Clarence C. Dill was one of the key co-authors of the 1927 Radio Act and the 1934 Communications Act. In the formulation of the law, Dill helped set the traditional concepts that still govern electronic media. It was Dill who proposed a commission for the regulation of radio. The concept passed in 1927, was reinstated in 1934, and continues today as the regulatory authority. Believing the commission would control and regulate the continuing issues of monopoly, censorship, and spectrum utilization, Dill took those issues into the Senate and provided leadership for passage of the law.

     Dill's role in the earliest legislative history of broadcasting was limited only by his late entry into the congressional arena. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover and Representative Wallace H. White, Jr. had worked to develop radio law since the early 1920s, but they were unable to interest the Senate in their proposals. Dill provided that Senate leadership. His first bills mirrored the work of Representative White. However, as Dill educated the Senate, radio entered a critical period in its history, often called the period of chaos. Following the first session of the 69th Congress, the Zenith case (United State v Zenith Radio Corporation, 16 April 1926) and the Attorney General's Opinion (Opinions of the Attorney General, 8 July 1926) left the Secretary of Commerce with no regulatory authority, and Dill emerged as a significant leader.

     During the conference committee negotiations between the Senate and the House over the pending radio bills, White was deeply involved in his own reelection campaign, which left Dill as the primary author in charge of bringing the House and Senate versions of the bill together. Dill convinced Representative White that a commission should be established to function for one year. This would theoretically provide Congress with enough time to review the law before regulatory authority reverted back to the Secretary of Commerce. White accepted this as a temporary solution, but Dill openly declared that this commission was merely the beginning of a lasting communications commission. In this Conference Committee, Dill not only achieved this important directional victory, but out of the committee came a unified proposal with emphasis on the phrase "public interest, convenience or necessity." These keywords provided the overall regulatory authority and were used rhetorically by both Dill and White to answer all major objections to the passage of the bill. By the time the bill came out of conference committee, the public pressure for passage was intense. Dill obtained quick passage of the bill that he felt protected the public interest. Dill's comments before the Senate during its deliberations on radio law reflect his attitude, the political atmosphere, and his own feelings toward the radio industry: "large corporations have invested large sums of money with little return on their investments. They hope for bigger returns in the future. I am not sure that it would be wise ... to put too many legislative shackles around the industry at this state of its development" (Congressional Record, 69th Cong., 1927, 68, pt. 3:3027). Shifting with the political current of a demanding electorate, Dill achieved passage for the bill that set the foundation for electronic media legislation.

     Representative White wanted control of radio in the hands of the Secretary of Commerce. However, by 1934 he was supportive of the commission, and the Democrats were in charge. Dill was now the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, and he chaired the subcommittee that was holding hearings on the proposed 1934 legislation. The key issue was placing the telephone and telegraph under control of the commission, a provision suggested by both Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt. The 1934 Communications Act passed with the basic provisions of the Radio Act still intact. It added only commission jurisdiction over telephone and telegraph, changed the name of the commission from the Federal Radio Commission to the Federal Communications Commission, and added commissioners to help with the increased workload.

     Dill was a product of the 1920s era, when business and businessmen were held in high esteem by society. The business ethic permeated all areas of American life. According to Fred­erick Lewis Allen (1931) radio was the "youngest rider" on this "prosperity bandwagon." Dill fought in the Senate for financial assistance for the fledgling radio industry. Besides being an advocate of business interests, Dill was a conservationist. The Teapot Dome and Elk Hills oil scandals had left the United States outraged by the exploitation of public resources. Senator Dill had been a principal in the Teapot Dome investigations as a member of the Public Lands Committee. The scandals and resulting investigations left a strong impression on Dill, and as a result he became an ardent supporter of the public ownership of the airwaves and an antagonist of radio monopolies.

     Dill was first elected to the House of Representatives in 191 5, but his career was cut short because of his vote against the United States' entry into World War I. After the war, he was reelected, this time to the Senate. Tucker and Barkley, describing Dill's ability as an astute politician, wrote, "he can smell the change of public opinion ... a month or six weeks before anyone else in the chamber" (1932). Dill was a progressive politician, proudly associating himself with William E. Borah (R-ldaho), Robert La Follette (R-Wisconsin), Thomas Walsh (D-Montana), Burton K. Wheeler (D-Montana), and James E. Watson (R-lndiana). Dill described his own role as a leader of the Senate debate over radio legislation as "a one­ eyed man among the blind."

     Dill served in the House of Representatives from 1915 to 1919, and he served as the Senator from Washington State from 1923 to 1935. On 12 July 1934, after 12 years in the Senate, he announced his resignation, stating, "The most common fault of public men is that they do not know when to quit ... I do not want to make that same mistake" (Tacoma Tribune, 12 July 1943). Upon leaving the Senate, he returned to Spokane, Washington, where he had a successful law practice. He ran for governor in 1940 and made an unsuccessful second run for the House in 1942. During his tenure in Congress, he worked primarily on radio, the Grand Coulee Dam, and hydropower legislation. This work set the foundation for a legal practice that he continued until his death. He died in Spokane, Washington, in 1978.