Mike Mansfield

For other people named Michael Mansfield, see Michael Mansfield (disambiguation).

Mike Mansfield
United States Senator from Montana
In office January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1977
Preceded by	Zales Ecton
Succeeded by	John Melcher
12th United States Senate Majority Leader
In office January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1977
Deputy	Hubert Humphrey (1961–65) Russell B. Long (1965–69) Ted Kennedy (1969–71) Robert Byrd (1971–77)
Preceded by	Lyndon Johnson
Succeeded by	Robert Byrd
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Montana's 1st district
In office January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1953
Preceded by	Jeanette Rankin
Succeeded by	Lee Metcalf
22nd United States Ambassador to Japan
In office June 10, 1977 – December 22, 1988
President	Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	James D. Hodgson
Succeeded by	Michael Armacost
Personal details
Born	March 16, 1903(1903-03-16) New York City
Died	October 5, 2001(2001-10-05) (aged 98) Washington, D.C.
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Maureen Mansfield
Profession	Professor of history
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature
Military service
Service/branch	United States Navy United States Army United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1918 - 1919 (Navy) 1919 - 1920 (Army) 1920 - 1922 (Marine Corps)
Rank	Seaman (Navy) Private (Army) Private (Marine Corps)
Battles/wars	World War I

Michael Joseph Mansfield (March 16, 1903 – October 5, 2001) was an American Democratic politician and the longest-serving Majority Leader of the United States Senate, serving from 1961 to 1977. He also served as United States Ambassador to Japan for over ten years. Born in New York City to Irish Catholic immigrants, he was raised in Montana, where he graduated from the University of Montana in Missoula. Mansfield represented the state of Montana throughout his political career.

Early childhood

Mansfield was born in New York City, but moved to Montana at an early age. He was raised in Great Falls. Mansfield traced his roots in Ireland to Lowhill, County Laois.^[1][2][3]

Military service

Mansfield left home in 1917, before completing the 8th grade. He joined the United States Navy at 14 years of age on February 23, 1918. Ten months of Mansfield’s nineteen months of World War I Navy service were spent overseas. He subsequently spent one year in the Army. He was the last known veteran of the war to die before reaching the age of 100. On November 10, 1920, Mansfield enlisted a third time, now in the United States Marine Corps. He served in the Western Recruiting Division at San Francisco until January 1921, when he was transferred to the Marine Barracks at Puget Sound, Washington. The following month, he was detached to the Guard Company, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California. In April, he boarded the USAT Sherman, bound for the Philippines. After a brief stopover at the Marine Barracks at Cavite, he arrived at his duty station on May 5, 1921, the Marine Barracks, Naval Station, Olongapo, Philippine Islands. One year later, Mansfield was assigned to Company A, Marine Battery, Asiatic Fleet. A short tour of duty with the Asiatic Fleet took him along the coast of China, before he returned to Olongapo in late May 1922.^[2]

That August, Mansfield returned to Cavite in preparation for his return to the United States and eventual discharge. On November 9, 1922, Marine Private Michael J. Mansfield was released on the completion of his enlistment. He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, his character being described as “excellent” during his two years as a Marine.^{[citation needed]}

Education

Mansfield returned to Montana after his discharge where he worked in the Butte mines as a miner and mining engineer until 1930. Having never attended high school, Mansfield had to read and study to take the entrance examinations to become eligible to enter college. He attended the Montana School of Mines from 1927 to 1928 and University of Montana from 1930 to 1934, becoming a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. At the University, he was awarded the B.A. and M.A. degrees and went on to teach there for ten years. Before being elected to his first term in Congress in 1942, he was the Professor of Latin American and Far Eastern History at the University of Montana and a member of the American Federation of Teachers.^{[citation needed]}

Congressional service

Portrait of Mike Mansfield.

He served as a member of the Democratic Party in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1943 until 1953 and in the United States Senate from 1953 until 1977. During his tenure in the Senate, he served as the majority leader from 1961 to 1977; he is the longest serving majority leader in the history of the Senate.^[2]

An early supporter of Ngo Dinh Diem, Mansfield had a change of heart on the Vietnam issue after a visit to Vietnam in 1962. He reported to President Kennedy on December 2, 1962, that US money given to Diem's government was being squandered and that the US should avoid further involvement in Vietnam. He was thus the first American official to comment adversely on the war's progress.

