William Henry Harrison (politician)

William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison (born August 10, 1896 in Terre Haute , Indiana , † October 8, 1990 in St. Petersburg , Florida ) was an American politician . Between 1951 and 1969 he represented the state of Wyoming several times in the US House of Representatives .

Early years

William Harrison was a member of the politically important Harrison family . His father was Russell Benjamin Harrison (1854–1936), who in turn was a son of President Benjamin Harrison and served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1921 to 1923 . The ancestors of William Harrison included two US presidents, William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison . Other family members were members of the US Congress or held other senior political offices. William attended the public schools in Omaha , Nebraska , the Sidwell Friends School in Washington and, until 1920, the University of Nebraska , where he studied agriculture. His studies were interrupted by the First World War, in which he participated as a soldier in the US Army . He was assigned to a flying unit. Harrison studied law after the war. Between 1925 and 1936 he worked as a lawyer in Indianapolis .

Political rise

Like most of his relatives after the American Civil War , William Harrison was a member of the Republican Party . From 1927 to 1929 he was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives . In 1937 he moved to Sheridan , Wyoming, where he also worked as a lawyer. He was also politically active in his new home. Between 1945 and 1950 he was an MP in the Wyoming House of Representatives . Harrison was first elected to the US House of Representatives in the 1950 congressional elections. There he took over from Frank A. Barrett on January 3, 1951 . By January 3, 1955, he initially completed two legislative terms. In 1954, he decided not to run because he wanted to run for a seat in the US Senate . This candidacy was unsuccessful. Harrison worked for the Housing and Home Finance Agency between 1955 and 1956 .

After he had been re-elected as a member of Congress in 1960 , he was able to complete two further legislative terms there between January 3, 1961 and January 3, 1965. In the elections of 1964 he was defeated by Teno Roncalio , the candidate of the Democratic Party . Two years later, in 1966, Harrison made it into the US House of Representatives for the third time. Between January 3, 1967 and January 3, 1969 he was last represented on this body.

Another résumé

In 1968 he was no longer nominated for Congress by his party. From 1969 to 1971 William Harrison was a member of a federal government commission under President Richard Nixon . He then retired, which he spent in Florida.

Web links

• William Henry Harrison in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)