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Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896 – September 7, 1969) was an American politician of the Republican Party. He represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives (1933–1949) and U.S. Senate (1951–1969). As Senate Minority Leader for a decade, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s, including helping to write and pass the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968, both landmarks of civil rights legislation. He was one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War and was known as "The Wizard of Ooze" for his oratorical style. ==Early life== Dirksen was born in Pekin, Illinois, a small city near Peoria. He was the son of German immigrants Johann Friedrich Dirksen and his wife Antje Conrady. Everett had a fraternal twin, Thomas Dirksen, and a brother named Benjamin Harrison, a nod to the Republican leanings of his father. The boys' father died when the twins were nine years old. Dirksen grew up on a farm on Pekin's outskirts, in a section called "Beantown" because immigrants grew beans instead of flowers. After attending the local schools, he entered the University of Minnesota Law School, but dropped out during World War I to enlist in the U.S. Army. He served as a second lieutenant in a field artillery battery. He was a member of the Reformed Church in America, founded in the 18th century by Dutch immigrants.〔Donald J. Bruggink and Kim N. Baker, ''By Grace Alone: Stories of the Reformed Church in America'' (2004) p. 162〕 After the war, Dirksen invested money in an electric washing machine business, but that enterprise failed. He joined his brothers in running a bakery. He expressed his artistic side by writing a number of unpublished short stories, as well as plays with former classmate Hubert Ropp. His political career began in 1927, when he was elected to the Pekin City Council as the city's finance commissioner. Dirksen was a Freemason, and was a member of Pekin Lodge #29 in Pekin. In 1954 he was Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. He was honored with the 33rd degree in 1954. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Everett Dirksen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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