "The Washington Post" | page = A1 | date = November 22, 1964 ] On January 14, 1964, Tydings officially declared his candidacy, stating he was challenging the "old guard" of the Maryland Democratic Party political machine. He also said he would work to bring a "new era of leadership into Maryland".

For the primary election in May 1964, Tydings faced Maryland Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein, who had won the endorsement of both J. Millard Tawes, Governor of Maryland, and Daniel Brewster, the other U.S. Senator from Maryland. Despite the support of the party leaders, Goldstein was trounced by Tydings in the primary, losing by nearly a two-to-one margin.cite news | first = William |last=Chapman | title = Tydings Victory Sets Up Change For Democrats | publisher = "The Washington Post" | page = B1 | date = May 21, 1964 ]

Having secured his party's nomination, Tydings moved forward to face Beall in the general election. The final election results gave Tydings a large victory, with nearly 63% of 1,081,042 votes cast. [cite web |url= http://library.cqpress.com/elections/document.php?id=avg1964-2us1&type=hitlist&num=12&|title= Senate General Elections, All States, 1964 Summary|accessdate=2008-06-29 |publisher=Congressional Quarterly] His major victory was due at least in part to the landslide victory of Lyndon B. Johnson for President in the same election.cite news | first = Alan L |last=Dessoff | coauthors= Willard Clopton| title = Tydings Defeats Beall in Senate Race, Sickles, Mathias Keep House Seats | publisher = "The Washington Post" | page = A1 | date = November 4, 1964 ]

Upon his election, Tydings began to lay out his legislative agenda for his upcoming term, which included water conservation, pollution and air purity, and mass transportation. He also expressed interest in serving on the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia.cite news | first = George |last=Eagle | title = Tydings Ready to Serve On D.C. Unit if Asked | publisher = "The Washington Post" | page = B10 | date = November 8, 1964 ] Tydings was permitted to serve on the committee, and was eventually appointed chairman in 1969.

Bid for re-election

Leading up to the elections of 1970, Tydings was facing criticism for his actions as senator from both parties. In July 1970, syndicated columnist Marquis Childs noted that Tydings' problems on the left stemmed from his support of a crime bill for the District of Columbia, which was perceived as repressive against African Americans. There was also criticism directed at the bill for writing into law the practices of preventative detention and no knock warrants.cite news | first = Marquis | last=Childs| authorlink=Marquis Childs | title = Tydings' Legislative Proposals Stir Up Both Right and Left | publisher = "The Washington Post"/"United Feature Syndicate" | page = A19 | date = July 20, 1970 ]

Tydings' difficulties with the right stemmed from his sponsorship of the Firearms Registration and Licensing Act, which would have required the registration of firearms. An avid hunter himself, his efforts agitated the gun lobby and the NRA. One Maryland activist group, Citizens Against Tydings, was formed solely because of Tydings' gun registration platform.cite news | first=Richard|last=Cohen|authorlink = Richard M. Cohen | title = Tydings Is Target of U.S. Gun Lobby | publisher = "The Washington Post" | page = 53 | date = June 21, 1970 ] Further complicating his relations with the right were the efforts by the American Security Council group, which graded him as a "zero" on national security issues and spent over $150,000 to campaign against his bid for re-election.cite news | first = Bernard D |last= Nossiter | title = Group Earmarks $150,000 to Defeat Liberals | publisher = "The Washington Post" | page = A3 | date = October 26, 1970 ]

For the general election, Tydings' opponent was freshman Congressman J. Glenn Beall, Jr. from Western Maryland, the son of J. Glenn Beall, Sr., who Tydings had defeated in 1965. Beall's campaign strategy "leaned heavily on his affable, noncontroversial personality" and avoided turning the campaign negative. His strategy, in conjunction with the unpopularity of Tydings, resulted in Beall defeating him 51% to 48%.cite news | first= Lawrence|last= Meyer | title = History Full Circle In Tydings' Defeat | publisher = "The Washington Post" | page = A1 | date = November 5, 1970]

In an ex post facto review of the election, "The Washington Post" noted one of Tydings' major problems was identifying with his voters. Despite the 3-1 advantage of registered Democrats versus Republicans in the state, Tydings had been labelled as an "ultraliberal" by many Marylanders, and Vice President Spiro Agnew, former Governor of Maryland, had called Tydings "radical" while campaigning for Beall. Tydings was also wealthy, and was seen as having an "aloof" disposition.

Return to politics

Tydings resumed his legal career after he lost his Senate seat, entering into practice with a Washington law firm that included Giant Food President John Danzansky. After several years out of politics, he began traveling the state in 1975 to gauge his chances for winning a rematch versus Beall, who was coming up for re-election in 1976. On January 10, 1976, Tydings announced his candidacy to retake the seat, which he argued was taken unfairly in 1970 due to an undisclosed $180,000 gift to the Beall campaign.cite news | first= Edward|last= Walsh | title = Tydings Sets Race to Regain Old Senate Seat | publisher = "The Washington Post" | page = 21 | date = January 11, 1976]

In the primary, Tydings faced a strong challenge from Congressman Paul Sarbanes, who had declared his candidacy several months before Tydings. This head start gave Sarbanes a considerable organizational and monetary advantage, and he had already secured influential endorsements. To fend off Sarbanes, Tydings hoped his name recognition and charisma on television would compensate for Sarbanes' other advantages. He also worked to relabel himself as more fiscally conservative than Sarbanes, since both candidates were seen as liberal.cite news | first= Bill|last= Peterson | coauthors=Harold J. Logan|title = Voter Turnout Termed Key | publisher = "The Washington Post" | page = 1 | date = May 16, 1976]

On election day, Tydings needed a large margin of victory from precincts in the Washington, D.C. suburbs of Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, where he was most popular. However, despite winning both counties, Sarbanes performed well in the rest of the state and defeated Tydings by over 100,000 votes, 61% to 39%. During the campaign, Sarbanes had managed to outspend Tydings two-to-one.cite news | first= Bill|last= McAllister | coauthors=Harold J. Logan|title = Sarbanes Easy Victor | publisher = "The Washington Post" | page = A1 | date = May 19, 1976]

Post-Senate career

Tydings worked as a partner in the law firm of Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey, which collapsed in 1987.cite news | first= Tom|last= Goldstein | title = Finley Kumble Sat On A Wall | publisher = "The New York Times" | page = A1 | date = March 25, 1990| url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2DF1231F936A15750C0A966958260]

Tydings was also a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Maryland, College Park from 1974 to 1984, serving as chairman from 1982 to 1984. He later served as a member of Board of Regents of the University System of Maryland from 2000 to 2005. As of 2005, he is a senior counsel to the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro LLP in Washington, D.C., and resides in Harford County, Maryland.

References