HR Gross

HR Gross (1971)

Harold Royce "H. R. “Gross (born June 30, 1899 in Arispe , Union County , Iowa , † September 22, 1987 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician . Between 1949 and 1975 he represented the state of Iowa in the US House of Representatives .

Career

H. R. Gross attended the public schools in his home country and then served in 1916 as a soldier in an artillery unit on the border with Mexico . During the First World War he was used as a soldier in the US Army in Europe from 1917 to 1919 . After the war, he attended Iowa State College and the University of Missouri , where he studied journalism.

Between 1921 and 1935 Gross worked as a reporter for various newspapers. He then worked from 1935 to 1948 as a newscaster and commentator for the radio. Politically, he was a member of the Republican Party . In 1940 he ran unsuccessfully for his party's nomination for gubernatorial elections . In 1968 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach , where Richard Nixon was nominated as a presidential candidate.

In the 1948 congressional election he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington in the third constituency of Iowa. On January 3, 1949, he succeeded John W. Gwynne , whom he had defeated in his party's primary elections. After twelve re-elections, he was able to complete 13 consecutive terms in Congress by January 3, 1975 . He was seen as a supporter of an economical government policy and often voted against what he believed to be too expensive government programs. He did not always take his party into account.

During his time in Congress, the civil rights movement was at its height. Other events during his active tenure in the US House of Representatives included the Vietnam War , the first moon landing, and the Watergate affair . In addition, amendments 22 to 26 of the Constitution were passed during this period . In 1974, H. R. Gross decided not to run again. He retired from politics and spent the rest of his life in Arlington . He died on September 22, 1987 in the federal capital Washington and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. H. R. Gross had been married to Hazel Webster since 1929, with whom he had two sons.

Web links

• HR Gross in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• HR Gross in the database of Find a Grave (English)