George W. Norris
George William Norris (July 11, 1861 – September 2, 1944) was an American politician from the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. He served five terms in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican, from 1903 until 1913, and five terms in the United States Senate, from 1913 until 1943. He served four terms as a Republican and his final term as an independent. Norris was defeated for re-election in 1942.
George W. Norris | |
|---|---|
Norris, c. 1930s | |
| United States Senator from Nebraska | |
| In office March 4, 1913 – January 3, 1943 | |
| Preceded by | Norris Brown |
| Succeeded by | Kenneth S. Wherry |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Nebraska's 5th district | |
| In office March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1913 | |
| Preceded by | Ashton C. Shallenberger |
| Succeeded by | Silas Reynolds Barton |
| Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary | |
| In office August 1926 – March 3, 1933 | |
| Preceded by | Albert B. Cummins |
| Succeeded by | Henry F. Ashurst |
| Personal details | |
| Born | George William Norris July 11, 1861 York Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | September 2, 1944 (aged 83) McCook, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican (until 1936) Independent |
| Spouses | Pluma Lashley
(m. 1889; died 1901)Ellie Leonard (m. 1903) |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Baldwin University Northern Indiana Normal School |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Norris was a leader of progressive and liberal causes in Congress. He is best known for his sponsorship of the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933 during the Great Depression. It became a major development agency in the Upper South that constructed dams for flood control and electricity generation for a wide rural area. In addition, Norris was known for his intense crusades against what he characterized as "wrong and evil", his liberalism, his insurgency against party leaders, his non-interventionist foreign policy, and his support for labor unions.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt called him "the very perfect, gentle knight of American progressive ideals", and this has been the theme of all his biographers. A 1957 advisory panel of 160 scholars recommended that Norris was the top choice for the five best Senators in U.S. history.