Key Pittman

Key Pittman

Key Pittman (born September 19, 1872 in Vicksburg , Mississippi , † November 10, 1940 in Reno , Nevada ) was an American politician .

biography

Early life

Key Pittman grew up in privileged circumstances, among other things was raised by private tutors, and later graduated from Southwestern Presbyterian University in Clarksville ( Tennessee ). After studying law , he moved to Seattle ( Washington ) in the early 1890s, where he practiced as a lawyer.

adventurer

Like many adventurous men, Pittman was drawn to the Klondike River in 1897 when the famous gold rush broke out there in the late 19th century . He himself bought a gold mine, which he managed until 1901. In 1902 Pittman left the region and settled in the prosperous city of Tonopah (Nevada), where he resumed his work as a lawyer. Pittman also took part in the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland from 1904 to 1906 as a representative of Nevada .

Political career

In 1911, the Democratic party member ran for the office of US Senator for the first time , but was defeated by his immediate predecessor William Massey . Two years later he was more successful, moving to Washington as a US Senator from Nevada on January 29, 1913 .

He was re-elected four times and served in the Senate for 27 years until his death. That made him one of the longest serving US senators.

During his tenure he took on several functions, including that of President pro tempore from 1933 to 1940 . During the same period he was Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations .

Death and controversy

In 1940 he ran again for the senatorial office, but died of a heart attack during the election campaign at Washoe General Hospital .

For a long time it was suspected that Pittman's body was frozen in a bathtub by party colleagues until his election was confirmed and only then was his death announced. Thus the Democratic Party would have had one more Senate seat in the 77th Congress. However, this rumor was never confirmed.

Others

Vail Montgomery Pittman followed his brother by eight years into politics and was governor of Nevada from 1945 to 1951 .

Web links

Commons : Key Pittman  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Key Pittman in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Newspaper article about Key Pittman in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .