Alexander Wiley

Alexander Wiley    (politician)
Born	May 26, 1884 Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, USA
Died	October 26, 1967 (Age 83) Germantown, Pennsylvania, USA
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin Law School
Party	Republican
US Senator and Cold War hardliner who attended a Bilderberg in 1957  US/Senate/Committee/Foreign Relations/Chair In office 1953 - 1954  US/Senate/Committee/The Judiciary/Chair In office 1947 - 1948  United States Senator from Wisconsin In office January 3, 1939 - January 3, 1963

Alexander Wiley was an American politician who sat four terms in the United States Senate for the state of Wisconsin from 1939 to 1963. An "isolationist" before World War 2, he became converted into a Cold War hardliner who argued for eliminating "troublemaking forces in our midst" and keep "our" bases abroad. He attended the February 1957 Bilderberg meeting.

Education

Alexander Wiley grew up in Minnesota, where he attended Augsburg College in Minneapolis. Subsequently, Wiley graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the University of Wisconsin in Madison, from which he received his law degree in 1907.

Career

Wiley began practicing law in Chippewa Falls and was appointed District Attorney of Chippewa County in 1909, a position he held until 1915. After that, he went back to his law firm for over 20 years, where he specialized in agricultural law and banking. In 1936, Wiley ran unsuccessfully for governor of Wisconsin. With 29.4 percent of the vote, he finished in second place behind the victorious incumbent Philip La Follette of the Progressive Party.

Two years later, in 1938, he faced the election for the post of US senator. He successfully entered the United States Senate on January 3, 1939 – he was a member of the Republican Party - and was re-elected three times in a row.

He was an "isolationist" before World War 2 that was at some stage converted to Cold War interventionist hardliner.

During his tenure, Wiley chaired a number of committees, including the Senate Judiciary Committee between 1947 and 1948. In 1953, Wiley also took over the leadership of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and remained in this position until 1954.

As part of the buildup to the 1954 coup in Guatemala, Wiley argued that a communist "octopus" had taken over the Guatemalan state.He was in correspondence with Allen Dulles.

Cold War hardliner

In 1956, Wiley proposed a 4-point program to crush "troublemaking forces in our midst" and keep "our bases" abroad:

1. Our first step is to protect this Republic from the menace from within.

That means promoting real brotherhood in America. It means strengthening the legislation by which we cope with the subversive, troublemaking forces in our midst. Thus, a number of important anti-Communist bills are now pending before the Congress, including legislation to tighten penalties against seditious conspiracy (which I personally have co-sponsored). This legislation must be enacted before Congress adjourns. 2. As a second step, we must fulfill our deep obligations to the Nation's 22 million ex-servicemen, and their families. We must make sure that the compensation and pensions which our veterans have earned by their deeds of valor remain intact and are improved. 3. Our third step is to make sure that we are today thoroughly informed of the Soviet military danger to our country, and 4. that we are thoroughly prepared against it.

We must and will therefore step up our production of B 52's, of B 47's, of guided and ballistic missiles and every other weapon of offense and defense, including protection devices for our own cities. We are definitely not doing enough right now.

Throughout the world, we have erected outer ramparts of defense. Why? So as to protect the weak and helpless. Moreover, our aim is simultaneously to keep the potential battlefield as far from our own shores as possible. I am sure that everyone in this audience will agree, that if war should come, we would prefer not to have to fight it on our own continent, if possible. We would prefer to fight it at far distances from our own land. And so we have erected these outer ramparts of our defense, far-flung ramparts on Formosa, on Okinawa, Iceland, Greenland, North Africa and elsewhere in the world.

These ramparts are today threatened not only from without but from within. In many places, Communist agitators are at work trying to stir up hatred so as to kick us out of our outer defenses. The Reds are trying to force us back to our own land, so as to reduce our overseas air bases and so as to make us more vulnerable to direct attack. But, in cooperation with our friends, we must protect our outer ramparts. Our bases must remain intact.

Wiley was voted out of office as a senator in 1962 and left the Senate on January 3, 1963, after 24 years in office.

He settled in Washington, D.C., where he lived for the last four years of his life.

Nothing is known about his personal life.

 

Event Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1957 February	15 February 1957	17 February 1957	US St Simons Island Georgia (State)	The earliest ever Bilderberg in the year, number 5, was also first one outside Europe.

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