|
Senate Years of Service: 1944-1981 Party: Democrat
 |
MAGNUSON, Warren Grant, a Representative and a Senator from Washington; born in Moorhead, Clay County,
Minn., April 12, 1905; attended the public schools, the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks
and North Dakota State College; graduated from the University of Washington in 1926, and from the
law school in 1929; admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Seattle, Wash.;
secretary of the Seattle Municipal League in 1930 and 1931; served as special prosecuting attorney of
King County, Wash., in 1931; member, State house of representatives 1933-1934; delegate to the
State constitutional convention in 1933; served in the United States Navy during the Second World
War, attaining rank of lieutenant commander; United States district attorney in 1934 and prosecuting
attorney of King County, Wash., 1934-1936; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fifth Congress
and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from January 3, 1937, until his resignation on
December 13, 1944; appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the
resignation of Homer T. Bone, and served from December 14, 1944, to January 3, 1945; elected in
1944 for the term commencing January 3, 1945; reelected in 1950, 1956, 1962, 1968 and 1974 and
served from December 14, 1944, to January 3, 1981; served as President pro tempore of the Senate
during the Ninety-sixth Congress; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1980; chairman, Committee
on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (Eighty-fourth through Eighty-seventh Congresses), Committee
on Commerce (Eighty-eighth through Ninety-fifth Congresses), Committee on Commerce, Science
and Transportation (Ninety-fifth Congress), Committee on Appropriations (Ninety-fifth and
Ninety-sixth Congresses); resumed the practice of law; died in Seattle, Wash., May 20, 1989;
interment in Acacia Memorial Park.
BibliographyAmerican National Biography; Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives; Magnuson, Warren G., and Elliot A. Segal. How Much for Health? Washington, D.C.: R.B. Luce, 1974; Scates, Shelby. Warren G. Magnuson and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century America. Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1997.
|