before the end of his final term. He alternately served as majority whip and minority whip for House Republicans from 1943 to 1974, and was the longest-serving whip in U.S. House of Representatives history. He rose through seniority to become the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, where one of his pet projects was preventing the closure of Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois; it remained open until 1993. Arends represented a heavily Republican, largely rural downstate Illinois district. Conservative but pragmatic, he opposed much of the New Deal and remained a staunch isolationist until America entered World WarII. After becoming minority whip in 1943, Arends helped create the powerful Conservative Coalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats who controlled the domestic agenda from 1937 to 1964. He was reelected as whip amid Republican in-fighting following their large Congressional losses in the 1964 elections; after their setback, House Republicans replaced leader Charles Halleck with Gerald Ford. Ford backed Peter Frelinghuysen Jr. for Whip. Arends had usually been reelected Whip without opposition, and despite a strong challenge from Frelinghuysen relied on personal relationships forged over thirty years to provide the votes that enabled him to retain the post. He supported Robert A. Taft over Dwight D. Eisenhower for the 1952 Republican presidential nomination, and was an early supporter of the party's nominees Richard M. Nixon and Barry Goldwater in the campaigns of the 1960s. He organized the GOP opposition to Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society. Arends voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1964, and 1968, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, while Arends did not vote on the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and voted present on the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. During the Watergate scandal, Arends provided unwavering loyalty to President Richard M. Nixon, and said he would not vote for impeachment, citing his strong personal friendship with Nixon and belief that Nixon had performed capably as president. Despite the Whip challenge following the 1966 elections, Nixon's successor Gerald Ford and Arends maintained a close personal friendship, ensuring Arends a good relationship with the White House after Nixon's resignation. Post-Congressional career After leaving Congress, Arends served on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, and spent time at homes in Melvin, Naples, Florida, and Washington, DC. Legacy Arends's papers are part of the collections of Illinois Wesleyan University, and the university library's special collections