US Senator
After Taft's death in 1953, Bender ran for and narrowly won the vacant Senate seat and served the remaining two years of its term. An avowed supporter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bender consistently endorsed both Republican party and presidential initiatives. His earlier isolationist views softened considerably, and he now approved of more direct US involvement abroad, including aid to countries of the former British empire. Bender, however, joined with two fellow Republicans and three Democrats in voting in avor of a motion to adjourn for five minutes in late July 1956 that amounted to a vote for getting a civil rights bill to the floor and also, at some level, a rebellion against the prerogatives of party leaders.
In 1956, he lost his Senate seat to Governor Frank J. Lausche, a popular Democrat. Bender then worked as special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior from June 1957 to May 1958, during which time he campaigned for the incorporation of Alaska as the 49th state.
Read more about this topic: George H. Bender
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