Editing Charles Curtis (section)

== Senate (1907–1913, 1915–1929) ==
[[File:Charles Curtis, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left LCCN92522327 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Portrait by G. V. Buck, 1908]]

Curtis resigned from the House after he had been elected by the [[Kansas Legislature]] to the [[U.S. Senate]] seat that was left vacant by the resignation of [[Joseph R. Burton]]. Curtis served the remainder of his current term, which ended on March 4, 1907.<ref name="CB">{{CongBio|C001008|inline=yes}}</ref> (Popular election of U.S. senators had not yet been mandated by constitutional amendment.) At the same time, the legislature elected Curtis to the next full Senate term. From March 4, 1907, he served until March 3, 1913. In 1912, Democrats won control of the Kansas legislature and so Curtis was not re-elected.

The [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|17th Amendment]], providing for direct popular election of Senators, was adopted in 1913. In 1914, Curtis was elected to Kansas's other Senate seat by popular vote and was re-elected in 1920 and 1926. In total, he served from March 4, 1915, to March 3, 1929, when he resigned to become vice president.<ref name="CB" />

[[File:Calvin Coolidge, Mrs. Coolidge and Senator Curtis.jpg|thumb|right|Senator Curtis (right) with [[Calvin Coolidge|President Coolidge]] and First Lady [[Grace Coolidge]] on their way to the [[United States Capitol|Capitol]] building on [[Second inauguration of Calvin Coolidge|Inauguration Day]], March 4, 1925]]

During his tenure in the Senate, Curtis was [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore]], Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior, of the [[United States Senate Committee on Indian Depredations|Committee on Indian Depredations]], and of the Committee on Coast Defenses; and Chairman of the Republican Senate Conference. He also was elected for a decade as Senate Minority Whip and for four years as Senate Majority Leader after Republicans won control of the chamber. He had experience in all the senior leadership positions in the Senate and was highly respected for his ability to work with members on both sides of the aisle.

Curtis introduced the first version of the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] to the Senate in 1921.<ref name="BaltSun">{{Cite news |title=WOMAN'S PARTY ALL READY FOR EQUALITY FIGHT; Removal Of All National and State Discriminations Is Aim. SENATE AND HOUSE TO GET AMENDMENT; A Proposed Constitutional Change To Be Introduced On October 1 |last=Henning |first=Arthur Sears |date=September 26, 1921 |work=[[The Baltimore Sun]] |page=1 |title-link=c:File:Equal Rights Amendment proposed in Congress 1921.jpg}}</ref> The amendment did not pass. In 1923, Curtis, together with his fellow Kansan Representative [[Daniel Read Anthony Jr.]], proposed the second version of the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] to the [[U.S. Constitution]] to each of their Houses, but it did not pass.

[[File:Senators Curtis & Lodge LCCN2016822441.jpg|thumb|left|Curtis served as deputy to then–Senate Majority Leader [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] (R-[[Massachusetts|MA]]), shown here in 1921, and would succeed him upon Lodge's death in 1924.]]

Curtis's leadership abilities were demonstrated by his election as [[United States Senate Republican Whip|Republican Whip]] from 1915 to 1924 and [[United States Senate Majority Leader|Majority Leader]] from 1925 to 1929. He was effective in collaboration and moving legislation forward in the Senate. Idaho Senator [[William Borah]] acclaimed Curtis as "a great reconciler, a walking political encyclopedia and one of the best political poker players in America."<ref name="sho" /> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine featured him on the cover in December 1926 and reported that "it is in the party caucuses, in the committee rooms, in the cloakrooms that he patches up troubles, puts through legislation" as one of the two leading senators, the other being [[Reed Smoot]].<ref name="time19261220">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,711494,00.html |title=The Congress: Quiet Leader |magazine=Time |date=December 20, 1926 |access-date=December 30, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220111458/http://www.time.com/time/covers/0%2C16641%2C19261220%2C00.html |archive-date=December 20, 2008 |url-status=dead |language=en}}</ref>

Curtis was remembered for not making many speeches and was noted for keeping the "best card index of the state ever made."<ref name="star" /> Curtis used a black notebook and later a card index to record all the people whom he met in office or while he was campaigning. He continually referred to it, which resulted in his being known for "his remarkable memory for faces and names:"

{{Blockquote|Never a pension letter, or any other letter for that matter, came in that wasn't answered promptly&nbsp;... And another name went into the all-embracing card index. The doctors were listed. The farm leaders. The school teachers. The lists were kept up to date. How such an intricate index could be kept up to date and function so smoothly was a marvel to his associates. It was one of Curtis's prides.<ref name="star">{{cite news |newspaper=Kansas City Star |title=Obituary |date=9 February 1936}} Quoted in
{{cite news |last1=Mendoza |first1=J. R. |url=http://cjonline.com/stories/032303/our_curtis.shtml |title=Charles Curtis: Doing it his way |newspaper=Topeka Capital-Journal |date=March 23, 2003 |access-date=October 19, 2013 |archive-date=June 4, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030604075445/http://cjonline.com/stories/032303/our_curtis.shtml |url-status=live |language=en}}</ref>}}

Curtis was celebrated as a "[[Standpatter Republican|stand patter]]", the most regular of Republicans but also as a man who could always bargain with his party's progressives and with Senators from across the aisle.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=U.S. Senate: Charles Curtis, 31st Vice President (1929–1933) |url=https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/vice-president/VP_Charles_Curtis.htm |access-date=June 12, 2021 |website=Senate.gov |language=en}}</ref>