Idaho Senators Take On Jim Crow

Revised December 10, 2022

In the mid-20^th century, two Idaho senators challenged racial segregation in the United States, while representing a state whose population, in 1950, was nearly 100% white. In 1948, Glen Taylor, who had gone to the Senate in 1944 as a Democrat, was arrested for violating a Jim Crow ordinance in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was campaigning for the vice presidency on the Progressive Party ticket he shared with presidential candidate, Henry A. Wallace. Nine years later, the newly-elected Frank Church, who had defeated Taylor in the 1956 Democratic Party primary, did more than support the Civil Rights Act of 1957, he was instrumental in securing its passage in the U.S. Senate. 

Glen Hearst Taylor and Frank Forrester Church were “two amazingly different individuals” who held the common belief that systemic racism in the United States was a moral wrong. But more importantly, both men also shared a personal commitment to doing something to right the wrong. Taylor, who had a talent for the theatrical, chose to draw attention to himself to focus the nation’s eyes on the Jim Crow system of segregationist laws. Church, too, drew upon his personal strengths, especially his determination to solve complex problems through analysis and compromise. (Peterson, email message, April 13, 2021) 

Glen Hearst Taylor

Glen Taylor

Throughout his life, Glen Taylor was no stranger to the limelight, nor were other members of his family. At the time of Glen's birth on April 12, 1904, in Portland, Oregon, for example, his father, Pleasant John Taylor, a "minister of the gospel," was holding "a protracted meeting." Pleasant John had traveled to the city from the family's home on the banks of the Clearwater River in northern Idaho "to try to save the souls of some of the sinners there," and had taken his entire family of wife Olive and their 11 children with him. As a teenager, Taylor (the 12th of a total of 13 children) joined his older brother John’s theatrical company and went on to own and manage "various entertainment enterprises." While Taylor's musical genre was country and western, his older sister, Lena, preferred jazz and later became famous under her professional name, Lee Morse. (Peterson, Prophet without Honor, 2-3; Wikipedia, 1) 

Taylor first became active in Democratic politics in the 1930s when he was living in Pocatello in eastern Idaho. After several unsuccessful attempts at political office, Taylor was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1944. There, he became known as “The Singing Cowboy” and got his (and his horse’s) picture in the paper when he rode “Nugget” up the steps of the Capitol Building. Once at work in the Senate, however, Taylor took his job seriously and never shied away from voicing his opinions about important issues, such as foreign affairs and civil rights. 

Two years into his term, Taylor “had established himself as an important member of the liberal bloc,” according to William C. Pratt in “Glen H. Taylor: Public Image and Reality.”  In addition, by mid-year, he also made his stance on civil rights clear by supporting antilynching legislation and by requesting that the Senate investigate Senator Theodore G. Bilbo, whom Taylor believed had instigated the “open violation” of the constitutional rights of Blacks in Mississippi. Taylor carried the fight forward into the next Congress when, on January 3, 1947, he “moved to deny Bilbo his seat because he had urged the violation of the Constitution.” (Pratt, 15) 

Taylor’s commitment to civil rights intensified after he took up Henry A. Wallace’s offer of the “second spot” on the Progressive Party ticket of 1948. According to Taylor’s biographer, F. Ross Peterson, the party ticket “had a wide ranging Civil Rights plank,” which Wallace and Taylor “constantly defended.” In fact, on the campaign trail in Birmingham, Alabama, Taylor decided to challenge the state’s meticulously-enforced system of Jim Crow laws. Being the showman that he was, Taylor purposefully decided to break the law in the hope that his arrest would be covered by newspapers throughout the United States. Surely, the sight of a white U.S. Senator (and vice presidential candidate) being arrested and led to jail would be a sure-fire way to bring racial segregation to the forefront. (Pratt, 14; Peterson, email message to author dated April 13, 2021) 

Taylor’s plan worked. On the night of May 1, officers from the Birmingham Police Department arrested the Senator as he tried to enter the Gospel Alliance Tabernacle through the entrance marked “colored.” Officer W.W. Casey physically blocked Taylor from entering the building, and with the help of four additional officers, escorted the “cowboy senator” to a police car. At the station, Taylor was booked, fingerprinted, and released on $100. bond. He was later convicted of disorderly conduct. (New York Times, 1; Wisconsin State Journal, 1) 

The story of Taylor’s arrest made the front page of newspapers throughout the United States. From New York City to Sacramento, from Battle Creek to Amarillo, the headlines shouted the story: “Glen Taylor Seized, Fingerprinted as He Flouts Alabama Segregation,” New York Times, May 2; “Police Arrest Sen. Taylor After Melee,” Birmingham News, May 2; “Glen Taylor, Wallace’s Running Mate, Arrested,” Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, May 2; “Taylor is Arrested in Alabama For Using Negro Door to Hall,” Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho, May 2. 

