Clyde Doyle Explained

Clyde Doyle
Office1:Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from California
Term Start1:January 3, 1945
Term End1:January 3, 1947
Predecessor1:William Ward Johnson
Successor1:Willis W. Bradley
Constituency1:18th district
Term Start2:January 3, 1949
Term End2:March 14, 1963
Predecessor2:Willis W. Bradley
Successor2:Del M. Clawson
Constituency2:18th district (1949–53)
23rd district (1953–63)
Birth Name:Clyde Gilman Doyle
Birth Date:11 July 1887
Birth Place:Oakland, California, U.S.
Death Place:Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Party:Democratic

Clyde Gilman Doyle (July 11, 1887 – March 14, 1963) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States representative from California in the mid-20th century.

Biography

Clyde Doyle was born in Oakland, Alameda County, California and attended public schools in Oakland, Seattle, Washington, Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. Graduated from the College of Law of the University of Southern California at Los Angeles in 1917, he was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Long Beach, California. He was a member and president of the Board of Freeholders, Long Beach, California in 1921 and 1922.

Doyle was a member of the California State Board of Education. Elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-ninth Congress (January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1947), he failed to gain reelection to the Eightieth Congress in 1946 but successfully regained his seat for the Eighty-first—and to seven succeeding Congresses. He thus served continuously from January 3, 1949, until his death in Arlington, Virginia on March 14, 1963.

Doyle also served on the House Un-American Activities Committee from 1951 until his death in 1963. His role on the committee is recalled unflatteringly in Beat Generation poet and fellow Californian Lawrence Ferlinghetti's 1958 poem "Dog" (published in his celebrated collection A Coney Island of the Mind):

But he has his own free world to live in

His own fleas to eat

He will not be muzzled

Congressman Doyle is just another

fire hydrant

to him

See also