Homer E. Capehart, United States Senator, 1944-1962

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate and chronicle the career of conservative Republican Senator, Homer E. Capehart who served Indiana during the administrations of Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy.While the dissertation examined the long political career of the Indiana Senator, special emphasis was placed upon Capehart's contribution as a "cold warrior" to the formation of American foreign policy from World War II to 1962.Most of the information collected on the Senate career of Capehart came from the following sources: (1) Interviews conducted with the former Senator and numerous individuals, both friend and foe, who were personally involved in Capehart's turbulent political career; (2) Correspondence conducted with several individuals who had direct knowledge of Capehart's career; (3) Many newspaper and magazine articles reporting the Senator's statements, senatorial and public performance during his three terms; (4) Books concerning political topics in which Capehart had a direct involvement; (5) The Congressional Record and the Congressional Quarterly Almanac,, recording the Senator's public statements and voting records; (6) The extensive collection of private documents and letters of the "Capehart Collection" located in the Indiana State Historical Library; and (7) Valuable information gathered from other Indiana public university libraries, especially Indiana University.The dissertation investigates Senator Capehart's contributions against the background of the Cold War. The paper is organized chronologically. Each chapter deals with a specific interval in Homer Capehart's career. The first chapter details Capehart's early life and subsequent business career. The second chapter investigates Capehart's rise to political power. The third chapter examines the early days of Capehart's Senate tenure under the Truman administration. The fourth chapter chronicles Capehart's political career during the Eisenhower years. The final chapter looks at Capehart's career during the Kennedy administration with special attention directed toward Capehart's involvement in the Cuban missile crisis and his last political campaign.Capehart, the politician businessman, was the personification of the Horatio Alger saga. The former Senator, who was born into a poor Southern Indiana rural environment, had amassed a personal fortune in the jukebox business by his 40th birthday. Politically, life began at 40 for Capehart who then directed his talents and tremendous energy toward establishing a powerful political base from which he eventually secured a seat in the United States Senate.Capehart went to Franklin Roosevelt's Washington as a businessman, and as a vociferous supporter of free enterprise during the final days of World War II. He gained his senatorial reputation as a loyal protege of Senator Robert A. Taft who led the fight against President Truman to deregulate the domestic economy and to prevent the internationalization of the nation's foreign policies. Capehart became a respected member of the conservative Republican Foreign Relations Committee and a powerful member of the Senate Banking Committee during the Eisenhower years. During the Kennedy era, he became a vocal opponent of Democratic "fiscal irresponsibility" and an acknowledged expert on Latin American affairs. Capehart was one of the chief critics of the Kennedy administration's handling of the Cuban missile crisis, a position which not only gave him his greatest national publicity but which, ironically, also contributed mightily to his final political defeat.Thesis (D. Ed.