- Hamilton Fish III
:"See
Hamilton Fish (disambiguation) for others with the same name."Hamilton Fish III (born Hamilton Stuyvesant Fish and also known as Hamilton Fish, Jr.; December 7, 1888 – January 18, 1991) was a soldier and politician from New York. Born into a family long active in the
politics of New York , he went on to serve in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1920 to 1945 and during that time was a prominent opponent of United States intervention in foreign affairs and was a critic of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt . When Fish celebrated his 102nd birthday in 1990, he was the oldest living American who had served in Congress.Background, family, and early life
Fish was born Hamilton Stuyvesant Fish in Garrison,
Putnam County, New York to former U.S. RepresentativeHamilton Fish II and the former Emily Mann. His paternal grandfather,Hamilton Fish , wasUnited States Secretary of State under PresidentUlysses S. Grant . The father of the first Hamilton Fish, Nicholas Fish (born 1758), an officer in theContinental Army and later appointedadjutant general of New York State by Governor George Clinton. Fish, Hamilton, III; "Hamilton Fish: Memoir of an American Patriot," pages 7-9 ]The wife of Nicholas Fish was Elizabeth Stuyvesant, a descendant of
Peter Stuyvesant , who was the Dutch colonial governor of New York. Through his mother, Emily Mann, Hamilton Fish III was also a descendant ofThomas Hooker , who settledHartford, Connecticut in 1636. Fish's uncleElias Mann was a judge and three-term mayor ofTroy, New York .Fish's great-grandmother, Susan Livingston, married
Count Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz in 1800 after the death of her husband, John Kean (who had been a delegate to theContinental Congress fromSouth Carolina .) A soldier and statesman, Niemcewicz was credited with writing thePolish Constitution of 1791 . John Kean and Susan Livingston's great-grandson, and thus a relative of Fish, wasThomas Kean , who was electedgovernor of New Jersey in 1982. ["ibid", p. 107 ]A cousin of Hamilton Fish III (also named Hamilton Fish) was sergeant in Company L of
Theodore Roosevelt 's "Rough Riders ," and the first American soldier killed in action during theSpanish-American War . At the age of ten, Hamilton Fish II had his son's name legally changed from "Hamilton Stuyvesant Fish" to just "Hamilton Fish" to honor his fallen cousin (he and Hamilton Fish III never met.) [ "ibid" p. 9-10 ]Fish's son,
Hamilton Fish IV , was a thirteen-term U.S. Representative from New York, holding office from 1969 to 1995. Fish's daughter Lillian Veronica Fish married David Whitmire Hearst, son ofWilliam Randolph Hearst . [ cite web | url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=F000141 | title=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: Fish, Hamilton Jr. | publisher=United States Congress | accessdate = 2006-12-03]Education
During his childhood, Fish attended Chateau de Lancy, a Swiss school near
Geneva , which his father also attended in 1860; there, the younger Fish learned French and played soccer. He spent summers with his family inBavaria . He began his US boarding school education atFay School inSouthborough, Massachusetts , and he later attendedSt. Mark's School , a preparatory school also in Southborough. Fish later described himself as a "B student" but successful in several different sports. ["ibid" p. 13 ]Graduating from St. Mark's in 1906, ["ibid" p. 14 ] Fish went on to attend
Harvard University . There, he played on Harvard's football team as a tackle and was a member of thePorcellian Club . Standing 6'4" and weighed 200 lbs., "Ham" Fish was highly successful as a football player; he was twice an All-American and in 1954 was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame . [ cite web | url=http://www.collegefootball.org/famersearch.php?id=12 | title=Hall of Famers: Hamilton "Ham" Fish | publisher=College Football Hall of Fame | accessdate = 2006-12-03] After graduating from Harvard, Fish continued his involvement in football. He donated $5,000 for several awards to Harvard football players; and organized theHarvard Law School football team, which played exhibition games with other colleges around the country. [ "ibid" p. 16-18 ]In 1909, aged twenty, Fish graduated from Harvard with a "
cum laude " degree in history and government. He declined an offer to teach history at Harvard and instead took a job in a New York City insurance office. [ "ibid" p. 18 ]Military service