As successful as was Taylor’s act of civil disobedience in generating attention on civil rights, it did little to enhance his political career. Up for re-election in 1950, Taylor failed to retain his seat in the Senate, losing to David Worth Clark in the Democratic Party primary. For the next four years, Taylor took a break from politics. In 1954, he ran for the Senate again and even won the Democratic Party primary but lost the race to Republican incumbent, Henry Dworshak. Two years later, Taylor tried one last time but lost in the primary to a youngster named Frank Church. 

Frank Church

Frank Church

Frank Forrester Church III was born in Boise, Idaho, on July 25, 1924. According to his biographers, LeRoy Ashby and Rod Gramer, Church "enjoyed a remarkable secure and happy" childhood, despite suffering from severe respiratory infections. After graduating from high school in 1942, Church attended Stanford University until he entered the army in 1943 and served in Military Intelligence in Asia; he was discharged in 1946. The next year, he not only graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in history but also made the best decision of his life: he married Bethine Clark. A member of one of Idaho’s most prominent political families, Bethine was always at Frank’s side throughout their marriage, his best friend and political partner. Frank even credited her for saving his life when he was first diagnosed with cancer shortly after he and Bethine were married. 

Lady Bird Johnson, left; Bethine Church, right
c. 1965

In 1950, Church graduated from Stanford Law School, and after being admitted to the bar, practiced law in Boise. There, he also got involved in politics. Although he failed to win a seat in the Idaho state legislature in 1952, four years later, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, after having defeated two candidates with much greater name recognition. Church defeated Glen Taylor in the Democratic Party primary and Republican incumbent Herman Welker in the general election. He was all of 32-years-old.  

Shortly after taking his seat in the Senate in 1957, Church came to the attention of the Senate Majority Leader, Lyndon Johnson. Determined to pass some form of civil rights legislation – the first since Reconstruction – Johnson needed allies, and “senators from the Rocky Mountain states, with virtually no black constituencies” seemed apt choices for his coalition. Church would be, in fact, “instrumental in passing the 1957 Civil Rights Act.” Yet, his role in the process was controversial. His advocacy of a jury trial amendment to the legislation polarized the Senate, as well as concerned Americans. Northern liberals and civil rights activists condemned him, while southern Democrats in the Senate, and racists across the nation, offered praise. (Ashby and Gramer, 75; Ashby and Gramer, 91) 

“The basic idea behind the amendment was that even violators of civil rights laws had the right to a trial by jury,” write Ashby and Gramer in their biography of Church, Fighting the Odds, “but critics viewed the amendment as a blatant effort to gut the bill.” Church, on the other hand, after watching the amendment evolve through several versions, came to regard it as key to the future of the legislation. While he “increasingly questioned the wisdom of trying to gain a right (voting) by taking away a right (trial by jury),” Church came up with a way to “resolve this dilemma.” (Ashby and Gramer, 84; Ashby and Gramer, 87) 

Seeing the amendment as “a way to end the legislative standoff,” Church introduced an addendum “that would repeal sections of the U.S. Code barring people who could not meet state qualifications from federal jury duty. This change would presumably open federal juries in the South to blacks.” Johnson “eagerly pounced on the idea,” seizing “it as the dynamite with which to blast loose the civil rights logjam.” Church and Johnson were right. Less than a month after the amendment passed on a 51-42 vote, the Senate passed the 1957 Civil Rights Act. A few days later, on September 9, President Eisenhower “signed a slightly revised version” of the bill into law. (Ashby and Gramer, 87-88; Ashby and Gramer, 88; Ashby and Gramer, 91)

At the time, even Church saw the Civil Rights Act of 1957 as “a minimal law,” but it was one, he argued, that was on the books – better than a strong one dying slowly on the Senate floor. Over time, the legislation has come to be recognized as a “significant “first step.” In addition to providing provisions to protect voting rights, the legislation also established the Civil Rights Division within the Justice Department and created the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. Its greater importance, however, was symbolic; the legislation “signaled a growing federal commitment to the cause of civil rights.” (Ashby and Gramer, 93) 

As significant as he was to the civil rights movement, Church is probably best remembered for chairing what is informally known as the "Church Committee." In 1975, the Senate formed a select committee to investigate the activities of the nation's intelligence organizations, namely the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The committee's investigation, and that of the House's committee, disclosed that the agencies had engaged in a wide range of secret operations against individuals who had been deemed threats to the national security. 

