Charles E. Goodell papers

1950-1979

Charles Ellsworth Goodell (1926-1987) was born and raised in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, in western New York State. He was graduated from Williams College where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society, from the Yale School of Government where he received a master's degree, and from the Yale Law School. During W. W. II he served as a seaman in the U. S. Navy, and during the Korean conflict he was a lieutenant in the U. S. Air Force. Following a stint (1954-55) as a liaison assistant in the Department of Justice, he practiced law in Jamestown. In a special election held on May 23, 1959, he was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives, 98th Congress, to fill the vacancy created by the death of Daniel Alden Reed. In the four successive Congresses during which he represented the 43rd Congressional District (86th-87 Congress) and, subsequently, the 38th Congressional District (88th-89 Congress), Goodell acquired the reputation of an able debater and a tireless worker. Although he was, at first, a conservative Republican, he adopted increasingly liberal views on public policy. As a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, he became a consistent supporter of civil rights, school desegregation, open housing, and fair employment practices legislation. He authored two major pieces of legislation: the Manpower Development and Training Act (1962) and the Equal Pay for Women Act (1963). In 1965 he was appointed chairman of the House Republican Committee on Planning and Research.

In September of 1968 Goodell was appointed by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller to the U. S. Senate to fill the vacancy created by the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Although brief, his Senate career was productive and politically controversial. He served on the Banking and Currency Committee, the Commerce Committee, the District of Columbia Committee, and on the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs. He authored some 37 bills and resolutions (co-sponsoring numerous others) in diverse fields, including aircraft hijacking, family assistance, and drug abuse, education of criminal offenders, low-and-moderate-income housing, environmental reclamation, and revenue sharing. In foreign policy he opposed the arms race, voted against the deployment of the Safeguard ABM, and supported the suspension of all nuclear testing by both superpowers. A critic of Pentagon spending, he voted against the 1969 Military Procurement Bill and the Military Appropriations Act of 1970. It was his opposition to the Vietnam War, however, which generated the most political controversy and which led, ultimately, to the destruction of his political career. In September of 1969 he introduced the first congressional bill (The Vietnam Disengagement Act) requiring the withdrawal of all American military personnel from Vietnam by a specified date, and in May of 1970 he coauthored with Senators McGovern, Hatfield, Cranston, and Hughes the Amendment to End the War which was based upon his original bill. His opposition to the Nixon Administration's war policy resulted in his being castigated by more conservative Republicans as a "radical liberal", and to the loss of his senate seat. In the 1970 electoral campaign he was defeated by James L. Buckley, the nominee of the Conservative Party, in a political campaign which saw his public repudiation by Vice-president Agnew, and the siphoning off of much of the liberal vote by a strong Democratic candidate (Richard L. Ottinger).

After leaving the Senate Goodell practiced law in Washington, D. C. He was appointed by President Ford chairman of the Presidential Clemency Board which reviewed applications for clemency by Vietnam War resisters. His book Political Prisoners in America was published by Random House (1973).