Voting Station

Harold L. Ickes

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Bureaucrat

The Resume

    (March 15, 1874-February 3, 1952)
    Born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania
    Middle name was LeClair
    United States Secretary of the Interior (March 4, 1933–February 15, 1946)
    High Commissioner to the Philippines (October 12, 1942–September 14, 1945)
    Implemented policies for the New Deal under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Why he might be annoying:

    He was FDR’s attack dog.
    When he opposed the nomination of Wendell Willkie, Senator Styles Bridges called him 'a common scold puffed up by high office.'
    Clare Boothe Luce said he had 'the mind of a commissar and the soul of a meataxe.'
    He privately complained about Japanese internment camps but didn't do anything about it.
    He described his name's pronunciation as 'rhyming with sickness with the n omitted. The e is halfway between a short e and short u' (James Cagney pronounces his name as 'IK-eez').
    He resigned from the Interior after a dispute with Harry S. Truman (February 1946).
    He is depicted as a nerdy kiss ass in Broadway's Annie (he gets pushed into singing 'Tomorrow' on his knees with Annie and the President).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He frequently handled civil liberties cases without pay.
    Before entering politics, he worked as a volunteer in a settlement house.
    Although conservative by modern standards, he eliminated segregation in his department as well as national parks around the country.
    He arranged for Marian Anderson to sing at the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of the American Revolution prohibited her from performing in Constitution Hall.
    He briefly tried to get the US to designate Alaska as a haven for Jewish refugees from Germany, but it was shot down (at least he tried).
    He lost two of his adult children prematurely (his daughter to a car accident, and his son to suicide).
    He and Frances Perkins were the only original members of the Roosevelt cabinet who remained in office for his entire presidency (he is also the second longest serving Presidential cabinet member in history).
    When Thomas Dewey promised to fire him if elected President, he penned a letter of resignation that was printed in newspapers, reading: 'Hence, I hereby resign as Secretary of the Interior effective, if, as and when the incredible comes to pass and you become the President of the United States. However, as a candidate for that office you should have known the primary school fact that the Cabinet of an outgoing President automatically retires with its chief.'

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


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Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 29 Votes: 79.31% Annoying