Richard Langham Riedel (1908 - 1988)

Born 3 Dec 1908 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois

Ancestors

Died 19 Nov 1988 at age 79 in Ware, Ware County, Georgia

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Biography

Richard Riedel is Notable.

Among the distinguished people noted in the January number of the American Magazine is Richard Riedel with this brief sketch of his activities which was published with a reproduction of his photograph. "It would be hard to find a more thoroughly American than Richard Langham Riedel, boss of the U. S. Senate page boys. At 3, got admitted to Senate galleries by reciting Preamble to the Constitution to the doorman. At 6, helped lay the cornerstone of the Lincoln Memorial Made a Senate page at 9, he became his mother's sole support. (Same time assumed a $6,500 mortgage on their home in Washington.) At 13, was a pal of President Harding. Today as Chief Liaison Officer between senators, newsmen, and the White House, he probably knows more unwritten U.S. history than anyone his age. He's kept his job under 5 presidents. Had only 2 years of public schooling. Completed education listening to legislative debates. Unmarried. Likes mountain climbing. Has visited all 48 states, 20 national parks. Belongs to 3 patriotic societies. Has spent two-thirds of his life in Congress. Likes it but---coming out of anesthesia after a recent operation, he found himself murmuring, "Yes, Senator, the pain is still in session."^[1]

Friday, November 22, 1963

The (Senate) chamber was practically empty; a half dozen members were lolling behind their desks, listening to Stuart Symington, the white-thatched Democrat from Missouri, drone on about the country's dire balance-of-payments situation. It was Friday, November 22, 1963. All of the sudden there was a commotion at the door, and William Langham Riedel, the Senate's press liaison officer, burst into the chamber and came running down the aisle and up to the rostrum. "Senator Kennedy," he said breathlessly, "Senator Kennedy, your brother the president has been shot. Symington caught the panicky tone in Riedel's voice and stopped speaking in midsentence. He looked up at Ted. As Symington later recalled, Ted "sat back suddenly in his chair as if he had been hit by a whiplash. With typical Kennedy guts, he very slowly assembled his papers, picked them up, and walked out."^[2]

Obituary

Richard L. Riedel, 79, the U.S. Senate's first press liaison officer and a veteran of 47 years as a Senate employee, died of pneumonia Nov. 19 at a hospital in Waycross, Ga. Mr. Riedel began working as a Senate page at the age of nine on Sept. 28, 1918, and he retired as press liaison officer in September 1965. The job of press liaison was created specifically for him in 1938, but in fact his duties remained virtually unchanged since his days as a page -- tracking down senators for interviews with the Capitol Hill press corps. After four years as a Senate page, Mr. Riedel was made a Senate doorman. When he began working for the Senate, the Capitol Hill press corps was made up of about 200 correspondents; there were 2,500 when he retired. At Mr. Riedel's retirement party, Sen. Everett M. Dirksen (R-Ill.) described him as "one of the ablest Senate staff members." Sen. Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.) observed that Mr. Riedel had known personally one-third of all the Senators who had served in that chamber. In retirement, Mr. Riedel wrote a book, "Halls of the Mighty; My 47 years in the Senate," which he described as "a personal portrait gallery of the members of the world's most exclusive club -- the United States Senate." A native of Chicago, Mr. Riedel moved to Washington at the age of five. He lived in Centreville, Va., before moving to Waycross in 1982. Survivors include his wife, Angela Riedel of Coral Springs, Fla.; two daughters, Angela Lynn Riedel of Boulder, Colo. and Kathleen Santana of Ocala, Fla.; and two grandchildren.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ The Indiana Progress (Indiana, PA) Wed, Jan 22, 1936 - Page 1
2. ↑ Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died by Edward Klein, Crown Publishers, a division of Random House Inc., New York (2009) page 47
3. ↑ The Washington Post - December 16, 1988

• Smoky Mountain Ancestral Quest - Person ID = 1283017

Name Riedel Event Type Birth Event Date 03 Dec 1908 Event Place , Cook, Illinois, United States Registration Place , Cook, Illinois Gender Male Ethnicity American Race White Father's Name Richard Reinhold Riedel Father's Birthplace Dresden Saxony, Germany Father's Age 44 Mother's Name Carrie Edna Langham Mother's Birthplace Hillsdale, Pennsylvania Mother's Age 35 Certificate Number 15171 Father's Estimated Birth Year 1864 Mother's Estimated Birth Year 1873 "Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N7MW-8BS : accessed 28 October 2015), Carrie Edna Langham in entry for Riedel, 03 Dec 1908; citing , Cook, Illinois, United States, reference/certificate 15171, Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 1,288,163.

Richard R Riedel Head M 46 Germany Carrie E L Riedel Wife F 37 Pennsylvania Richard L Riedel Son M 1 Illinois "United States Census, 1910", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MK8G-9WH : accessed 28 October 2015), Richard R Riedel, 1910.

"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XM2M-1MG : accessed 28 October 2015), Carrie E Riedel in household of Richard L Riedel, Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 0266, sheet 6A, family 109, line 46, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 299; FHL microfilm 2,340,034.

"United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7SY-8SW : accessed 28 October 2015), Carrie E Riedel in household of Richard L Riedel, Tract 81, District of Columbia, Police Precinct 9, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 1-350, sheet 11B, family 278, NARA digital publication T627 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012), roll 565.