Irving Ives

Irving Ives
United States Senator from New York
In office January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1959
Preceded by	James M. Mead
Succeeded by	Kenneth Keating
Speaker of the New York State Assembly
In office January 1, 1936 – December 31, 1936
Preceded by	Irwin Steingut
Succeeded by	Oswald D. Heck
Member of the New York State Assembly from Chenango County
In office 1930–1946
Preceded by	Bert Lord
Succeeded by	Janet Hill Gordon
Personal details
Born	(1896-01-24)January 24, 1896 Bainbridge, New York
Died	Norwich, New York
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Skinner (m. 1920–47) Marion Crain (m. 1948–62)
Children	George Ives
Alma mater	Hamilton College
Occupation	Politician, banker, insurance agent
Religion	Presbyterian

Irving McNeil Ives (January 24, 1896 – February 24, 1962) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from New York from 1947 to 1959. He was previously a member of the New York State Assembly for sixteen years, serving as Minority Leader (1935), Speaker (1936), and Majority Leader (1937–1946). A liberal Republican, he was known as a specialist in labor and civil rights legislation.

Early life and education

Irving Ives was born in Bainbridge, New York, to George Albert and Lucie Hough (née Keeler) Ives. His ancestors came from England to the United States, where they settled in Boston, Massachusetts in 1635; they later helped found Quinnipiac Colony in 1638, and lived in Vermont before moving to New York in 1795. His father worked in the coal and feed business. He received his early education at public schools in Bainbridge and Oneonta, graduating from Oneonta High School in 1914.

Ives attended Hamilton College for two years before enlisting in the U.S. Army following the entry of the United States into World War I in 1917. During the war, he served with the American Expeditionary Forces in France and Germany, participating in the Meuse-Argonne and Saint-Mihiel campaigns. He was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant of the Infantry at the war's end in 1919. He then resumed his studies at Hamilton, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1920 and graduated as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

Early career

Ives worked as a bank clerk for Guaranty Trust Company in New York City from 1920 to 1923, earning $25 per week. In 1920, he married Elizabeth Minette Skinner, to whom he remained married until her death in 1947; the couple had one son, George. Joining Manufacturers Trust Company in 1923, he was placed in charge of the bank's business activity in Upstate New York and subsequently moved to Norwich. He remained with Manufacturers Trust until 1930, when he entered the general insurance business in Norwich.

On February 18, 1930, Ives was elected to the New York State Assembly (Chenango Co.) to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Bert Lord. He was re-elected many times and remained in the Assembly until 1946, sitting in the 153rd, 154th, 155th, 156th, 157th, 158th, 159th, 160th, 161st, 162nd, 163rd, 164th and 165th New York State Legislatures.

He was Minority Leader in 1935; and Speaker in 1936. His re-election as Speaker was opposed by his fellow liberal Republicans, who disagreed with his opposition to Governor Herbert H. Lehman's proposed social welfare program. Ives stepped aside in favor of Oswald D. Heck, who subsequently named Ives as Majority Leader. He served in that position from 1937 to 1946.

From 1938 to 1946, Ives was chairman of the State Joint Legislative Committee on Industrial and Labor Conditions. In this position, he earned nationwide attention for sponsoring the Ives-Quinn Act of 1945, which was the first state law to prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin. He also introduced legislation to create the state Department of Commerce and to establish the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, of which he was dean from 1945 to 1947. He also served as a member of the New York State War Council (1942 – 1946), chairman of New York State Temporary Commission Against Discrimination (1944 – 1945), and chairman of the New York State Temporary Commission on Agriculture (1945 – 1946).

U.S. Senate

In 1946, when Democratic incumbent James M. Mead decided to run for Governor of New York, Ives successfully ran for his seat in the United States Senate. He faced former Governor Lehman in the general election, during which he became the first Republican to be endorsed by the New York American Federation of Labor. He eventually defeated Lehman by a margin of 52% to 47%. He was the first Republican to represent New York in the Senate since James W. Wadsworth, Jr., who was defeated for re-election in 1927.

Despite his moderate reputation, Ives supported the Taft–Hartley Act in 1947 and voted to override President Harry S. Truman's veto of the same; he subsequently lost his longstanding support from labor unions. He served as a delegate to the 1948 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which nominated his friend and fellow liberal New Yorker Thomas E. Dewey. That same year, he married his longtime secretary, Marion Mead Crain.

Ives was re-elected to a second term in 1952, defeating Brooklyn borough president John Cashmore by 55% to 36%. He received the largest number of votes hitherto ever won by a candidate in New York, carrying all but three of the state's sixty-two counties. A strong supporter of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, he served as a delegate to the 1952 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1954, Ives unsuccessfully ran to succeed Dewey as Governor of New York. In one of the closest gubernatorial elections in state history, he was narrowly defeated by Democrat W. Averell Harriman by 11,125 votes. He was a delegate to the 1956 Republican National Convention in San Francisco, California. In 1958, he co-sponsored a bill with Senator John F. Kennedy to correct abuses within organized labor as disclosed in hearings before the Rackets Committee.

Later life and death

In 1958, Ives declined to seek re-election to a third term in the Senate. He died at Chenango Memorial Hospital in Norwich, New York at age 66. He is buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Bainbridge, New York.

Legacy

Ives is remembered with his desk on display in the Chenango Museum where it is on display all year long.

External links

• A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with Sen. Irving M. Ives (October 31, 1952)" is available at the Internet Archive
• Guide to Irving Ives. Publications, 1943-1944, 1962. 5109m. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University.

New York Assembly
Preceded by Bert Lord	New York State Assembly Chenango County 1930–1946	Succeeded by Janet Hill Gordon
Political offices
Preceded by Irwin Steingut	Minority Leader in the New York State Assembly 1935	Succeeded by Irwin Steingut
Preceded by Irwin Steingut	Speaker of the New York State Assembly 1936	Succeeded by Oswald D. Heck
Preceded by Oswald D. Heck	Majority Leader of the New York State Assembly 1937–1946	Succeeded by Lee B. Mailler
United States Senate
Preceded by James M. Mead	U.S. Senator (Class 1) from New York 1947–1959	Succeeded by Kenneth Keating
Party political offices
Preceded by Thomas E. Dewey	Republican Nominee for Governor of New York 1954 lost	Succeeded by Nelson Rockefeller