During the Johnson presidency, Mansfield became a frequent and vocal critic of US involvement in the Vietnam War. In February 1965 he lobbied against escalating aerial bombardment of North Vietnam in the aftermath of Pleiku, arguing in a letter to the president that Operation Rolling Thunder would lead to a need for "vastly strengthened . . . American forces."^[4]

He hailed the new Nixon administration, especially the "Nixon Doctrine" announced at Guam in 1969 that the US would:

1. honor all U.S. treaty commitments against those who might invade the lands of allies of the United States;
2. provide a nuclear umbrella against threats of other nuclear powers;
3. supply weapons and technical assistance to countries where warranted but without committing American forces to local conflicts.

In turn Nixon turned to Mansfield for advice and as his liaison with the Senate on Vietnam. Nixon began a steady withdrawal of U.S. troops shortly after taking office in January 1969, a policy supported by Mansfield. During his first term, Nixon reduced American forces by 95%, leaving only 24,200 in late 1972; the last ones left in March 1973.

During the economic crisis of 1971, Mansfield was not afraid to reach across the aisle to help the economy. He said:

"What we're in is not a Republican recession or a Democratic recession; both parties had much to do with bringing us where we are today. But we're facing a national situation which calls for the best which all of us can produce, because we know the results will be something which we will regret."^[5]

Mansfield introduced the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The controversial Mansfield Amendment of 1973 expressly limited appropriations for defense research (through ARPA) to projects with direct military application.

An earlier Mansfield Amendment, offered in 1971, called for the number of U.S. troops stationed in Europe to be halved. On May 19, 1971, however, the Senate defeated this amendment by a vote of 61–36.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan

Mansfield retired from the Senate in 1976, and was appointed Ambassador to Japan in April 1977 by Jimmy Carter, a role he retained during the Reagan administration until 1988. While serving in Japan, Mansfield and his wife were highly respected; he is still a household name there to this day.^{[citation needed]} Mansfield is particularly renowned for describing the United States-Japan relationship as the 'most important bilateral relationship in the world, bar none'.^[6] Mansfield's successor in Japan Michael Armacost noted in his memoirs that, for Mansfield, the phrase was a 'mantra.' While in office, Mansfield also fostered relations between his home state of Montana and Japan. The sister city of Helena, capital of the state, is Kumamoto-shi on Kyushu.^[2]

After his retirement as ambassador, Mansfield worked as an advisor to Goldman Sachs on East Asian affairs.^{[citation needed]}

Honors

The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library at the University of Montana, Missoula is named after him and his wife Maureen,^[7] as was his request when informed of the honor. The library also contains the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center, which is dedicated to Asian studies, and, like the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, "advancing understanding and co-operation in U.S.-Asia relations." The Mike Mansfield Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Missoula was renamed in his honor in 2002.^[8]

The Montana Democratic Party holds an annual Mansfield-Metcalf Dinner named partially in his honor.

Mansfield retired in 1989. In that year he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He received the United States Military Academy's Sylvanus Thayer Award. In 1990, Japan conferred Ambassador Mansfield with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers. This is Japan's highest honor for someone who is not a head of state.^[9]

• 1989 – Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• 1990 – United States Military Academy, Sylvanus Thayer Award.^[9]
• 1990 – Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers, Grand Cordon (Japan).^[9]

Burial at Arlington

Ambassador Mansfield died from congestive heart failure at the age of 98 on October 5, 2001.^[9]

“

This gentleman went from snuffy to national and international prominence. And when he died in 2001, he was rightly buried in Arlington. If you want to visit his grave, don't look for him near the "Kennedy Eternal Flame", where so many politicians are laid to rest. Look for a small, common marker shared by the majority of our heroes. Look for the marker that says "Michael J. Mansfield, PVT. U.S. Marine Corps".

”

Remarks by Col. James Michael Lowe, USMC, October 20, 2004.^[10]

The burial plot of Senator and Mrs. Mansfield can be found in section 2, marker 49-69F of Arlington National Cemetery.

