William Henry Harrison III (August 10, 1896October 8, 1990) was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives and in the state legislatures of Indiana and Wyoming.
Harrison grew up in Indiana, and was educated in Omaha, Nebraska and Washington, D.C. Both his grandfather Benjamin Harrison and great-great-grandfather William Henry Harrison served as presidents of the United States. During World War I he served in the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps and later served as a park ranger in multiple national parks. He entered politics in Indiana with his election to the Indiana House of Representatives. Harrison unsuccessfully sought election to the United States House of Representatives in 1932 in Indiana.
In 1944, Harrison entered politics in Wyoming with his election to the Wyoming House of Representatives. In 1950, Harrison was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Wyoming's at-large congressional district and served multiple non-consecutive terms throughout the 1950s and 1960s due to unsuccessful campaigns for reelection and a campaign for the United States Senate. In the House of Representatives he supported an interventionist foreign policy, anti-communism, Native American rights, and development in Wyoming.
On May 29, 1969, President Richard Nixon appointed Harrison to the Federal Renegotiation Board. He served until his resignation on October 4, 1971. During the 1980 Republican presidential primaries he served on the Wyoming Steering Committee for George H. W. Bush's presidential campaign.
Early life
William Henry Harrison III was born on August 10, 1896, in Terre Haute, Indiana, to Russell Benjamin Harrison and Mary Saunders. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia and was a great-great-grandson of President William Henry Harrison, a great-grandnephew of William Henry Harrison Jr., a great-grandson of John Scott Harrison, and a grandson of President Benjamin Harrison. His maternal grandfather was Alvin Saunders, who had served as the territorial governor and senator from Nebraska. He attended public schools in Omaha, Nebraska and the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C.
During World War I, Harrison served in the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps of the United States Army as a private. He later served as a park ranger at Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. He became a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
During 1919 and 1920, Harrison attended the University of Nebraska Omaha. On October 19, 1920, he married Mary Elizabeth Newton. In 1925, Harrison was admitted to the bar in Indiana.
Career Indiana
While studying at the University of Nebraska Omaha, Harrison joined the Junior Chamber of Commerce in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1923, he went to Indianapolis and served on the city's Junior Chamber of Commerce board of directors until he was selected to serve as the president. In 1926, he attended the Junior Chamber of Commerce national convention in Jacksonville, Florida, to represent Indiana and parts of Ohio and Kentucky.
In 1926, Harrison was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives to represent Marion County and served until 1929. While he was serving in the House his father was serving in the Indiana Senate. In 1928, he ran for Marion County attorney, but was defeated.
On December 2, 1931, Harrison was elected as president of the Universal Club, a welfare and education organization, which held its meetings at the Columbia Club, which was formed by local Republicans who had supported the presidential campaign of Benjamin Harrison.
In 1932, Harrison received the Republican nomination for Indiana's 12th congressional district. During the campaign he praised President Herbert Hoover and was endorsed by the prohibitionist Anti-Saloon League in the primary and the anti-prohibitionist Association Against the Prohibition Amendment in the general election. In the general election he was defeated by incumbent Representative Louis Ludlow.
Wyoming House of Representatives Harrison owned land in Wyoming and would go on vacation to his farms in the state. In 1937, he purchased the IXL Ranch in Dayton, Wyoming, from Jack B. Milward. He moved to the IXL Ranch and practiced law in Sheridan, Wyoming.
In 1944, Harrison was elected to represent Sheridan County in the Wyoming House of Representatives as a Republican. In the House of Representatives, he served alongside another William Henry Harrison, who was also named after President William Henry Harrison and was born in 1895, from Laramie County. Both he and the Harrison from Laramie County had sons named William Henry Harrison. In 1949, Harrison co-sponsored a bill to reorganize the Game and Fish Commission into the Game and Fish Department.
In 1948, Harrison was elected to serve as the chairman of the Sheridan County Republican Party after the resignation of former chairman George D. Johnson. National Republican Committeeman Frank Horton declined renomination due to health problems. At the party's state convention, Harrison supported W. J. Wehrli to succeed Horton, but only the Natrona County delegation backed Wehrli. The post was won by Ted Crippa, a banker and former member of the state highway commission. In April 1950, Harrison resigned to focus on his congressional campaign and was replaced by William J. Fleming.
U.S. House of Representatives 1951–1955
On December 16, 1949, Representative Frank A. Barrett announced that he would not seek reelection. On December 19, Harrison announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for Wyoming's at-large congressional district and filed to run on May 31, 1950. During the primary he spent $1,752.42 and defeated Deputy Secretary of State T. C. Thompson and Homer Oxley for the Republican nomination on August 22. In the general election he defeated John B. Clark with fifty-four percent of the popular vote.
