Charles D. McAtee
Encyclopedia
Charles D. McAtee was a Marine Corps officer, FBI agent, director of Kansas prisons, attorney, and Republican candidate for both Congress and Kansas Attorney General.
The Great Depression
hit about a year after McAtee was born. Their lender foreclosed on the McAtee family farm. His family was able to save the farm by raising turkeys and sheep, selling butter, cottage cheese and produce. This experience seems to have shaped McAtee’s political views at an early age.
McAtee graduated from Mahaska High School in 1946 and then enrolled at Washburn University
. His parents helped him financially, but he earned cash by washing dishes in the school cafeteria and at the Kansas Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta
, where he was a member. He also worked as a clerk at Helzberg's Jewelers and used some money he had saved from 4-H projects. In 2008, Phi Delta Theta announced a scholarship for Washburn students would bear his name.
McAtee graduated from Washburn with an undergraduate degree in political science and history on June 4, 1950. He also received a second lieutenant's commission in the United States Marine Corps
Reserve.
when the north attacked the south. McAtee, who was enrolled in law school, had to withdraw and went on active duty in October 1950.
After receiving intensive training to become a combat lieutenant, he found himself in the Pusan Perimeter in South Korea, a tiny pocket of allied troops holding out against the North Koreans. At Pusan, he joined a line company in "G-3-7" -- George Company in the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
During one particularly intense engagement, McAtee earned the lifelong admiration of his fellow Marines. On April 23, 1951 McAtee and his 3rd platoon of 43 Marines fought and won against the Chinese and North Korean troops. The Marines had crossed the 38th Parallel to enter North Korea. His platoon was ordered to dig in on the reverse side of a ridge rather on than the crest, usually the preferred position. A regiment of Chinese troops came down on McAtee's platoon. The enemy came over the ridgeline and became disoriented because the Marines weren't where the Chinese thought they would be. McAtee coordinated fire and ran from place to place to keep the machine guns and the riflemen coordinated. Dr. Jim Nicholson, then a machine gunner in the platoon, later was quoted, “He probably should have gotten a Navy Cross." During that encounter, McAtee was wounded by mortar shrapnel in the left leg.
After the Korean War
, McAtee remained a committed supporter of his Marines. He was the legal officer for 1st Marine Division Association. He was also judge advocate for the General Lewis Walt Chapter of the Marine Corps League in Topeka and judge advocate of the Kansas Department of the Marine Corps League. McAtee was president of the Northeast Kansas Korean War Memorial, which was dedicated on July 4, 2003. McAtee was also a key supporter of the Topeka High School Junior ROTC program. He was also involved in the effort to clear the names and reinstate Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short who were demoted after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
]Upon graduation from Washburn Law School, McAtee joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation
. In a Topeka Capital-Journal story years later when he was running for Kansas Attorney General, McAtee said he wanted to join the FBI because he fought in Korea to stop communism, and that war ended in a stalemate. "I wanted to continue the fight against international communism." McAtee sought an assignment in New York to work in counterespionage, but instead was sent to Texas and later Montana.
In 1957, McAtee told an FBI official he was unhappy with his assignments because he wasn't in counterespionage. Within two weeks, he got a letter of censure from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
for his attitude and 30 days later received an honorable discharge as a captain from U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, which was arranged by the FBI against his will.
McAtee remained in the FBI until December 31, 1959, when he resigned after being assigned to become a Polish-speaking FBI agent, which would have required him to stay in bureau for another four years.
In the spring of 1961, McAtee was appointed the director of penal institutions (later renamed the secretary of corrections). As director, McAtee supervised the hanging executions of four men at Lansing State Penitentiary in April 1965.
During his time as director of penal institutions, McAtee came to know Perry E. Smith and Richard E. Hickock, killers of four members of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas who were slain on November 15, 1959. Smith and Hickock were immortalized in author Truman Capote's book In Cold Blood
. McAtee left this position in 1969.
After serving as director of penal institutions, McAtee worked a second stint in the U.S. attorney's office in Kansas starting in 1969, this time as the first assistant U.S. attorney. He entered private practice in 1970 and was a partner in Eidson, Lewis, Porter and Haynes, a Topeka law firm, until 1989 when it dissolved. He next served as an attorney of counsel in Schroer, Rice, Wisler & Morton.
McAtee was one of two attorneys representing the Topeka school district when the Brown v. Board of Education
case was reopened. After a six-week hearing in 1986 in U.S. District Court, District Judge Richard Rogers found the school district was substantially in compliance with the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended racial segregation in American schools. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the decision and sent the case back to Rogers, who monitored it for another 13 or 14 years. Rogers then ruled the school district was in compliance and that decision was accepted.
During the course of his legal career, McAtee argued cases before the Kansas Court of Appeals, the Kansas Supreme Court and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. He was listed in Best Lawyers in America, under the category of business litigation, since it was first published in 1983 and was rated "AV," the highest professional and ethical rating given, in the Martindale-Hubbell directory of attorneys in all states.
