Chester Earl "Chet" Holifield (December 3, 1903 – February 6, 1995) was a businessman and politician, a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

from

California's 19th congressional district California's 19th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California, currently represented by . The district covers much of Santa Clara County, including most of the city of San Jose. Following redistricting ...

. He was known for his work on issues of atomic energy. He was born in Mayfield,

Graves County, Kentucky Graves County is a county located on the southwest border of the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,649. Its county seat is Mayfield. The county was formed in 1824 and was named for Major Benjamin Fr ...

. He moved with his family to

Springdale, Arkansas Springdale is the fourth-largest city in Arkansas, United States. It is located in both Washington and Benton counties in Northwest Arkansas. Located on the Springfield Plateau deep in the Ozark Mountains, Springdale has long been an important ...

in 1912. After attending public schools, he moved to

Montebello, California Montebello ( Italian for "Beautiful Mountain") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located just east of East Los Angeles and southwest of San Gabriel Valley. It is an independent city. east of downtown Los Angeles. It i ...

in 1920. There he worked in the manufacture and selling of men's apparel from 1920 to 1943. Becoming active in Democratic Party politics, Holifield was chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Central committee of the 51st District from 1934 to 1938. He was chair of the California State Central committee of the 12th congressional district from 1938 to 1940. He was also a delegate to each

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

from 1940 to 1964. Holifield was elected as a Democrat representing the 19th congressional district to the 78th and to the fifteen succeeding Congresses. He served from January 3, 1943 until his resignation on December 31, 1974. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1974 to the 94th Congress. Holifield resumed the manufacture and selling of men's apparel after leaving Congress. He died on February 6, 1995.

Nuclear policy

While in Congress, he was chair of the

U.S. House Committee on Government Operations The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in ...

(91st through 93rd Congresses) and the

Joint Committee on Atomic Energy The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (JCAE) was a United States congressional committee that was tasked with exclusive jurisdiction over "all bills, resolutions, and other matters" related to civilian and military aspects of nuclear power from 1946 ...

(87th, 89th, and 91st Congresses). He was a member of the President's Special Evaluation Commission on

Atomic Bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

Tests at

Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Sec ...

, 1946. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, as a member of the House Military Operations Subcommittee, he was a strong advocate of

fallout shelter A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designated to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War. Durin ...

s and said that the United States should "build a nationwide system of underground shelters". Holifield was also a congressional adviser to international conferences on uses of

atomic energy Atomic energy or energy of atoms is energy carried by atoms. The term originated in 1903 when Ernest Rutherford began to speak of the possibility of atomic energy.Isaac Asimov, ''Atom: Journey Across the Sub-Atomic Cosmos'', New York:1992 Plume, ...

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

testing, water desalinization, and

disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as ...

Alvin M. Weinberg Alvin Martin Weinberg (; April 20, 1915 – October 18, 2006) was an American nuclear physicist who was the administrator at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) during and after the Manhattan Project. He came to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 1945 ...

, who advocated

inherent safety In the chemical and process industries, a process has inherent safety if it has a low level of danger even if things go wrong. Inherent safety contrasts with other processes where a high degree of hazard is controlled by protective systems. As p ...

in reactor design, recounted an incident from 1972, where Holifield said: "if you are concerned about the safety of reactors, then I think it may be time for you to leave nuclear energy."

Legacy and honors

*In 1966, he was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Laws (L.L. D.) from

Whittier College Whittier College (Whittier Academy (1887–1901)) is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of fall 2022, had approximately 1,300 (undergraduate and graduate) students. It w ...

. *The Chet Holified Library, named in his honor, opened 1969 in Montebello, California. *The Chet Holifield Federal Building in

Laguna Niguel, California Laguna Niguel () is a city in Orange County, California, United States. The name Laguna Niguel is derived from the words "Laguna" (Spanish for "lagoon") and "Niguili" (the name of a Native American village once located near Aliso Creek). As of ...

was renamed in his honor in 1978.

References

Bibliography

* Dyke, Richard Wayne. ''Mr. Atomic Energy: Congressman Chet Holifield and Atomic Energy Affairs from 1945 to 1974''. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989; Dyke, Richard Wayne and Francis X. Gannon. *''Chet Holifield: Master Legislator and Nuclear Statesman''. With a foreword by

Gerald R. Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

and an afterword by Carl Albert. Lanham, d. University Press of America, 1996.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holifield, Chester E. 1903 births 1995 deaths People from Mayfield, Kentucky Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California People from Springdale, Arkansas People from Montebello, California Haberdashers 20th-century American politicians