Sen. Vandenberg was the Republican Senator from Michigan from 1928 to 1951. He was a conservative who spent much of the Thirties in opposition to FDR’s New Deal, and he was also opposed to American involvement in overseas entanglements.
In 1946, when the Republicans won a majority in the House and Senate, Vandenberg became chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was a supporter of the United Nations, and he was instrumental in passing the the bill that aided Greece and Turkey in resisting Soviet interference in their affairs. You may have heard of the phrase “politics stops at the water’s edge.” That was coined by Vandenberg.
Vandenberg and Harry Truman, ideological opponents on most domestic policy, worked together in the late Forties to shape U.S. foreign policy. When Vandenberg died, Truman issued the following tribute:
A patriot who always subordinated partisan advantage and personal interest to the welfare of the Nation.
In his passing the Senate has lost a pillar of strength in whom integrity was implicit in every decision he made and in every vote he cast during a long tenure....
He formed his opinions only after deliberate study of every aspect of every problem that came before him. His courage was fortified by a good conscience. So he had no fear of the consequences to his personal fortunes when the time came for him to differ from men of great power and influence within his own party on the paramount issue of foreign policy.
Of course we know that his independence cost him dearly in everything save honor. But to him his country’s welfare, the security of the Nation and a just and enduring peace in a world of free men were above and beyond all other considerations....
What will they say about Mitch McConnell when he dies?
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