In 1976, Church made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency, and in 1980, he ran again for the Senate but lost to Republican Steve Symms in a very close race. From 1981 until his death from cancer at age 59 on April 7, 1984, Church practiced law in Washington, D.C. Three weeks after Church's death, Glen Taylor also died. He died at age 80 of Alzheimer's disease in Burlingame, California. (Ashby and Gramer, 99) 

Despite the differences in their personalities and backgrounds, Frank Church and Glen Taylor had much in common; both were, after all, Idahoans, and perhaps it was their shared heritage of Western independent thought and action that best explains why both men “stuck-to-their-guns” regardless of the consequences. Taylor knew, for example, that he would never get re-elected to the Senate if he accepted the “second banana” slot on the 1948 Progressive Party ticket, but he believed that “the question of peace or war” was “more important than any other consideration.” Church, too, heeded his conscience. As early as 1963, for instance, he “began speaking against the Vietnam War, long before it was fashionable in conservative states such as Idaho, or even among liberal Democrats.” (Third Party Second Bananas, “Glen Hearst Taylor” from New York Times, May 5, 1984; Washington Post, “Frank Church Dies,” April 8, 1984, 1) 

As their records clearly show, Senators Taylor and Church acted upon their shared conviction that all Americans, regardless of their race, were entitled to equal treatment under the law. By putting the greater good before their own self-interests, statesmen Glen Hearst Taylor and Frank Forrester Church deserve the admiration of each and every Idahoan...and each and every American.   

Text Sources:

Ashby, LeRoy and Rod Gramer. Fighting the Odds: The Life of Senator Frank Church, Washington State University Press, Pullman, Washington, 1994. 

Associated Press. The New York Times, “Glen Taylor Seized, Fingerprinted as He Flouts Alabama Segregation,” May 2, 1948, p. 1. 

Birmingham News. “Police Arrest Sen. Taylor After Melee,” May 2, 1948, p. 1. 

Civil Rights Act of 1957, Civil Rights Digital Library, Digital Library of Georgia, last visited April 23, 2021.

Flint, Peter B. The New York Times, “Glen H. Taylor of Idaho Dies; Wallace Running Mate in ’48,” May 5, 1984. 

Great Falls Tribune. “Sen. Glen Taylor, Running Mate of Wallace, Arrested,” May 2, 1948, p. 1. 

Hunter, Marjorie. The New York Times, “Frank Church of Idaho, Who Served in the Senate for 24 Years, Dies at 59,” April 8, 1984. 

Pearson, Richard. The Washington Post, “Frank Church Dies,” April 8, 1984. 

Peterson, Ross F. Prophet without Honor: Glen H. Taylor & the Fight for American Liberalism, The University Press of Kentucky, 1974.

Peterson, Ross. “Re: Glen Taylor, Frank Church, Civil Rights,” Message to Julie Monroe, April 13, 2021, E-mail. 

Pratt, William C. “Glen H. Taylor: Public Image and Reality,” Pacific Northwest Quarterly, v. 60, no. 1, Jan. 1969, pp. 10-16. 

Third Party Second Bananas, “Glen Hearst Taylor,” last visited April 23, 2021. 

Times-News. “Taylor is Arrested in Alabama for Using Negro Door to Hall,” May 2, 1948, p. 1. 

Wikipedia. “Glen H. Taylor,” last visited April 22, 2021.

Wisconsin State Journal. “Glen Taylor, Wallace’s Running Mate, Arrested,” May 2, 1948, p. 1. 

Image Sources:

Boise State University, Albertsons Library, Frank and Bethine Church Digital Collection, "Bethine 097," use approved April 26, 2021.

Wikimedia Commons. “Frank Church,” last visited April 22, 2021. 

Wikimedia Commons. “Frank Church presidential campaign, 1976,” last visited April 22, 2021. 

Wikimedia Commons. “Glen H. Taylor,” last visited April 22, 2021. 

Wikimedia Commons. “Lee Morse circa 1930,” last visited April 22, 2021. 

Wikimedia Commons. “Name of the Jim Crow typeface,” last visited April 22, 2021.