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Horace Jeremiah "Jerry" Voorhis (April 6, 1901 – September 11, 1984) was a Democratic politician from California. He served five terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1937 to 1947, representing the 12th Congressional district in Los Angeles County. He was the first political opponent of Richard Nixon, who defeated Voorhis for re-election in 1946 in a campaign cited as an example of Nixon's use of red-baiting during his political rise.
"Voorhis has a background of a wealthy Pasadena home and a Yale diploma. Some eight years ago his father established and endowed the Voorhis school for underprivileged boys in a magnificent setting amid orange groves south of San Dimas, Voorhis, who directs the school says the schools says that is is run on American principles and that no radical doctrine is taught." [1]Voorhis was born in Kansas, but the family relocated frequently in his childhood. He earned a bachelor's degree from Yale University (where he was elected to the academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa) and a master's degree in education from Claremont Graduate School. In 1928, he founded the Voorhis School for Boys and became its headmaster. He retained the post into his congressional career.
In the House of Representatives, Voorhis was a loyal supporter of the New Deal and compiled a liberal voting record. His major legislative achievement was the Voorhis Act of 1940 requiring registration of certain organizations controlled by foreign powers. After being re-elected by comfortable margins four times, he faced Nixon in 1946 in a bitter campaign in which Voorhis' supposed endorsement by groups linked to the Communist Party was made into a major issue. "In the Los Angeles County one of the outstanding Republican victories came when Richard Nixon, War II veteran and Whittier attorney, unseated Jerry Voorhis, who is concluding his fifth term in Congress."[2] Nixon won the Republican-leaning district by over 15,000 votes and Voorhis refused to run against Nixon in 1948.
During a writing career spanning a half-century, Voorhis penned several books. Following his defeat by Nixon, he retired from politics and worked for almost twenty years as an executive in the cooperative movement. He died in a California retirement home in 1984 at the age of 83.
"Former Congressman Jerry Voorhis, whose political tombstone became the first step in Richard M. Nixon's stairway to the presidency, died Tuesday at a retirement home in Claremont."[3]
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- ^ Watchman, T (October 2, 1936). "Radicial tag irks voorhis". The Watchman. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
- ^ "G.O.P. gains four house seats here". Los Angeles Times. November 7, 1946. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
- ^ Thackery, Ted Jr. (Sep 12, 1984). "Ex-Rep. Jerry Voorhis Dies; Lost to Nixon". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 9, 2018.