M Caldwell Butler

Early and family life

Born in Roanoke, Virginia, to William Wilson Samuel Butler and the former Sarah Poage Caldwell, Butler attended public schools. He was an Eagle Scout and graduated from Jefferson Senior High School in 1942. He then began undergraduate studies in Richmond as well as joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps. After training at Columbia University, Butler was commissioned an Ensign in the United States Navy (assigned to command a rescue boat in Rhode Island). Upon his discharge in 1946, Butler completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Richmond in 1948. He went to Charlottesville to attend the University of Virginia Law School and graduated with a LLB degree in 1950. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Order of the Coif and the Raven Society.

He married June Parker Nolde of Richmond, and in their 64 years of marriage they raised four sons: Manley, Henry, Jimmy, and Marshall. Butler was a lifelong member of St. John's Episcopal Church in Roanoke, and served on its vestry. He was descended from Chief Justice John Marshall and served on the board of the John Marshall Foundation. His great-grandfather James A. Walker was also a Virginia lawyer and politician, and a Confederate general during the American Civil War.

Career

Butler was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1950 and began a private legal practice in Roanoke.

Butler's first political campaign was for Roanoke City Council in 1958, and he lost. However, in 1961, Butler became the first Republican to represent Roanoke in the Virginia House of Delegates since 1901. In the widespread upset over closing of Virginia's public schools because of U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd's vow of Massive Resistance to the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Brown v. Board of Education, Butler defeated veteran Byrd Organization Democrat Julian H. Rutherford Jr., who had served since 1948.

Butler represented Roanoke in the House of Delegates (a part-time position) from 1962 to 1971. He fought corruption, such as a local highway commissioner with a conflict of interest, and revitalized a two-party system as the Byrd Organization crumbled. Butler became involved in redistricting controversies, necessitated by censuses, as well the Supreme Court decision in Davis v. Mann and federal civil rights legislation.

He later called helping to revitalize a two-party system in Virginia "the greatest thrill of my life." Butler served as chairman of the joint Republican caucus from 1964 to 1966, and as minority leader from 1966 to 1971.In representing Roanoke in the House of Delegates, Butler served alongside Democrat Kossen Gregory until 1963, then Democrat Willis M. Anderson. In the 1971 elections Ray L. Garland and John C. Towler replaced Anderson and Butler. In 1970, his law partner Linwood Holton was elected Governor of Virginia. Holton later recalled Butler's ability to make alliances, as well as his ability to concentrate on specific issues.

When United States Representative Richard H. Poff, a fellow Republican, resigned, Butler won the special election to fill the vacancy in the Sixth Congressional District. He initially supported President Richard M. Nixon, crediting his own victory to the coattails of Nixon's landslide in the 1972 elections. However, he came to question the president's conduct, particularly as the Watergate tapes revealed dirty tricks and chicanery at the White House, and began to work with a bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans, northerners and southerners. The freshman representative drew national attention on July 25, 1974 when he questioned Nixon's conduct during the impeachment hearings, noting that for years Republicans had campaigned against corruption and misconduct, "Watergate is our shame." Two days later he and a majority of the committee voted to impeach President Nixon, and Nixon resigned the presidency the following month.

Despite his mother's warnings about endangering his political career, Butler never questioned the appropriateness of his vote, though fellow Republicans may have disciplined him with unfavorable committee assignments. Those who knew Butler said that he was "free of politics" and acted more like a judge.

Voters appreciated Butler's courage, for he won re-election to the four succeeding Congresses (November 7, 1972 – January 3, 1983) (the last two unopposed) and served a decade on the House Judiciary Committee. He also participated in the hearings for vice-presidents Gerald R. Ford and Nelson Rockefeller, and in the creation of the Legal Services Corporation. He was the main author of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978. In 1982, he chose not to seek re-election but instead resumed practicing law in Roanoke the following year with Woods, Rogers & Hazelgrove although he also served on the National Bankruptcy Review Commission in 1995-1997.

Death and legacy

Butler died on July 29, 2014 at the age of 89. His wife June predeceased him the previous month; their four sons and numerous grandchildren survived them. In 2002, Roanoke's main post office was renamed in his honor.

His papers are now at the Washington and Lee University School of Law. Bob Goodlatte, once a member of his staff, currently holds his former Congressional seat. His former press secretary, Richard Cullen, later went to law school and was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (serving from 1991-1993) and later Attorney General of Virginia (filling an unexpired term 1997-1998).

Elections