Hamilton, having accepted Hayward's offer, became a captain in the
369th U.S. Infantry Regiment , which came to be known as the "Harlem Hellfighters." The summer after President Wilson's declaration of war against Germany (in April 1917), Fish and about two thousand soldiers began training atCamp Whitman (in New York); in October of 1917, the unit was ordered toCamp Wadsworth (in South Carolina) for further training. In November 1917, the regiment boarded the USS "Pocahontas", destined for France, although shortly thereafter the ship returned to shore due to engine problems. After another abortive departure, the ship left on December 13, 1917; despite colliding with another ship and not having a destroyer escort to protect against German submarines, the regiment proceeded to France. (Fish complained to Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt about the lack of an escort.) [ "ibid", p. 25-28 ]Fish and his unit landed in
Brest, France on December 26; the 369th was placed under the control of theFrench army by U.S. GeneralJohn Pershing . [ "ibid" p. 28 ] Altogether, the 369th spent 191 days on the front lines, which was the longest of any American regiment; it was also the first Allied regiment to reach theRhine River . Fish, as well as his sister Janet (who had been a nurse near the front lines), were both later inducted into the FrenchLegion of Honor for their wartime service. [ "ibid" p. 31 ]ervice in the U.S. Congress
First elected to fill the vacancy caused by
Edmund Platt , Fish was a member of the United States House of Representatives from November 2, 1920 until January 3, 1945, having been defeated for reelection the previous year. [ cite web | url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=F000142 | title=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: Fish, Hamilton | publisher=United States Congress | accessdate = 2006-12-03 ] In nearly 25 years as a congressman, Fish would become known as a stronganti-communist and a bitter opponent of his erstwhile friend Franklin D. Roosevelt, which raised his profile and made him an ally of the anti-Roosevelt members of Congress.He was elected to Congress in 1920 and served until 1945. He was opposed to
Franklin D. Roosevelt 'sNew Deal policies before and afterPearl Harbor . A non-interventionist until Pearl Harbor, Fish was responsible for a number of legislative and diplomatic moves aimed at helping Jews out of Hitler's Germany and turned aside as refugees. His unapologetic opposition to the New Deal provoked Roosevelt into including him with two other Capitol Hill opponents in a rollicking taunt that became a staple of FDR's 1940 re-election campaign: "Martin, Barton and Fish." Finally, in part under the influence of New York GovernorThomas E. Dewey , Fish's congressional career ended when he won the Republican Party primary in his district but lost the general election in 1944.The Unknown Soldier of World War I and The Tomb of the Unknowns
On December 21, 1920, Congressman Hamilton Fish introduced legislation which was to be among his most enduring and patriotic acts as a member of Congress. It was Resolution 67 of the 66th Congress which provided for the return to the United States the remains of an unknown American soldier killed in France during World War I and for interment of his remains in a hallowed tomb to be constructed outside the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia across the Potomac River from the nation's capital. The Congress approved the resolution on March 4, 1921. On October 23, 1921 at Chalons-sur-Marne, France, about 90 miles from Paris, remains of an unknown soldier were selected from among six caskets containing remains of unknown American soldiers killed in France. The selected remains were returned to the USA and interred at the tomb site in Arlington National Cemetery on 11 November 1921 in solemn ceremony following a state funeral procession from the U.S. Capitol building where the World War I Unknown had lain in state. The tomb, completed in 1937, came to be known as The Tomb of the Unknowns (Soldiers) which is today guarded around the clock daily by elite sentries of the U.S. Army’s historic ceremonial but combat ready 3rd Infantry Regiment – "The Old Guard." The tomb, and unknown soldiers of three U.S. wars interred there today, is thought to be the most hallowed military site in the United States and may well be Fish's greatest legacy to the nation.
