Ernest William McFarland
(October 9, 1894 - June 8, 1984) was an American
politician and, with Warren Atherton, is considered one of the
"Fathers of the G.I. Bill". He is the only Arizonan to serve in the
highest office in all three branches of Arizona government—two at
the state level, one at the federal level.
He was a Democratic Senator from Arizona
from 1941 to
1953 (Majority
Leader from 1951 to 1953) before serving as the Governor of Arizona from 1955 to
1959. Finally McFarland sat as Chief Justice on the
Arizona Supreme
Court
from 1968 to 1970.
Early life
Born on a
farm near Earlsboro,
Oklahoma
on October 9, 1894. McFarland attended
rural schools and graduated from East Central State Teachers'
College, Ada,
Oklahoma
, in 1914 and
from the University of
Oklahoma
at Norman
, in
1917.
During
World War I he served in the
United States Navy and nearly
died of a
bronchial infection. Following
surgery by Navy surgeons he was discharged
in 1919 and sent to live in a drier climate.
Thus, after the war
McFarland moved to Phoenix, Arizona
and was employed as a clerk in a bank.
He
gathered enough money to pay for tuition and graduated with a
law and political
science degree from Stanford University
in 1921. He moved back to Arizona, passed the bar exam, and commenced practice in Casa
Grande
. He soon developed an expertise in
agricultural and water-use
legislation
which would suit Arizona well in the future.
Rise to prominence and Senatorship
After serving as the assistant
attorney
general of Arizona from 1923 to 1924, county attorney of Pinal
County from 1925 to 1930, and
judge of the
superior court of Pinal County from 1934 to 1940, McFarland entered
the Senate race in 1940. The twenty-eight-year Democratic
incumbent,
Henry F. Ashurst, appeared to be unbeatable and did
not launch an aggressive campaign to retain his seat.
While Ashurst remained
in Washington
, McFarland canvassed the state, giving speeches on
water issues and the war in Europe. By a three-to-one margin, he defeated
Ashurst in the
primary and went on
to win the general election.
Senator
McFarland along with Senator Hayden
lobbied for the Central Arizona
Project aimed at providing Arizona's share of the Colorado
River
to the state. His efforts failed while he
was a senator; however, they laid a critical foundation for the
eventual passage of the CAP in the late 1960s.
Not forgetting his veteran roots, McFarland became interested in
legislation to benefit
veterans returning
from
World War II. He outlined his
proposals before the
American Legion
in a speech in 1943 and worked to create support for his
G.I. Bill with veteran's
organizations and members of
Congress.
By unanimous votes, the
United
States Senate and the
House of
Representatives approved the legislation in March and May,
respectively and, on June 22, 1944, President
Franklin Roosevelt signed the
G.I. Bill into
law.
McFarland was easily reelected Senator in 1946 and served as
chairman of a
Commerce
subcommittee where he helped plan a post-war role for the U.S. in
international
communications and rewrote the
Communications Act of 1934. After
Democratic
Majority
Leader Scott W. Lucas was defeated in 1950 due to his link
with Truman's administration, McFarland's Democratic colleagues
chose him as majority leader. He served as Majority Leader for two
years. In 1952 he was defeated by
Barry
Goldwater in the national Republican landslide that year led by
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Governor of Arizona and the return to law
McFarland was elected governor of Arizona in 1954 and reelected in
1956.
He
worked with members of the Bureau of Reclamation to pick a location
for the Glen Canyon
Dam
and emphasized education during his two terms in
office.
Shortly after he returned from the Senate, he and several friends
formed the Arizona Television Company to start a
television station in Phoenix. McFarland
had long been intrigued by the still-new medium.
In 1955, shortly
after he became governor, he opened KTVK
, Phoenix's
third television station. He chose the call letters "because
TV would be our middle name." KTVK was the
ABC affiliate for much of
Arizona until 1995, and then became one of the nation's most
successful independent stations. It remained in his family's hands
until 1999.
McFarland tried unsuccessfully to unseat Goldwater in 1958. After
serving as governor he returned to his law practice and was elected
associate justice of the Arizona Supreme Court in 1964. He took
part in
Miranda v.
Arizona and became Chief
Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court in 1968 till 1970 thus
completing a political "grand slam."
Later life and death
In his mid-seventies he served as the director of
Federal Home Loan Bank
of San Francisco and president of the
Arizona Television Company before
dying in Phoenix on June 8, 1984.
There is
now a monument at the Arizona State Capitol
honoring him as the "Father of the G.I.
Bill."
Also, the McFarland State Historic Park
in Florence,
Arizona
contains a preserved courthouse and other buildings from when Arizona
was just a territory in 1878 that McFarland purchased and donated
to the Arizona State Parks
Board.
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