Clair Engle (September 21, 1911July 30, 1964) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1959 until his death in 1964. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for participating in the vote breaking the filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the U.S. Senate while partially paralyzed and unable to speak, shortly before his death from a brain tumor. Engle previously served in the California State Senate from January to August 1943 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from August 1943 until January 1959.
Early life
Engle was born in Bakersfield, California, to Fred Engle, a rancher who had been a teacher and a lawyer, and his wife, Carita. His parents named him after his aunt, who had assisted in his birth, and his name would become the source of many folksy stories over the years.
Like his two brothers, he was active in outdoor activities and attended public schools in Shasta and Tehama counties. His fellow students at Red Bluff High School elected him their student body president.
In 1928, he enrolled at Chico State Teachers College, and he graduated in 1930. He then attended University of California Hastings College of the Law, and graduated in 1933. Although Engle had a reputation for straight-laced religiosity at both institutions, he eloped to marry his first wife, Hazel. They divorced in 1948 and Engle married his second wife, Lucretia Caldwell, a congressional secretary from San Jose.
Early career
Admitted to the California bar in 1933, Engle set up a practice in Corning and soon ran for District Attorney of Tehama County. Just 23 years old at the time of his victory, he would hold that office from 1934 to 1942.
In 1942, he won election to the California Senate, representing Tehama, Glenn and Colusa counties but ended up serving in that body for little more than a few months. His main accomplishment was passing a law to allow the conversion of unused fairgrounds in order to house migrant farmworkers and ease a severe labor shortage.
He was sometimes jokingly referred to as "Congressman Fireball" because of his activity, his colorful language, the location of the geologically active Mount Lassen in his district, and the clouds of smoke from his cigars.
U.S. Senator
Engle won election as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in the 1958, the year of a Democratic landslide. He defeated the incumbent governor Goodwin J. Knight, thus becoming the first Democrat elected to that Senate seat in the 20th century. He succeeded William F. Knowland, who had given up the seat in an unsuccessful run for governor, losing to Pat Brown.
Engle began his term on January 3, 1959. He worked with Senator Thomas Kuchel to pass the San Luis water project, the West Coast electric power intertie and the Point Reyes National Seashore. Engle also promoted federal public transit assistance and civil rights legislation to assist his urban constituents. The cloture vote was 71–29, four votes more than the two thirds required to end the filibuster. Nine days later, the Senate approved the Act itself.
Death and legacy
Engle died in Washington, D.C., a month and a half later, aged 52. He was survived by his parents, his wife and his daughter from his first marriage, Yvonne Engle Childs. The Senate Chaplain led the memorial service at Fort Myer, Virginia, which Chief Justice Earl Warren attended. Approximately 3,000 mourners attended his funeral in Red Bluff at the First Methodist Church. He was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. His papers are held in the library at California State University, Chico.