West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown,
WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Language
English
Abstract
Transcription of an oral history interview by Niel M. Johnson of the Harry S. Truman Library with Ken Hechler. Hechler, born
1914 in Roslyn, NY, received A.B., Swarthmore 1935; M.A., Columbia 1936; Ph.D., Columbia 1940 in Political Science which he
later taught at Columbia, Princeton, and Marshall Universities. He served as a U. S. Army combat historian in Europe during
World War II. Hechler was a research assistant to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was special assistant to President Harry
S. Truman. He was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from the Fourth Congressional District of West
Virginia, 1958-77. A major part of the interview is about his work for President Truman as a speechwriter in political campaigns
dealing with issues of public concern in the immediate post-war years such as the Korean War and political corruption. After
completion of his White House duties he relocated to Huntington where as a professor at Marshall he staged a successful campaign
for U. S. Congress. He mentions, as a congressman, his independence from his own party's state machine and his promotion of
controversial causes such as implementation of civil rights and environmental protection legislation. Hechler is a popular,
progressive who used a personal contact "grassroots" approach to campaigning. Eschewing the increasing costs of political
campaigns and the heavy dependence of candidates on public relations firms, he was defeated in the late 1970's in his gubernatorial
and congressional bids. He was successful, though in making a comeback in the 1984 race for West Virginia Secretary of State.
He ends the interview by specifying the duties of this office and his accomplishments in it to date. Significant references
are made to Dean Acheson, David Bell, Robert C. Brooks, John Carroll, Clark Clifford, Dwight Eisenhower, George Elsey, Hermann
Goering, George Hechler, Lyndon B. Johnson, Max Kampelman, Estes Kefauver, Raymond Moley, Will Neal, George S. Patton, Franklin
D. Roosevelt, Samuel I. Rosenman, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Adlai Stevenson, Harry S. Truman, Harry Vaughan.
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Preferred Citation
[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Ken Hechler Interview Transcript, A&M 1164, West Virginia and Regional
History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.
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