Congressman Errett P. Scrivner
One of the area’s most colorful and outspoken “cold warriors” was Errett Power Scrivner. Behind a commitment to “Americanism, economy, and strong National Defense,” the Kansas City, Kansas, Republican served seven terms in Washington as Johnson County’s Second District U.S. Congressman in the postwar years. A World War I veteran and past Kansas commander of the American Legion – who had lived in Olathe for a time – Congressman Scrivner was first elected in 1943.
While serving on the House Appropriations Committee, Scrivner became the second-ranking GOP member of its Military Subcommittee. Often working on behalf of Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant on contract and appropriation issues, Scrivner spoke of many of the realities of the Cold War in his Congressional speeches. “We outnumber and outclass the total Russian air strength – reports to the contrary notwithstanding – by more than two to one,” Scrivner assured in 1956. But the Congressman also warned that this military power came at a price and Americans could not afford to take it for granted. “Since a strong national defense is not cheap, like it or not, we face an unforeseeable number of years of defense spending of about 35 billion dollars per year, just as long as Russia remains a menace to our security.”
Anti-communist language was a staple of Scrivner’s weekly newspaper columns. In 1952, Congressman Scrivner identified himself closely with Dwight Eisenhower’s campaign for president, highlighting he and Ike’s common ground such issues as military spending, greater economy in government, lower taxes, and a return of Constitutional government. In his bid for re-election that year, his supporters declared, “In Congress he has continued the fight against Communistic, Socialist and subversive activities which he began many years ago while participating in the Americanism program of the American Legion.” Johnson County voters liked what they heard, and two-thirds chose Scrivner in a landslide.
Ironically, at the height of McCarthyism, Scrivner’s re-election campaign in 1958 featured none of the customary “redbaiting” or anti-communist language he had so often used in the past. Perhaps as a result, although he carried Johnson County, Scrivner was not reelected for an eighth term to Congress.
--ALBUM vol. 14, no. 2 (spring 2001)