Editing Everett Dirksen (section)

==Early life==
Everett McKinley Dirksen was born on January 4, 1896, in [[Pekin, Illinois]], a small city near [[Peoria, Illinois|Peoria]].{{sfn|''The Education of a Senator''|page=xii}} His parents were German immigrants from [[East Frisia]] near the Dutch border. His father Johann Friedrich Dirksen was born in Jennelt and his mother Antje (née Conrady) was born in [[Loquard]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fonsino |first=Frank J. |date=1983 |title=Everett McKinley Dirksen: The Roots of an American Statesman |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40191703 |journal=Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=17–34 |jstor=40191703 |issn=0019-2287}}</ref> Today, both villages are part of the municipality of [[Krummhörn]].{{sfn|''The Education of a Senator''|page=xii}}

The Dirksens were strong [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]]. Everett's parents gave him the middle name "McKinley" after [[William McKinley]], then a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president.{{sfn|''The Education of a Senator''|page=xii}} His fraternal twin, Thomas Reed Dirksen, was named for Speaker of the House [[Thomas Brackett Reed]], also a candidate for the nomination at the time. Another brother, Benjamin, was named for President [[Benjamin Harrison]].{{sfn|''The Education of a Senator''|pages=xii, 3}} Everett had two older half-brothers, Thomas and Henry, from his mother's first marriage to Beren Ailts (died 1890).{{sfn|''Illinois Historical Journal''|page=11}}

Johann and Antje Dirksen spoke a [[Low German]] dialect at home and taught German to their children.{{sfn|''The Education of a Senator''|page=xii}} Johann Dirksen farmed and worked at the Pekin Wagon Works as a design painter. He had a debilitating stroke when Everett was five years old and he died when Everett was nine.{{sfn|''The Education of a Senator''|pages=xii, 5, 9}}

Dirksen grew up on a farm managed by his mother in a neighborhood called Bonchefiddle (″Böhnchenviertel″, Low German for "[[beans]] [[Quarter (urban subdivision)|quarter]]") on the outskirts of Pekin. The neighborhood was known as Bonchefiddle because frugal immigrants grew beans in their front yards instead of decorative flowers.{{sfn|''Extensions of Remarks''|page=25664}} He attended local schools and graduated from [[Pekin Community High School District 303|Pekin High School]] in 1913 as the class [[salutatorian]]. While in school, he helped support the family by working at a Pekin corn refining factory.{{sfn|''Everett Dirksen and His Presidents''|page=11}}{{sfn|''An Uncertain Tradition''|page=154}}

Dirksen attended the [[University of Minnesota]],{{sfn|''An Uncertain Tradition''|page=154}}{{sfn|''The Education of a Senator''|page=15}} where he was a [[pre-law]] student from 1914 to 1917.{{sfn|"Dirksen Dead in Capital at 73"}} He paid his tuition by working in the classified advertising department at the ''[[Star Tribune|Minneapolis Tribune]]'', as a door-to-door magazine and book salesman, as an attorney's assistant, and as a clerk in a railroad freight office.{{sfn|''The Education of a Senator''|pages=xii, 16, 19}}  While attending the university, Dirksen participated in the [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps#Student Army Training Corps (SATC)|Student Army Training Corps]] and attained the rank of major in the school's corps of cadets.{{sfn|''The Education of a Senator''|pages=21, 23, 25}} He also gained his first political experience by giving local and on-campus speeches in support of Republican presidential nominee [[Charles Evans Hughes]] during the [[1916 United States presidential election|1916 campaign]].{{sfn|''An Uncertain Tradition''|page=154}}