Bourke Hickenlooper, known to his constituents as “Hick,” represented Iowa in the U.S. Senate from 1945 to 1969. During his 24 years of Senate service, Hickenlooper chaired the Republican Policy Committee and the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, and served as ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. An ardent anti-Communist, Hickenlooper opposed the censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy and sided with General Douglas MacArthur in his feud with President Truman. In 1964 Hickenlooper co-authored the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and promoted American involvement in Vietnam. After negotiating with Republican leader Everett Dirksen and bill manager Hubert Humphrey, Hickenlooper voted for cloture to end debate on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He did not, however, vote for the bill itself, arguing that it granted the federal government too much power over the lives of average Americans.
