Preceded by District established Party Republican Party Political party Republican Succeeded by Joseph L. Fisher | Name Joel Broyhill Resigned December 31, 1974 Role Politician | |
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Died September 24, 2006, Arlington County, Arlington, Virginia, United States Education George Washington University | ||
Joel Thomas Broyhill (November 4, 1919 – September 24, 2006) was an American politician and a Congressman from Virginia for 11 terms, from 1953 to 1974. He represented Virginia's 10th congressional district, consisting of suburbs of Arlington, Falls Church and sections of Fairfax County and Alexandria, and was known for his opposition to integration in the 1950s and 1960s.
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Early life
At the age of eighteen, Broyhill moved to Arlington when his father relocated his building and real estate firm, M.T. Broyhill & Sons Corporation , in the area. He then attended George Washington University from 1939–1941. He enlisted in the United States Army in February 1942. He served in European Theater as a captain in the 106th Infantry Division. He narrowly escaped death when Allied planes bombed the Nazis, and the explosions harmed his hearing for life. Captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge, he escaped six months later from a prisoner-of-war camp and rejoined advancing U.S. forces. He was released from active duty November 1, 1945. Among his military awards was a Bronze Star Medal.
After the war, he rejoined his family's real estate firm, where he became partner and general manager.
Politics
He was president of the Arlington County Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Arlington County Planning Commission. In 1950 he was elected president of the Arlington Republican Club.
Elected to Congress
In 1952 he ran for Congress in a bid to become the first representative of Virginia's new 10th district, and won on his 33rd birthday. Broyhill defeated Democrat Edmund D. Campbell by 322 votes, riding the coattails of the Dwight D. Eisenhower and Republican Party landslide that year. He won his next ten elections but lost during the Democratic landslide in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal and the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Broyhill's district had been carved out of the old 8th district, then represented by Howard W. "Judge" Smith, a legendary and powerful Democrat who controlled legislation through his chairmanship of the House Rules Committee. The Washington Post wrote
Congressional career
After taking office, Broyhill developed a reputation for constituent service that became legendary. A messenger came to his office every 30 minutes to pick up the Western Union telegrams his office would fire off to government agencies on behalf of constituents.
The Washington Post wrote:
Broyhill served on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, as well as the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee. In 2000, Congress named the postal building at 8409 Lee Hwy. in Merrifield, Virginia after him. In his remarks on the legislation, Congressman Frank Wolf noted:
On national issues, Broyhill supported the Republican legislative programs of Eisenhower and Nixon. In the Democratic administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, he opposed programs of the New Frontier and the Great Society.
Broyhill was a strident opponent of integration. In 1955, he was one 81 US Representatives who vowed to oppose by "every lawful means", the U.S. Supreme Court holding in Brown v. Board of Education which outlawed segregation. He and Richard Harding Poff of Virginia were the only two Republicans to sign the Southern Manifesto. As a longtime member of the committee overseeing the District of Columbia he, along with three other members of Congress, recommended that schools in the District reinstitute segregation.
In 1974 he announced his intention to retire, but was persuaded to seek another term at the request of Vice President Gerald R. Ford. He ended up losing to Democrat Joseph L. Fisher, as the GOP suffered landslide defeats in reaction to the Watergate scandal. His defeat was considered one of the biggest upsets nationally that year.
After leaving office, he served as campaign manager for Senator John W. Warner's successful first run, but primarily he was involved with real estate. His firm developed several neighborhoods in Northern Virginia, including Broyhill McLean Estates, Broyhill Forest, and Sterling Park.