Fish Committee
Hamilton Fish was a fervent anti-communist; in a 1931 article, he described communism as "the most important, the most vital, the most far-reaching, and the most dangerous issue in the world" and believed that there was extensive communist influence in the United States. [ Fish, Hamilton. "The Menace of Communism" Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1931 pp. 54-61 ]
On May 5, 1930, he introduced House Resolution 180, which proposed to establish a committee to investigate
communist activities in the United States; the resulting committee, commonly known as the Fish Committee, undertook extensive investigations of people and organizations suspected of being involved with or supporting communist activities in the United States. Among the committee's targets were theAmerican Civil Liberties Union and communist presidential candidateWilliam Z. Foster . [ "Memoirs", p. 41-42 ] The committee recommended granting theUnited States Department of Justice more authority to investigate communists, and strengthening of immigration and deportation laws to keep communists out of the United States. [ "To Seek Added Law for Curb on Reds" The New York Times, November 18, 1930 p. 21 ]Fish's alleged Nazi ties and "isolationism"
Congressman Hamilton Fish was touted by the Germans as a friendly American ally. [(Time Magazine, August 24, 1942, “Goebbels' Week”.)] "Time" magazine once termed him, “the Nation's No. 1 isolationist”. [("Time", November 16, 1942)]
On August 14, 1939, Fish, president of the U.S. delegation to the Interparliamentary Union Congress conference in Oslo, Norway, met with
Joachim von Ribbentrop . Ribbentrop served as Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany from 1938 until 1945. Fish flew to Oslo in Ribbentrop's private plane. ["Time", October 23, 1939, “Idle Hands”] Fish, a staunch opponent of Roosevelt, advocated better relations with Nazi Germany and hoped to solve the “Danzig question” during the conference in Norway. “Stepping out of Joachim von Ribbentrop's plane in 1939, Fish opined that Germany's claims were ‘just.’” ["Time", October 23, 1939.]Upon his return to the states, Fish used his office to distribute copies of "
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ". When accused ofanti-Semitism , he responded, "It doesn't bother me any. There's been too much Jewism going around anyway.". ["A Legacy of Hate: Anti-Semitism in America", by Ernest Volkman, p. 42]In 1940, just after the presidential election, Fish sent a telegram to Roosevelt which read: "Congratulations. I pledge my support for national defense ... and to keep America out of foreign wars." ["Time", November 18, 1940.]
In 1941, a judiciary panel investigating the activities of Nazi agents in the U.S., sent officers to the Washington headquarters of an anti-British organization, the Islands for War Debts Committee, to seize eight bags of franked Congressional mail containing speeches by isolationist members of Congress. George Hill, Fish’s chief of staff, had the mail whisked away to Ham Fish's office storeroom just prior to their arrival.
A grand jury was convened and summoned George Hill to explain: 1) why he had been so solicitous about the Islands for War Debts Committee's mail; and 2) his close association with
George Sylvester Viereck , a Nazi propaganda agent. (Viereck would later be convicted of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act and for having subsidized the Islands for War Debts Committee.) Hill said he had not sent for the mail and did not know George Sylvester Viereck. The jury promptly indicted George Hill on a charge of perjury.Shortly after the indictment, Congressman Fish defended Hill claiming, "George Hill is 100% O.K., and I'll back George Hill to the limit on anything."
After Hill’s verdict, Fish issued a statement: "I am very sorry to learn that George Hill, a disabled, decorated veteran of the World War and a clerk in my office, has been convicted of perjury... . Mr. Hill is of English ancestry... . He had an obsession against our involvement in war. ...". ["Time", January 26, 1942, “No Fish, But Foul”.]
