1. Kenneth William Hechler was an American politician.
30 Facts About Ken Hechler
1. 2.
Ken Hechler held a BA from Swarthmore College, and an MA and PhD from Columbia University in history and government.
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Ken Hechler served on the faculty of Columbia University, Princeton University, and Barnard College in the years leading up to World War II.
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Ken Hechler held a series of minor appointed positions in the federal civil service until he was drafted into the United States Army during World War II in July, 1942.
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Ken Hechler helped chronicle the liberation of France, the 1944 Normandy invasion, Battle of the Bulge, and entrance into Nazi Germany.
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Ken Hechler was attached to the 9th Armored Division when an armored and infantry task force, part of Combat Command B, unexpectedly captured the Ludendorff Bridge spanning the Rhine River during the Battle of Remagen.
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Ken Hechler interviewed both US and German soldiers involved at the time.
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Ken Hechler was awarded a Bronze Star and 5 battle stars.
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Ken Hechler returned after the war twice to interview Germans who took part in the battle.
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Ken Hechler found Captain Willi Bratge, whom a German military court had sentenced to death in absentia because he had been captured, and spent a week with him in the Remagen area learning about details of the battle.
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Ken Hechler then was appointed to the faculty at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.
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Ken Hechler ran for the United States House of Representatives from West Virginia's Fourth Congressional District, which then included Huntington and many unionized mill towns along the Ohio River north of that industrial city, in 1958.
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Ken Hechler never faced another general election contest anywhere near that close.
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Ken Hechler voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1960,1964, and 1968, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
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In 1971, Ken Hechler was the sole member in the state's congressional delegation to vote for the Equal Employment Opportunity Act.
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Ken Hechler was the principal architect of the Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969, which for the first time put a ceiling on the amount of respirable coal dust allowed in coal mines, and stipulated stringent safety regulations.
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In 1972, Ken Hechler faced a strong primary challenge for the first time since his initial run for the seat.
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Ken Hechler had been a longtime opponent of the state Democratic machine, and the legislature responded by attempting to draw his seat out from under him.
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However, Ken Hechler made the most of his union ties and routed Kee in the Democratic primary by almost 26 points.
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Ken Hechler easily won reelection in November, and was unopposed for reelection in 1974.
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Ken Hechler then attempted a write-in campaign in his old district against the Democratic nominee, Nick Rahall.
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Ken Hechler lost to Rahall in a close election, taking 36 percent of the vote and pushing the Republican candidate into third place, and lost again to Rahall in the Democratic primary of 1978.
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In 1984 Ken Hechler ran for West Virginia Secretary of State and won.
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Ken Hechler persuaded the West Virginia State Legislature to require that candidates publicly register loans, with specific terms of repayment.
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Ken Hechler lost a three-way Democratic primary bid for that seat.
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Ken Hechler was one of 29 protesters arrested for trespass.
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On July 21,2010, Ken Hechler filed to run in the special election to succeed the late Senator Robert Byrd, running in the primary against Gov.
28.
Ken Hechler indicated that his primary goal in entering the race was to draw attention to what he viewed as the devastating impact of mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia.
29.
Ken Hechler then endorsed Jesse Johnson of the Mountain Party for the Senate seat in the general election.
30.
Ken Hechler died on December 10,2016, at his home in Romney from a stroke at the age of 102.