During the 82nd session of the House of Representatives, Harrison was appointed to serve on the Agriculture and Interior and Insular Affairs House Committees and the Public Lands, Indian Affairs, and Irrigation and Reclamation House subcommittees.
On May 7, 1952, Harrison announced that he would seek reelection to the House of Representatives in a letter to Ewing T. Kerr, the chairman of the Wyoming Republican Party, and filed to run on May 27. Governor Frank A. Barrett stated that he was pleased by Harrison's running for reelection and a resolution endorsing Harrison was passed at the Wyoming Republican state convention. He faced no opposition for renomination in the Republican primary and spent $20 during the primary. Harrison was supposed to accompany vice presidential nominee Richard Nixon at campaign rallies in Sheridan, Casper, Laramie, and Rock Springs, but those events were cancelled as Nixon campaigned in Wheeling, West Virginia. In October, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy campaigned for Harrison's reelection to the House and Governor Frank A. Barrett for election to the Senate against incumbent Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney. In the general election he defeated state representative Robert R. Rose Jr. with sixty percent of the popular vote after spending $2,385.14.
During the 83rd session of the House of Representatives, Harrison was reappointed to serve on the Interior and Insular Affairs House Committee.
U.S. Senate election In 1953, it was speculated that Harrison would run in the 1954 Senate election against incumbent Democratic Senator Lester C. Hunt, but on February 5, 1954, he announced in a press release that he would not run in the Senate election and later announced that he would run for reelection to the House in June.
However, on June 8, Hunt dropped out of the Senate election after threats were made to use his son's homosexuality against him and citing health concerns.New York Times: "Senator Hunt Retiring", June 9, 1954, accessed February 24, 2011 On June 10, Harrison announced that he would run in the Senate election and Morton Spence dropped out of the Republican primary and endorsed him. On June 19, Hunt committed suicide and although Harrison was speculated as a possible interim appointee, Harrison stated that Governor Clifford Joy Rogers should not appoint a Republican senatorial candidate. On June 24, Edward D. Crippa was appointed to serve the remainder of Hunt's term.
Following Hunt's suicide a special election was ordered and Harrison filed to run for the Republican nomination. In the special and general Republican primaries Harrison defeated Sam C. Hyatt, Ewing T. Kerr, and W. J. Taber after spending $4,704. Former Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney, who had lost reelection in 1952, defeated Harrison in both the special and general elections. During the campaign Harrison spent $2,500.
Interlude On April 8, 1955, Harrison was appointed as the Southern regional administrator for the Housing and Home Finance Agency and sworn in on April 11, to succeed McClellan Ratchford, who had been the acting administrator since the retirement of Joseph H. Dupuy on January 1. He was headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and administered Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. On August 22, 1956, he announced his resignation which would take effect on August 31.
After leaving the Housing and Home Finance Agency, Harrison worked for the farm division of the Republican National Committee in Chicago, Illinois. On October 17, the Wyoming Public Service Commission authorized him to build and operate a community television system in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming. On December 6, Vincennes University gave Harrison an honorary Doctor of Law degree on the 150th anniversary of its foundation by William Henry Harrison. Harrison later resigned from his position as congressional liaison for the Housing and Home Finance Agency so that he could lead the Barrett-for-Senator Committee in Sheridan County during the 1958 election.
1961–1965
On September 10, 1959, Harrison announced at the Wyoming State Bar Association convention that he would run for the Republican nomination in either the Senate or House election. On October 29, he announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for Wyoming's at-large congressional district. On May 24, 1960, Harrison filed to run in the Republican primary and narrowly defeated Kenneth L. Sailors, Mark Cox, Walter Kingham, and R. L. Greene after spending $8,897. In the general election, he defeated Democratic nominee Hepburn T. Armstrong.
During the 86th session of the House of Representatives, Harrison was reappointed to serve on the Interior and Insular Affairs House Committee. In the Interior and Insular Affairs House Committee, he served on the Irrigation and Reclamation, Mining, and Indian Affairs subcommittees.
On April 25, 1962, Harrison announced that he would seek another term in the House of Representatives and filed for renomination in the Republican primary on July 5. In the Republican primary, he defeated G. L. Spence after spending $11,418. During the general election, Harrison was forced to suspend campaign activity to attend a top security meeting, open to only members of Congress and governors, regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the general election, Harrison defeated Democratic nominee Lou Mankus.
During the 87th session of the House of Representatives, Harrison left the Interior and Insular Affairs House Committee and became the ranking Republican on the Interior subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations, which handled funding for the Forest Service and Department of the Interior.