Herbert
Lehman was born in New York City on 28th
March, 1878. After graduating from Williams College in 1899 Lehman
was employed by the textile manufacturers, J. Spencer Turner Company.
During the First World War Lehman served in
the United States Army and
by 1919 had reached the rank of colonel on the General Staff.
A
member of the Democratic Party, Lehman
served as lieutenant governor of New York (1929-32), Governor of New
York (1933-42) and Director General of the United Nations Relief and
Rehabilitation Operations in the State Department (1943-46).
A
member of the Public Advisory Boards of the Economic Cooperation Administration,
Lehman was elected to the Senate in November 1949, to fill the vacancy
caused by the resignation of Robert F. Wagner.
A
strong opponent of McCarthyism
Lehman
was one of the first senators to attack the tactics of Joseph
McCarthy. Herbert Lehman
,
who retired from the Senate in 1957, died in New
York City on 5th December, 1963.
(1)
I.
F. Stone, I.
F. Stone's Weekly (15th
March, 1954)
When Ralph Flanders of Vermont attacked McCarthy, the Senate
was as silent as it was some weeks earlier when Ellender of Louisiana
made a lone onslaught and Fulbright of Arkansas cast the sole vote
against his appropriation. Only Lehman of New York and John Sherman
Cooper (R.) of Kentucky rose to congratulate Flanders. Nobody defended
McCarthy, but nobody joined in with those helpful interjections which
usually mark a Senate speech. When the Democratic caucus met in closed
session, the Stevenson speech was ignored. Lyndon Johnson
of Texas, the Democratic floor leader, is frightened of McCarthy's
Texas backers.
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