An investigation by the Department of Justice produced evidence that several congressmen received funds from Nazi sources. The special assistant to the Attorney General, William Maloney convened the first grand jury investigation, which indicted 28 individuals. Among those indicted was Hamilton Fish, Republican congressman from New York. ["Time", May 11, 1942, “Two Out One to Go”. ] During trial, Hill explained that Viereck visited Capitol Hill in 1940 and arranged for wholesale distribution of Congressional speeches attacking the Administration's foreign policy. ["New York Times", February 20, 1942, p. 11.] Fish was also accused of receiving over $3,100 (approximately $41,000 in 2007 dollars) in cash from pro-Nazi sources. ["New York Times", October 29, 1942, pg. 17. ]
The Orange and Putnam district that Fish represented had begun to turn against him. Polls showed Fish would not even win the Republican primary. For the first time in his 22 years of political campaigning he opened campaign headquarters. However, soon thereafter he was publicly humiliated and repudiated by the popular Republican gubernatorial candidate, Thomas Dewey. ["Time", November 2, 1942.]
In the election of 1944, the people voted to defeat Republican isolationism and the re-election of Hamilton Fish, its most vocal proponent. "Time" magazine reported, “In New York, to the nation's delight, down went rabid anti-Roosevelt isolationist Hamilton Fish, after 24 years in Congress. His successor: liberal
Augustus W. Bennet , 47, Newburgh lawyer.” ["Time", November 13, 1944, “The New House”.]About his exit from Congress, Fish said, “It took most of the New Deal Administration, half of Moscow, $400,000, and Governor Dewey to defeat me... ." ["Time", January 1, 1945, “Last Words”.]
Embittered by his defeat, Fish promptly sued Robert F. Cutler (executive secretary of the group, Good Government Committee) for libel, seeking $250,000 in damages for advertisements depicting Fish as a Nazi sympathizer. The ads also depicted Fish associating with the "American Führer", Fritz Kuhn. He would later discontinue the lawsuit without a settlement. ["New York Times", August 26, 1944, p. 13.]
After Congress
Although pledging on December 8, 1941 that he would volunteer for the Army to avenge the
attack on Pearl Harbor , [ cite web | url=http://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrpearlharbor.htm | title=American Rhetoric - Pearl Harbor Address | accessdate = 2007-07-06 ] Fish did not serve in World War II. Instead, Fish wrote a short history of World War I and an autobiography, "Memoir of an American Patriot", published shortly after his death. For many years he was a familiar speaker at various political and veterans' functions; an indefatigable traveler, he was known to do it by car as often as not. Almost invariably, he ended such speeches with, "If there is any country worth living in, if there is any country worth fighting for, and if there is any country worth dying for, it is the United States of America." In 1958 Fish founded theOrder of Lafayette , a hereditary and patriotic organization to honor those men who fought inFrance inWorld War I andWorld War II . Fish was the Order's first President, serving for a number of years.Ancestors and descendants
Although he was the third Hamilton Fish in direct line in his family, like his father and his son, he was known as "Hamilton Fish Jr." during his time in Congress. His grandson has also been known as "Hamilton Fish III", and was publisher of the left-wing magazine "The Nation" before making his own unsuccessful run for Congress as "Hamilton Fish Jr." in 1994. He is also referred to as
Hamilton Fish V .ee also
References
Bibliography
*Hamilton Fish, "FDR The Other Side of the Coin" (Institute for Historical Review, 1976) ISBN 0-911038-64-7
*Hamilton Fish, "Tragic Deception: FDR and America's Involvement in World War II" (Devin-Adair Pub, 1983) ISBN 0-8159-6917-1
*Hamilton Fish, "Hamilton Fish: Memoir of an American Patriot" (Regnery Publishing, December 1991) ISBN 0-89526-531-1External links
*CongBio|F000142
* [http://www.collegefootball.org/famersearch.php?id=12 Biography] from theCollege Football Hall of Fame website
* [http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/fraternalism/order_of_lafayette.htm] from theOrder of Lafayette website
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.