Guy Gabrielson
| Guy Gabrielson | |
|---|---|
| Chairman of the Republican National Committee | |
| In office 1949–1952 |
|
| Preceded by | Hugh Scott |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Summerfield |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 22, 1891 Sioux Rapids, Iowa |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Point Pleasant, New Jersey |
| Political party | Republican |
Guy George Gabrielson (May 22, 1891 – May 1, 1976) was a Republican politician from New Jersey. He served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1949 to 1952, and was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly from 1925 to 1929, and was its Speaker in 1929.
An attorney who later became a corporate executive, after leaving elective politics, Gabrielson turned to Republican politics. He rose through the ranks of Republican activists. He became a member of the Republican National Committee in 1944 and its chairman in 1948, leaving both posts in 1952.
Gabrielson was controversial at the 1952 Republican National Convention because of his support for presidential hopeful Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft, but was greeted with cheers when he opened the Convention.
After dissolving his law firm in 1959, Gabrielson served as a corporate executive, retaining several posts in the years before his 1976 death.
Contents
Early life and career
Gabrielson was born May 22, 1891 in Sioux Rapids, Iowa, the son of Frank A. Gabrielson and Ida (Janson) Gabrielson. In 1918, Gabrielson had married Cora Speer.[1]
A lawyer in private life, he was also politically active in New Jersey, serving in the state's General Assembly from 1925 to 1929, and as Speaker during the 1929 session. Gabrielson lost his seat as the Depression triggered an increasing Democratic wave.[2]
Republican politics
With few prospects in elective politics, he turned to Republican politics and became Republican National Committeeman from New Jersey in 1948. He was then elected Chairman of the RNC in 1949.
In a 1950 article in The New York Times[3] in the wake of McCarthyism,[4] he said homosexuals working for the American government were "perhaps as dangerous as actual Communists".[5]
In 1951, Gabrielson became embroiled in a loan scandal, and freshman Senator Richard Nixon (R-Calif.) called for his ouster, as well as that of Democratic National Committee chairman William M. Boyle, a close ally of President Harry S. Truman, who had a similar loan involvement. Nixon feared Gabrielson would favor California's senior senator, William F. Knowland for any national office, and desired his ouster to clear his own path to higher office.[6] Boyle resigned, Gabrielson, whose offense was much more that of appearance, did not resign.[7] Because of the enmity between Gabrielson and Nixon, the senator's name was never entered for formal consideration as a keynote speaker at the convention.[8] Gabrielson would also be one of the few Republican politicians not to offer him support after Nixon, by then the Republican Vice-presidential candidate, placed his fate in the hands of the RNC in the Checkers speech, saying that Nixon's speech (which he had not heard) did not "make sense" because it would take ten days to assemble the RNC.[9]
Gabrielson supported Taft at the 1952 convention, and the Eisenhower forces were afraid he would tilt the close convention for the Ohio senator. However, when the chairman came forward to open the convention, both sides burst into a round of applause for Gabrielson.[2]
Later life
The 1952 convention ended Gabrielson's time as RNC chairman, and he stepped down in favor of Arthur Summerfield. He left his position as committeeman from New Jersey at the end of 1952.
In 1959, Gabrielson retired from his legal practice, dissolving his firm. In his retirement, he worked for several corporations or served on their boards. He had lived from 1940 to 1975 in Bernardsville, New Jersey; he then moved to the seaside community of Mantoloking.
He died in Point Pleasant, New Jersey on May 1, 1976, having outlived Cora Gabrielson by three years, and was survived by a son and daughter.[2]
References
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External links
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Republican National Committee 1949 - 1952 |
Succeeded by Arthur Summerfield |
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ New York Times, April 19, 1950, page 25
- ↑ Paul Lyons, The New Censors: Movies and the Culture Wars, Temple University Press, 1997, page 110
- ↑ Lee Edelman, Homographesis: essays in gay literary and cultural theory, Routledge, New York & London, 1994, page 156
- ↑ Morris 1990, pp. 643–44.
- ↑ Gellman 1999, pp. 377–78.
- ↑ Gellman 1999, p. 423.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (fee for article)