Early life
McAtee was born on July 8, 1928 to Lloyd M. McAtee and Grace V. Woodman. McAtee was raised two miles south of the Kansas-Nebraska border in Mahaska, a Washington County, Kansas town named by his grandfather.The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
hit about a year after McAtee was born. Their lender foreclosed on the McAtee family farm. His family was able to save the farm by raising turkeys and sheep, selling butter, cottage cheese and produce. This experience seems to have shaped McAtee’s political views at an early age.
McAtee graduated from Mahaska High School in 1946 and then enrolled at Washburn University
Washburn University
Washburn University is a co-educational, public institution of higher learning in Topeka, Kansas, USA. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,400 undergraduate students and...
. His parents helped him financially, but he earned cash by washing dishes in the school cafeteria and at the Kansas Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...
, where he was a member. He also worked as a clerk at Helzberg's Jewelers and used some money he had saved from 4-H projects. In 2008, Phi Delta Theta announced a scholarship for Washburn students would bear his name.
McAtee graduated from Washburn with an undergraduate degree in political science and history on June 4, 1950. He also received a second lieutenant's commission in the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
Reserve.
U.S. Marine Corps
McAtee, who had been in the Platoon Leaders program at Washburn, said he joined the Marine reserves because he wanted to fight the spread of communism. Three weeks after he was commissioned, war broke out in KoreaKorea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
when the north attacked the south. McAtee, who was enrolled in law school, had to withdraw and went on active duty in October 1950.
After receiving intensive training to become a combat lieutenant, he found himself in the Pusan Perimeter in South Korea, a tiny pocket of allied troops holding out against the North Koreans. At Pusan, he joined a line company in "G-3-7" -- George Company in the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
After the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, McAtee remained a committed supporter of his Marines. He was the legal officer for 1st Marine Division Association. He was also judge advocate for the General Lewis Walt Chapter of the Marine Corps League in Topeka and judge advocate of the Kansas Department of the Marine Corps League. McAtee was president of the Northeast Kansas Korean War Memorial, which was dedicated on July 4, 2003. McAtee was also a key supporter of the Topeka High School Junior ROTC program. He was also involved in the effort to clear the names and reinstate Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short who were demoted after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
After leaving active duty in 1953, McAtee returned to law school at Washburn. McAtee graduated from law school in the fall of 1955.]Upon graduation from Washburn Law School, McAtee joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
. In a Topeka Capital-Journal story years later when he was running for Kansas Attorney General, McAtee said he wanted to join the FBI because he fought in Korea to stop communism, and that war ended in a stalemate. "I wanted to continue the fight against international communism." McAtee sought an assignment in New York to work in counterespionage, but instead was sent to Texas and later Montana.
In 1957, McAtee told an FBI official he was unhappy with his assignments because he wasn't in counterespionage. Within two weeks, he got a letter of censure from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
for his attitude and 30 days later received an honorable discharge as a captain from U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, which was arranged by the FBI against his will.
McAtee remained in the FBI until December 31, 1959, when he resigned after being assigned to become a Polish-speaking FBI agent, which would have required him to stay in bureau for another four years.
Legal career
Following the FBI were stints as an assistant U.S. attorney in Kansas and the pardon and parole attorney and administrative assistant to Kansas Governor John Anderson.In the spring of 1961, McAtee was appointed the director of penal institutions (later renamed the secretary of corrections). As director, McAtee supervised the hanging executions of four men at Lansing State Penitentiary in April 1965.
During his time as director of penal institutions, McAtee came to know Perry E. Smith and Richard E. Hickock, killers of four members of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas who were slain on November 15, 1959. Smith and Hickock were immortalized in author Truman Capote's book In Cold Blood
In Cold Blood
In Cold Blood is a 1966 book by Truman Capote.In Cold Blood may also refer to:* In Cold Blood , a 1967 film and 1996 miniseries, both based on the book* In Cold Blood...
. McAtee left this position in 1969.
After serving as director of penal institutions, McAtee worked a second stint in the U.S. attorney's office in Kansas starting in 1969, this time as the first assistant U.S. attorney. He entered private practice in 1970 and was a partner in Eidson, Lewis, Porter and Haynes, a Topeka law firm, until 1989 when it dissolved. He next served as an attorney of counsel in Schroer, Rice, Wisler & Morton.
McAtee was one of two attorneys representing the Topeka school district when the Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
case was reopened. After a six-week hearing in 1986 in U.S. District Court, District Judge Richard Rogers found the school district was substantially in compliance with the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended racial segregation in American schools. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the decision and sent the case back to Rogers, who monitored it for another 13 or 14 years. Rogers then ruled the school district was in compliance and that decision was accepted.
During the course of his legal career, McAtee argued cases before the Kansas Court of Appeals, the Kansas Supreme Court and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. He was listed in Best Lawyers in America, under the category of business litigation, since it was first published in 1983 and was rated "AV," the highest professional and ethical rating given, in the Martindale-Hubbell directory of attorneys in all states.