George W. Pepper

George W. Pepper

George Wharton Pepper (born March 16, 1867 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † May 24, 1961 in Devon , Chester County , Pennsylvania) was an American politician . Between 1922 and 1927 he represented the state of Pennsylvania in the US Senate .

Career

George Pepper studied at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia until 1887 . After a subsequent law degree at the same university and his admission to the bar in 1889, he began to work in Philadelphia in his new profession. Between 1894 and 1910 he was a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania . In 1897 he was elected to the American Philosophical Society and in 1901 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . From 1911 until his death 60 years later he was also the curator of this university. In 1915 he also lectured at Yale University .

Politically, George Pepper was originally a member of the Democratic Party . In 1892 he moved to the Republicans . During World War I he was chairman of the Pennsylvania Council of National Defense . In 1920 and 1921 he was a member of a constitutional convention of his state. After the death of US Senator Boies Penrose , Pepper was elected as his successor as a Class 3 Senator in Congress . He held this office between January 9, 1922 and March 3, 1927. In the meantime he was chairman of the Committee on the Library , which dealt with the Library of Congress. He was also a member of the Committee on Printing . In 1926 he was defeated in the controversial primary election of his party against William Scott Vare , who then also won the actual election and was Pepper's successor in the Senate on March 4, 1927, without having been officially confirmed. (In 1929 Vare was officially expelled from the Senate. That was because the actual elections were overshadowed by allegations of manipulation). From 1922 to 1928 Pepper was also a member of the federal executive committee of his party.

After the end of his tenure in Congress, George Pepper practiced as a lawyer in Philadelphia. He continued to watch politics and was a staunch opponent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies in the 1930s . Pepper was active in the Episcopal Church throughout his life , where he was also active at various regional church assemblies and at the federal level. He died in Devon on May 24, 1961. As of March 3 of that year, he was the oldest living US Senator.

Web links

• George W. Pepper in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Member History: George W. Pepper. American Philosophical Society, accessed December 19, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter P. (PDF; 649 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Accessed December 20, 2017 .