Eugene Siler, a life revisited (part 4)

After Whitley County’s own Eugene Siler, Sr. landed in Washington D.C. as a newly minted congressman in the United States House of Representatives in January of 1955, it didn’t take long for him to begin making an impact.

After only a month on the job, Siler made waves when he was one of only three congressmen to vote against a resolution set forth by President Dwight Eisenhower.

“The United States House of Representative voted 409-to-3 Tuesday in favor of President Dwight Eisenhower’s ‘fight if necessary’ far east resolution, with one of the three dissenting votes being cast by Eugene Siler, representative from Kentucky’s Eighth District,” read a report in the January 27, 1955 edition of the Whitley Republican.

Siler was later quoted in the report, saying, “I promised the mothers of my district I would cast no vote calculated to send their sons to foreign lands to fight another war in which we have no business, as I see it. I have kept faith with those mothers.”

As it turns out, Siler and his fellow detractors – Illinois Republican Timothy Sheehan and North Carolina Democrat Graham Barden – would end up being on the right side of history when it came to this particular vote. What became known as the Formosa Resolution of 1955 was eventually passed by the U.S. Senate, and was signed by the president with the intention of interceding in the ongoing Taiwan Straight Crisis. Basically, the resolution gave the president full authority to deploy the United States military in any way that he saw fit in order to counteract, or prevent, an invasion of Taiwan by communist China.

Without going into too much detail, the resolution did not solve any crisis. In fact, it only served to further complicate an already-complicated situation. I will let you do the necessary reading on this topic elsewhere, though.

In March of 1955, Siler showed that he was a friend of the working man and woman by proposing a cut in the worker’s retirement age by five years, from 65 to 60. He also proposed that social security payments be made to “totally and permanently disabled employees who have been covered by the law for three years, regardless of age.”

In the fall of that year, Siler spoke in Somerset to a meeting of Farm Bureau leaders, further displaying his deep respect for hard-working Americans, including many of his constituents back home in Whitley County.

“The financial strength of America is built on soil and on the farmer,” Siler was quoted as saying in an October 20, 1955 report in the Whitley Republican. “When I get back to Washington, if there is anything your congressman can do for you, I’ll be there to do it.”

In the spring of 1956, Siler spoke to a large crowd inside Corbin’s City Hall in favor of the Laurel River Dam project. Completion of the project, he said, would lead to the expansion of industry in the area.

That summer, Siler publicly voiced opposition to an Atomic Reactor Bill that was under consideration in the House of Representatives, citing concern for the livelihood of the many coal mining families that resided in his district, and others.

“Congress would tread upon coal’s most important market if it appropriates federal funds for the construction of reactors to generate electricity,” Siler was quoted as saying in the July 19, 1956 Republican, adding that the expected rise in demand for electric energy in the coming years had already prompted coal mine operators to heavily invest in new land and equipment.

Another of his objections to the Atomic Reactor Bill was that it would, in his estimation, “permit government to move further into the business field at the expense of the free enterprise system.”

In 1957, Siler would continue to use his role as a U.S. Representative to look out for the best interests of the people in Whitley County and its surrounding communities, as we will see in the next installment in this series.

Reminder – After his political career came to an end, Eugene Siler continued to serve the people of Whitley County, using a newspaper column that he titled “Head or Tales” to keep the local citizenry informed of various important topics. He would also often discuss historical matters, offer thoughts on recent events, and more.

To learn how you can read many of these Head or Tales columns for yourself, contact the Whitley County Historical and Genealogical Society at (606) 549-7089.