Early career After his father broke his back in 1916, Anderson left the University of Michigan to go home to help to support his family. He worked for several months for a newspaper in
Mitchell, South Dakota, until he became seriously ill with
tuberculosis. He was not aware of his illness until he attempted to join the
US military in 1917 upon America's entrance into
World War I. Doctors gave him six months to live. One gave him the advice to check himself into the Methodist Sanitarium in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. He promptly did so, and while recovering there, he occasionally wrote for the
Albuquerque Herald. In 1919, as soon as he was well enough to leave the sanitarium, he gained employment with the
Albuquerque Morning Journal, now called the
Albuquerque Journal, which was owned by a colorful editor named
Carl Magee. Magee sent Anderson to
Santa Fe to cover the
New Mexico Legislature. Very critical of how the Republican Party was running the state, he befriended some New Mexico Democratic legislators and gave them his ideas on bills before the legislature. Some of the ideas eventually became state law, and Anderson began a lifelong association with the Democratic Party. His long career of
public service began as executive secretary of the New Mexico Public Health Association in 1919. There, he raised money to fight tuberculosis, established county health programs, and was instrumental in founding the
New Mexico Department of Health. In the early 1920s, Anderson pursued private business affairs. In 1922, he started in the insurance business with the New Mexico Loan and Mortgage Company. Anderson was soon able to buy the business and change the name to the Clinton P. Anderson Agency, a successful and enduring enterprise. Actively involved in the
Rotary Club of Albuquerque since 1919, he was elected to the International Board in 1930 and became president of
Rotary International in 1932, a position that introduced him to many business and political contacts.
New Mexico government and politics Anderson returned to public life, becoming chairman of the
New Mexico Democratic Party in 1928 and
state treasurer of New Mexico in 1933. That was followed by appointments as director of the Bureau of Revenue, relief administrator for the State of New Mexico, Western States Field Coordinator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, State Director of the National Youth Administration, chairman of the New Mexico Unemployment Security Division, and managing director of the Coronado Cuarto Centennial Commission, among others. It was Anderson's style to take on a newly created position or an emergency situation, to organize it, and then to leave when he felt that all was running smoothly. In 1940, a conflict among members of the state Democratic Party resulted in Congressman
John J. Dempsey being disqualified from running for another term as New Mexico's only representative. Party members convinced Anderson to run for the seat, which he won by using his many business and political contacts throughout the state. For the next three decades, he divided his time between Albuquerque and
Washington, D.C. Anderson became known for his thorough investigative work, and during his three terms in the House of Representatives, he was assigned to several special committees, including the chairmanship of the Special Committee to Investigate Food Shortages in 1945. The committee argued for a streamlined food distribution system and emphasized long-range planning for increasing food production. His success in that assignment, along with their personal friendship, led to his appointment by President
Harry S. Truman as United States secretary of agriculture.
Truman administration Shortly after Harry S. Truman became president in 1945, he selected Anderson to serve as his Secretary of Agriculture. His most immediate concern was the reorganization of the domestic agricultural economy, which for the previous four years, had been focused on supporting the American war effort in the
Second World War. Anderson addressed issues such as price controls, shortages, and subsidies, and he played an important role in developing postwar agricultural policies. The domestic situation was only one of Anderson's concerns as Secretary of Agriculture. The looming worldwide food crisis, which was becoming more evident by 1946, led President Truman to establish the Famine Emergency Committee. Anderson made two controversial moves to change the drastic problems. Firstly, he used his organizational skills to incorporate all existing food and agricultural activities under his office. Secondly, he advised Truman to enlist former President
Herbert Hoover to serve as chairman of the Famine Emergency Committee. During the crisis, Anderson, Truman, and Hoover worked together very closely. Many of Hoover's proposals on alleviating the international food shortage were adopted by the Truman administration, and it became Anderson's responsibility to implement the proposals. The three men can be credited with preventing an even larger international disaster. U.S. food production and worldwide distribution was stabilized by 1948, and Anderson decided to retire from the Cabinet. As with every project he had undertaken, Anderson left after he had resolved the problems faced.
U.S. Senate Election Anderson considered retiring altogether after resigning from the cabinet. However, state Democrats, led by retiring Senator
Carl Hatch, convinced Anderson to run for Hatch's seat against the formidable and distinguished diplomat
Patrick J. Hurley. The two well-established candidates faced off in one of the most heated campaigns of the
1948 election. The nationwide campaigning of the Truman administration against an 'obstructionist' Republican Congress made Republicans lose across the country, including Hurley. Anderson's
re-election in 1954 against former Governor of New Mexico
Edwin L. Mechem was less heated but more significant because the Democrats had lost the Senate in 1952. Anderson prevailed, with the Democrats regaining control of the Senate, and went on to be re-elected by wide margins in 1960 and 1966.
Accomplishments Anderson sponsored the final wilderness bill, which passed the Senate by a vote of 73–12 on April 9, 1963, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 373–1 on July 30, 1964, and it was signed into law by President
Lyndon Johnson on September 3, 1964. Richard McArdle, chief of the Forest Service from 1952 to 1962, remarked: "Without Clinton Anderson there would have been no Wilderness Law." Anderson is also known for the
Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act, as well as for forcing cancellation of the 1954
Dixon-Yates contract with the AEC for power from the TVA for the city of Memphis. Anderson also served as chairman of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (
84th and
86th Congresses), Joint Committee on Construction of Building for Smithsonian (
84th-
92nd), Joint Committee on Navaho-Hopi Indians (84th-
92nd), Special Committee on Preservation of Senate Records (
85th and
86th, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs (
87th and
88th), Special Committee on National Fuel Policy (
87th).
Blocking the confirmation of Lewis Strauss In 1959, President
Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated
Lewis Strauss to serve as Secretary of Commerce. Previously, Strauss had served in numerous government positions in the administrations of Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. The previous 13 nominees for the Cabinet position had won Senate confirmation in an average of eight days. Because of both personal and professional disagreements, Anderson took up the cause to make sure that Strauss would not be confirmed by the Senate. Anderson found an ally in Senator
Gale W. McGee on the Senate Commerce Committee, which had jurisdiction over Strauss's confirmation. During and after the Senate hearings, McGee charged Strauss with "a brazen attempt to hoodwink" the committee. Just after midnight on June 19, 1959, the Strauss nomination failed by a vote of 46–49. It marked only the eighth time in U.S. history that a Cabinet appointee had failed to be confirmed by the Senate.
Support for space program During his tenure, Anderson was one of the most outspoken proponents of the
U.S. space program. He was instrumental in gaining funding for the program while chairing the Senate
Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences from 1963 to 1973. As chairman of the committee during the most active period of
space exploration and the most important time of the
space race, Anderson held a key policy-making role in Washington, not to mention the purse strings for
NASA. In 1967, Anderson chaired the
Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences that investigated the
NASA Apollo 1 accident. Deputy Administrator
Robert Seamans, Administrator
James E. Webb, Manned Space Flight Administrator Dr.
George E. Mueller, and Apollo Program Director
Maj Gen Samuel C. Phillips were all called to testify before Anderson's committee, which also featured extensive questioning by Senator
Walter Mondale. == Personal life ==