See also

	Biography portal
	World War I portal
	United States Marine Corps portal
	United States Army portal
	United States Navy portal

• List of United States political appointments that crossed party lines
• Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation
• Veterans of the First World War who died in 2001

Notes

1. ^ Laois Map and Towns
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "Mike Mansfield Quiet Leadership in Troubled Times". United States Senate. http://senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/People_Leaders_Mansfield.htm. Retrieved July 23, 2011. 
3. ^ Tribune Staff. "125 Montana Newsmakers: Mike Mansfield". Great Falls Tribune. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/multimedia/125newsmakers6/mansfield.html. Retrieved August 28, 2011. 
4. ^ Andrew J. Bacevich, Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2010), 103.
5. ^ "Economic Crisis: 1971 Year in Review, UPI.com"
6. ^ Testimony of Ambassador to Japan-designate John V. Roos before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, July 23, 2009
7. ^ "The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library". Course Catalog 2006–2007. The University of Montana. http://www2.umt.edu/catalog/manlib.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-22. 
8. ^ General Service Administration page on the Mike Mansfield Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
9. ^ ^{a b c d} Campi, Alicia. "The Role of Mike Mansfield in Consolidating Mongolia's International Status and in Establishing Diplomatic Relations with the United States," The Mansfield Foundation. May 17, 2007.
10. ^ Keystonemarines.com

References

• "Michael Joseph Mansfield — Seaman, United States Navy — Private United States Marine Corps — United States Senator — United States Ambassador". Arlington National Cemetery. http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/mjmansfield.htm. 
• Oberdorfer, Don (2003). Senator Mansfield: The Extraordinary Life of a Great American Statesman and Diplomat. ISBN 1-58834-166-6. 
• Olson, Gregory A. (1995). 'Mansfield and Vietnam, a Study in Rhetorical Adaptation. Michigan State University Press. 
• "The Honorable Michael J. Mansfield". Who's Who in Marine Corps History. History Division, United States Marine Corps. http://hqinet001.hqmc.usmc.mil/HD/Historical/Whos_Who/Mansfield_MJ.htm. Retrieved 2006-04-22. 
• Thorne, Christopher (October 11, 2001). "Laid to Rest, A Tribute to Mike Mansfield". Associated Press. http://www.missoulian.com/specials/mansfield/laidtorest.html. 
• Valeo, Francis R. (1999). Mike Mansfield, Majority Leader: A Different Kind of Senate, 1961–1976. New York: M. E. Sharpe. ISBN 0765604507. 
• Whalen, Charles and Barbara (1985). The Longest Debate: A Legislative History of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Cabin John, Maryland: Seven Locks Press. 

External links

• The Mansfield Center
• Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation
• "Mike Mansfield". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6001543. Retrieved 2008-01-14. 
• Mike Mansfield at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-01-14
• Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom – January 19, 1989
• Guide to the Mike Mansfield Papers at the University of Montana Contains his congressional and unofficial ambassadorial papers, along with audio, moving image, and photographs.

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Jeannette Rankin	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Montana's 1st congressional district 1943–1953	Succeeded by Lee Metcalf
United States Senate
Preceded by Zales Ecton	United States Senator (Class 1) from Montana 1953–1977 Served alongside: James Edward Murray, Lee Metcalf	Succeeded by John Melcher
Party political offices
Preceded by Earle C. Clements Kentucky	Senate Democratic Whip 1957–1961	Succeeded by Hubert Humphrey Minnesota
Preceded by Lyndon B. Johnson Texas	Senate Democratic Leader 1961–1977	Succeeded by Robert Byrd West Virginia
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by James D. Hodgson	U.S. Ambassador to Japan 1977–1988	Succeeded by Michael Armacost
Awards
Preceded by Ronald Reagan	Sylvanus Thayer Award 1990	Succeeded by Paul H. Nitze

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps.

Persondata
Name	Mansfield, Mike
Alternative names
Short description	United States Marine
Date of birth	March 16, 1903
Place of birth	New York City
Date of death	October 5, 2001
Place of death	Washington, D.C.