Charles W. Whalen Jr. Congressional papers

Charles W. Whalen Jr. was born on July 31, 1920, the son of Charles W. and Colette Kelleher Whalen. He attended Oakwood Public Schools, graduating from Oakwood High School in 1938. He received a B.S. from the University of Dayton in 1942 and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1946. He also holds an honorary L.L.D. from Central State University (1966).

Whalen served as first lieutenant in the U.S. Quartermaster Corps during World War II, including 18 months in the India-Burma Theatre. After receiving his M.B.A., Whalen joined the family business, the Dayton Dress Company, until 1952. He then became vice president of the Whalen Investment Company. He also taught retailing and economics at the University of Dayton from 1952 to 1966, serving as chairman of the economics department for four years during that time.

Whalen entered politics as a Republican in 1954, serving as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives (1955-1961) and the Ohio Senate (1961-1966). In 1966, he was elected to represent Ohio's 3rd District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He served six terms and retired in early 1979. During various Congresses, he served on the Armed Services Committee, the International Relations Committee, and the District of Columbia Committee, as well as several subcommittees. He was especially interested in international economic issues. He was an active member of Members of Congress for Peace through Law (MCPL) and was a delegate to the 32nd United Nations General Assembly in 1977 and to the U.N. Special Session on Disarmament in 1978.

Whalen was characterized as a liberal Republican who supported civil rights, freedom of information, and certain urban issues, and he vigorously opposed U.S. involvement in Vietnam. In the 1976 primary, some conservative 3rd District Republicans ran a candidate against him. Whalen won both the primary and general elections, his last as a Republican. He stayed neutral in the 1978 race between Democrat Tony Hall and Republican Dudley Kircher and later changed his party affiliation to Democrat.

Following his service in Congress, Whalen took the position of director in the non-profit organization, New Directions, with the agenda to lobby for economic and political diplomacy throughout the world. At various times in the 1980s, Whalen served on committees at the Washington Institute of Federal Affairs, the International Communication Agency, and the Institute for Policy Studies. Whalen also published several newspaper articles that concerned political and economic diplomacy, as well as several books that he co-authored with his wife, Barbara. The most notable of these books is The Longest Debate, which discusses the debate and passage of the 1965 Civil Rights Act.

Whalen was married to the former Barbara Gleason. They had six children: four sons, Ted, Chip, Dan, and Joe; and two daughters, Anne and Mary. Charles W. Whalen Jr. passed away on June 27, 2011.