Ken Hechler (person)

Ken Hechler (1914-2016) was an American historian who served as a representative from West Virginia from 1959 to 1977, and as the Secretary of State of West Virginia from 1985 to 2001. He remained active in politics until 2010, when (at the age of 96) he unsuccessfully ran for governor against Joe Manchin III.

I like to read books about World War II, and not the "good" kind of books either. Lately, most of the books about World War II are trade paperbacks, looking at the complicated sociopolitical origins of World War II and often focusing on people's personal stories. Which is good and all, but I like the mass market paperbacks I grew up with: books about battles, with description of units and equipment, sometimes with a garish cover, and focusing on a linear narrative in a short time. And that is why I bought a copy of "The Bridge at Remagen", the story of how, in March of 1945, the United States Army, almost by accident, found a bridge over the Rhine River in the German city of Remangen, probably hastening the end of the war by some weeks. The book was written by Ken Hechler, who was attached to the US Army as a combat historian and happened to be nearby when the bridge was captured. I liked it as a war book: it contained just enough wider historical context and personal stories to be interesting, but still told a tight and exciting story.

We live in an era of suspicion. After reading the heroic story of American troops bravely fighting a battle and removing the tyranny of nazism from the world, my first thought was: "What type of jackassery did this guy get up to after the war?". Especially since one of the introductions to the book mentioned the fact that Hechler was able to gain the trust of Hermann Goering and other top nazi officers, which did make me a little suspicious. So I went to find out more about Hechler.

Ken Hechler served for almost 20 years as a US Congressperson from West Virginia, and for 16 years as the Secretary of State in the same state. He fought, successfully, to improve health and safety conditions for coal miners, and also fought, less successfully, to increase environmental protections, including ending "mountaintop removal" mining. He was also the only sitting congressperson to march with Martin Luther King, Jr, in the 1965 march in Selma. Up until 2010, he was continuing to advocate for greater environmental protections by running for West Virginia governor, a campaign that came up against Joe Manchin III, who is currently a very conservative Democratic Senator.

In other words, my worries were unfounded.

Hechler's career and good fortune seem to be a mixture of finding his niche, serendipity, and personal dedication. He managed to be popular in West Virginia because he knew how to connect to working class people, and advocating for greater worker protections made him popular. But some of his stances seemed to be from strong personal conviction, and his efforts towards environmental protections made him unpopular with both miners and corporations in West Virginia---a bad combination. In an interview, he said that the decision to march with Martin Luther King, Jr. was a spontaneous decision. From what I can tell about him, he was a mixture of Quixotic and cunning. Idealistic enough to throw caution to the wind and endorse the civil rights movement personally, but cunning enough to manipulate Hermann Goering into giving up secrets. Without knowing more about him personally, it is hard to say just how he ended up in the position he did.

But reading "The Bridge at Remagen", followed by learning more about Hechler's later career, made me realize that World War II marks an epoch in my memory that might not be objectively true. Not that this is my personal fault: there is a reason "post-war", as a phrase, is used so much when discussing the United States' history, politics, sociology, demographics---basically everything. World War II transformed United States society greatly. But in my mind, the United States that fought and won World War II was epochs away from the United States that would change so much in the 1960s. To me, World War II seems like a time that the country was unified and extremely linear, for lack of a better word. Progress was measured in invasions launched, ships sunk, and bridges captured. A far cry from the searching and reflection and unsteady, doubtful social progress that would mark the Civil Rights movement and other social struggles. And yet, in terms of time, they were not separated by that many years. The same people who fought in World War II and came face-to-face with the damages of nazism were the same people who would, a decade or two later, deal with the United States own history of injustice (or fail to do so). For me, finding out that someone who interviewed Hermann Goering later marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. gave me the same type of momentary vertigo as when, as a child, I saw one of my teacher in a supermarket. But of course, it makes perfect sense. The "simple" World War II world of lines on maps going forward took place in the same world of complicated political and social change a decade or two later. The only thing unusual about Ken Hechler is that, unlike many of his World War II contemporaries, he continued to face challenges once the war ended, and for decades afterwards. And Ken Hechler, combat historian turned politician turned environmental activist who was still active until a decade ago, shows us that the past century is more continuous than we might think.