Rupert Vance HARTKE, Congress, IN (1919-2003)

HARTKE, Rupert Vance, a Senator from Indiana; born in Stendal, Pike County, Ind., May 31, 1919; attended the public schools of Stendal; graduated from Evansville College in 1940 and Indiana University Law School in 1948; during the Second World War served in the United States Coast Guard and Navy as a seaman, and advanced to lieutenant 1942-1946; admitted to the Indiana bar in 1948 and commenced the practice of law in Evansville, Ind.; deputy prosecuting attorney of Vandenburgh County, Ind., 1950-1951; mayor of Evansville, Ind., 1956-1958, when he resigned; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1958; reelected in 1964 and again in 1970 and served from January 3, 1959, to January 3, 1977; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1976; unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 1972; chairman, Committee on Veterans Affairs (Ninety-second through Ninety-fourth Congresses); was a resident of Falls Church, Virginia, until his death on July 27, 2003; interment in Arlington National Cemetery.

Bibliography

Hartke, Vance. The American Crisis in Vietnam. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1968; Hartke, Vance. You and Your Senator. New York: Coward-McCann, 1970.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present