Fifty years ago on Nov. 3, Allegan County lost its most discussed—and cussed—resident, the Honorable Clare E. Hoffman.
That’s how John Axe, publisher of The Allegan County News and Gazette described the former attorney, prosecutor and congressman upon his death in 1967 at the age of 92.
Hoffman was admitted to the Michigan bar in 1896 and commenced practice in Allegan. In 1904, he was elected county prosecutor and served two terms. In 1912, the young county lawyer was among the thousands of Michigan Republicans who bolted the party to follow the banner of T.R. Roosevelt’s “Progressives.” Running as a “bull moose” candidate for reelection to a third term as prosecutor, Hoffman’s candidacy shared the same fate as Roosevelt’s … possibly the only time a Hoffman and a Roosevelt ever had anything in common.
For the next 22 years he ran his own law office, was the city and county GOP chair and built his reputation statewide as a courtroom lawyer.
The staunch Republican conservative and arch foe of the New Deal was elected to the United States Congress in 1934, at the age of 60. He spent the next 28 years representing Michigan’s Fourth District. His last reelection was in 1960 but he suffered a stroke in 1961 and had to give up his seat the following year. (Ed Hutchinson of Fennville was his predecessor).
Syndicated columnist Drew Pearson—with whom Hoffman had conducted a running feud that culminated into a libel suit—commented on his retirement.
“I for one am sorry. The Congressman from Allegan is incorruptible, indefatigable and scrupulous in watching the public purse. Whether you agree with him or not, he had the courage of his convictions. And in these days of mass legislation, that can be rare.”
Hoffman’s local career was a series of crusades, He first won a name for himself for bringing suit against unethical horse traders and the “gyps” soon began giving the county a wide berth.
He next concentrated on unethical real estate dealers whose specialty at the time was selling worthless, burned-over timberland (dubbed “the grubs”) to unwary immigrants and city residents who thought they were buying valuable farmland. At one time, Hoffman said he had sued every real estate dealer in Allegan and adjoining counties.
In a period when country doctors were slow to make use of the then “newfangled” X-ray, Hoffman next became a specialist in malpractice cases. Badly set fractures and similar problems were common and Hoffman’s reputation—and his practice—soon became statewide, especially since he was one of a few attorneys in the state willing to withstand pressure from doctors and medical associations.
Many of his cases from the real estate and malpractice periods were appealed to higher courts and, at one time, Hoffman was considered to have “made as much law” as any lawyer in Michigan, a professional term indicating his cases established precedents still in use today.
The nation first heard of Hoffman in 1933, when he defended Fred and Ophelia Ring, the Kalamazoo dance teachers arrested for operating the country’s first nudist colony at Swan Creek near Allegan. He lost the case, but the resulting press coverage of his sparkling courtroom tactics expanded his reputation considerably
It was around this time, incidentally, that Hoffman first became known as the lawyer without pockets, he had a tailor make him a suit without pockets, a practice he followed most his life.
Once he was elected the Fourth District Congressman, the nation’s capitol became his favorite battleground. He centered his attention on the committee seat and House chamber.
No one ever accused him of contacting “Potomac fever” … the cocktail parties and Congressional junkets to far-off places had no attractions for him. Friends say he spent 28 years in Washington without changing his old habits … or his mind.
He arrived in Washington with the sole purpose of denouncing the New Deal with little regard for the federal welfare state. He soon took advantage of the one-minute rule to deliver an almost daily diatribe against “FDR and his brain trusts” (a group of Columbia law professors).
By the beginning of his third term, he had Democrats so mad at him they were trying to link him with an alleged “fascist conspiracy” but no one was able to show he had been guilty of anything but speaking his mind.
During the 83rd Congress, he sat as chairman of the full committee and served on the educational and labor committee. Despite his influence, no major legislation ever bore his name.
He was proud of his part in drafting the Taft-Hartley Labor law and of his work in implementing recommendations of the Hoover Commission for government reorganization.
His efforts in exposing labor racketeers also brought him considerable recognition and when Attorney General Robert Kennedy launched his campaign to bring Teamster boss James Hoffa into court, he relied heavily on evidence gathered by Hoffman and his committee staff.
He also played a major role in drafting the Armed Forces Unification Act and was widely credited with “saving” the Marine Corps that was threatened with loss of identity under the act as originally drafted.
As a Congressman he prized most nearly identical comments from two publications with extremely different political backgrounds. Both the conservative Detroit Athletic Club news and liberal New York City newspaper “PM” summed up articles about him by saying “You don’t hear Clare E. Hoffman when he speaks up in Congress … you hear the voice of his people.”
After serving 14 terms, Hoffman held the record for the longest serving representative from a district dedicated to Michigan’s southwestern corner—until Fred Upton won his 15th term in 2014 (and now into his 16th).
Upon his death in 1967, Hoffman left behind his wife of 68 years, Florence, and two sons, Carl and Leo, both attorneys in Allegan. Between Clare and Leo, their legal careers spanned the entire 20th century.
Virginia Ransbottom can be contacted at vransbottom@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.
.