Louis Charles Rabaut (December 5, 1886 – November 12, 1961) was an American lawyer and politician from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. He was a Democratic

congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

representing

Michigan's 14th congressional district Michigan's 14th congressional district was a congressional district that stretched from eastern Detroit westward to Farmington Hills, then north to the suburb of Pontiac. From 1993 to 2013, it was based entirely in Wayne County. It was last ...

from 1935 to 1947, and from 1949 to 1961. He is best known for introducing legislation that added the words "under God" to the

Pledge of Allegiance The U.S Pledge of Allegiance is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States. The first version was written in 1885 by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army o ...

Family and early life

Louis Charles Rabaut, the grandson of immigrants from

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...

West Flanders West Flanders is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the northwest. It has land borders with the Dutch province of Zeeland to the northeast, the Flemis ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

to Louis Aloysius and Clara Lenau Reid Rabaut, who operated a wholesale toy and fireworks store. In 1911, he married Stella Marie Petz, with whom he had nine children. Rabaut graduated from

Detroit College The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catho ...

in 1909 and from the

Detroit College of Law The Michigan State University College of Law (Michigan State Law or MSU Law) is the law school of Michigan State University, a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan. Established in 1891 as the Detroit College of Law, it was the f ...

in 1912. He was admitted to the

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in 1912 and commenced practice in Detroit.

Political career

In 1934, Rabaut defeated incumbent Carl M. Weideman in the Democratic primary elections for the Michigan's 14th district to the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

. He went on to be elected to the

74th Congress The 74th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 193 ...

and to the five succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1935 to January 3, 1947. In 1946, he was defeated by Republican Harold F. Youngblood. He successfully regained his seat from Youngblood in 1948 to be elected to the

81st Congress The 81st United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 194 ...

and the six succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1949 until his death on November 12, 1961. In 1951, he argued for

price controls Price controls are restrictions set in place and enforced by governments, on the prices that can be charged for goods and services in a market. The intent behind implementing such controls can stem from the desire to maintain affordability of go ...

, stating:

"This
Eighty-second Congress The 82nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 1 ...
stands at the threshold of immortality. We have an opportunity that few Congresses have to insure our place in history. If we deny to the Government the authority to roll back prices and maintain firm economic controls, we are sure to be remembered. We will be remembered by the American people as 'the horse-meat Congress' -- the Congress that put the old gray mare on the family dinner table."

Amending the Pledge of Allegiance

On April 20, 1953, prompted by a letter from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

resident H. Joseph Mahoney, Rabaut submitted a resolution to amend the

with the words "under God". The practice had been adopted several years earlier by the

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic Church, Catholic Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney, Blessed Michael J. McGivney. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. ...

. Rabaut's bill was the first of many similar efforts, culminating in Representative Charles Oakman and Senator Homer Ferguson's

joint resolution In the United States Congress, a joint resolution is a legislative measure that requires passage by the Senate and the House of Representatives and is presented to the president for their approval or disapproval. Generally, there is no legal diffe ...

in 1954. Speaking in support of the bill, Rabaut said:

You may argue from dawn to dusk about differing political, economic, and social systems, but the fundamental issue which is the unbridgeable gap between America and Communist Russia is a belief in Almighty God. From the root of atheism stems the evil weed of communism and its branches of materialism and political dictatorship. Unless we are willing to affirm our belief in the existence of God and His creator-creature relation to man, we drop man himself to the significance of a grain of sand and open the floodgates to tyranny and oppression.

The bill passed and was signed into law by President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

on June 14,

Flag Day A flag day is a flag-related holiday, a day designated for flying a certain flag (such as a national flag) or a day set aside to celebrate a historical event such as a nation's adoption of its flag. Flag days are usually codified in national s ...

Final years

Reflecting on his time in Congress, Rabaut told an interviewer in 1959:

Why, we're the guinea pigs of the country. We have to go back to the country every two years and face the people. The senators can stay down here and do what they want for four years, and then get awful nice the last two years and rely on the short memory of the people.

Death

Rabaut died in

Hamtramck, Michigan Hamtramck ( ; ; ; ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An enclave of Detroit, Hamtramck is located roughly north of downtown Detroit, and is surrounded by Detroit on most sides. As of the 2020 census, the city had a po ...

and was interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan. He was succeeded in office by Democrat Harold M. Ryan, who was elected in a special election on February 13, 1962.

Memorials

Rabaut served as the Chair of the House Subcommittee on the District of Columbia from 1955 until his death in 1961. As a result, both a park and a Junior High School in the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

were named after him. Rabaut Park is located on Mt. Pleasant Street between 16th and Harvard Streets NW. Rabaut Junior High School was built at 100 Peabody Street, NW in 1966. It was closed in the 1990s, and in 2012 became the home of Capital City Public Charter School.

References

External links

The Political Graveyard

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabaut, Louis Charles 1886 births 1961 deaths University of Detroit Mercy alumni American people of Belgian descent Politicians from Detroit Detroit College of Law alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy alumni Michigan lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives