Charles Bernard Hoeven (March 30, 1895 – November 9, 1980) was an American politician. Elected to represent districts in northern

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

for eleven terms, from the Seventy-eighth to Eighty-eighth Congresses, in all he held elective office for forty consecutive years. He was a member of the Republican Party.

Early life and education

Hoeven was born in

Hospers, Iowa Hospers is a city in Sioux County, Iowa, United States, along the Floyd River. The population was 718 at the time of the 2020 census. History Hospers was founded in 1872 when the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad was extended to that point. Th ...

; his paternal grandparents were

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

immigrants and his maternal grandparents were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

immigrants. Hoeven attended the public schools and Alton (Iowa) High School. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Hoeven served in England and France as a sergeant in Company D, 350th Infantry, 88th Division, and with the Intelligence Service of the First Battalion. He received a bachelor's degree from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

at Iowa City, in 1920 and a law degree from the

University of Iowa College of Law The University of Iowa College of Law is the law school of the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. It was founded in 1865. History The law school was founded in 1865 by George Grover Wright and Chester C. Cole as an independent la ...

in 1922.

Political career

Hoeven was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1922 and began to practice law in

Alton, Iowa Alton is a city in Sioux County, Iowa, United States, along the Floyd River. The population was 1,248 at the 2020 census. History Alton was originally called East Orange, and under the latter name was laid out in 1875 when the railroad was ex ...

. He was elected as County Attorney of

Sioux County, Iowa Sioux County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,872. Its county seat is Orange City. Its largest city is Sioux Center. History Sioux County was formed on January 15, 1851. It has bee ...

in 1924, and served in that position from 1925 to 1937. Then, he was elected to the

Iowa Senate The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the Iowa, state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, . Each Senat ...

, where he served from 1937 to 1941, the last two years as president pro tempore. In 1940, Hoeven ran for the Republican nomination in

Iowa's 9th congressional district Iowa's 9th congressional district existed from 1873 to 1943. The district was configured four times, first as part of a nine-district plan, then twice in eleven-district plans, then again in a nine-district plan. In the nine-district plans, th ...

(which was then represented by Democrat

Vincent Harrington Vincent Francis Harrington (May 16, 1903 – November 29, 1943) was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa. Harrington was commissioned in the United States Army Air Forces after the Pearl Harbor attack, resigned from Congress when President ...

Sioux City Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Iowa. The county seat of Woodbury County, Sioux City is the primar ...

). Hoeven finished a close second to

Albert Swanson Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert Computers, Inc., a computer manufacturer in the 1980s * Albert Czech Republic, a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street mark ...

in the primary, who in turn lost to Harrington in the general election by fewer than 2,500 votes out of over 130,000 cast. Newspapers and others speculated that, if Hoeven had won the primary, he would have defeated Harrington. Thus, when reapportionment shifted most of the old 9th district into

Iowa's 8th congressional district Iowa's 8th congressional district existed from 1873 to 1963. The district was configured five times. Although the district encompassed four different areas of Iowa in its ninety-year existence, it was always predominantly rural, and elected a ...

, Hoeven became an early front-runner for the 1942 Republican primary to run against Harrington. He won the primary, and received a significant boost when Harrington resigned his House seat and the Democratic nomination two months before the 1942 general election to serve full-time in the

U.S. Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

in England."Harrington Resigns from Congress," Sioux Center News, 1942-09-10, at 1. Democrats quickly nominated new candidates to serve out Harrington's 9th district term and to run against Hoeven in the 8th district, but Hoeven won the 8th district seat by over 19,000 votes. Hoeven was then re-elected to Congress from that district an additional nine times, the last time in 1960 (when he defeated future U.S. District Court Judge

Donald E. O'Brien Donald Eugene O'Brien (September 30, 1923 – August 18, 2015) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. He was ...

). Following the 1960 census, Iowa lost a congressional district, and the bulk of his territory was reconfigured as the 6th district. Hoeven was elected again. He chose not to run in 1964, the year in which 48 Republican seats (including Iowa's Sixth District) were lost to Democrats. Hoeven voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

, and

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Hoeven also served as vice president of a savings bank. In the Republican Party, Hoeven was a delegate to each Iowa State Republican Convention from 1925 to 1970, serving as chairman of the 1940 state convention. He was a delegate to the

1964 Republican National Convention The 1964 Republican National Convention took place in the Cow Palace, Daly City, California, from July 13 to July 16, 1964. Before 1964, there had been only one national Republican convention on the West Coast, the 1956 Republican National Convent ...

. In 1942, he also served as temporary and permanent chairman of Iowa Republican State Judicial Convention.

Retirement and death

After retiring from Congress, Hoeven resided in

Orange City, Iowa Orange City is a city in, and the county seat of, Sioux County, Iowa, United States. Its population was 6,267 in the 2020 census, an increase from 5,582 in 2000. Named after William of Orange, the community maintains its Dutch settler traditio ...

, where he died on November 9, 1980. He was interred in Nassau Township Cemetery, in

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoeven, Charles Bernard 1895 births 1980 deaths United States Army personnel of World War I American politicians of Dutch descent American people of German descent District attorneys in Iowa Republican Party Iowa state senators People from Alton, Iowa People from Orange City, Iowa Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa University of Iowa alumni University of Iowa College of Law alumni United States Army soldiers 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 20th-century members of the Iowa General Assembly