Jump to content

Frank M. Karsten

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Frank Karsten" redirects here. For the Magic: The Gathering player, see Frank Karsten (Magic: The Gathering player).
Frank M. Karsten
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri
In office
January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1969
Preceded byJohn J. Cochran
Succeeded byBill Clay
Constituency13th district (1947–1953)
1st district (1953–1969)
Personal details
Born(1913-01-07)January 7, 1913
San Antonio, Texas U.S.
DiedMay 14, 1992(1992-05-14) (aged 79)
San Antonio, Texas U.S.
PartyDemocratic

Frank Melvin Karsten (January 7, 1913 – May 14, 1992) was a Democratic United States Representative from Missouri.

Biography

[edit]

Frank M. Karsten was born in San Antonio, Texas on January 7, 1913. His family moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1925, and he graduated from Beaumont High School. Karsten was a staff assistant for Congressman John J. Cochran from 1934 to 1946. He attended National University (now George Washington University Law School) while working for Cochran, and graduated with an LL.B. in 1940.[1]

Karsten ran to succeed Cochran in 1946, when Cochran withdrew on suffering a stroke the day after he filed for reelection. [2] He was elected as a Democrat to the Eightieth Congress, and was reelected 10 times, serving from January 3, 1947 to January 3, 1969).

At a 1950 Congressional hearing, Karsten claimed he had seen a flying saucer.[3] Karsten did not sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto, and voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,[4] 1960,[5] 1964,[6] and 1968,[7] as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[8][9] During his time in the House, Karsten served as an assistant Democratic whip and rose to become a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee. He was a delegate to the conference for the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs in Geneva, Switzerland in 1957, and a delegate to the British-American Parliamentary Conference from 1964 to 1965.

In 1968 Karsten faced his third redistricting in four elections. That enacted in August 1967 and allowed to apply in 1968 despite its violation of court guidelines placed most of St. Louis’ black citizens in Karsten’s district. While he had won nomination with no less than three-quarters of the vote and had been elected with no less than 64% of the ballots since 1948 and was supportive of equal rights, he apparently read the writing on the wall and retired. He was succeeded by African-American Democrat Bill Clay.[10] Karsten practiced law after leaving Congress, and in 1969 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa.

Karsten’s family moved from San Antonio to St. Louis when he was twelve, but he worked in Washington from his teen years, apparently as a congressional page, then a staffer, then a representative, then a lobbyist. When he retired he did so to San Antonio, where he died on May 14, 1992, and was interred in Mission Burial Park South.[11]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "New Faces in Congress". Abilene Reporter-News. Abilene, TX. December 16, 1946. p. 20.
  2. ^ Kemple, Arlon (2026). Had Enough? The Congressional Class of 1946, the Continuity of Policy, and the Transience of Public Office. p. 70.
  3. ^ Washington merry-go-round
  4. ^ "HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957". GovTrack.us.
  5. ^ "HR 8601. PASSAGE".
  6. ^ "H.R. 7152. PASSAGE".
  7. ^ "TO PASS H.R. 2516, A BILL TO ESTABLISH PENALTIES FOR INTERFERENCE WITH CIVIL RIGHTS. INTERFERENCE WITH A PERSON ENGAGED IN ONE OF THE 8 ACTIVITIES PROTECTED UNDER THIS BILL MUST BE RACIALLY MOTIVATED TO INCUR THE BILL'S PENALTIES".
  8. ^ "S.J. RES. 29. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO BAN THE USE OF POLL TAX AS A REQUIREMENT FOR VOTING IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS". GovTrack.us.
  9. ^ "TO PASS H.R. 6400, THE 1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT".
  10. ^ Kemple, p. 622.
  11. ^ Kemple, p. 748.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frank_M._Karsten&oldid=1352081506"