Background
Norris was born in 1861 in York Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, United States, and was the eleventh child of poor, uneducated, farmers of Scots-Irish descent.
( In his foreword Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., places the ...)
In his foreword Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., places the distinguished senator from a conservative state in the best liberal tradition.
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judge statesman Prosecuting Attorney
Norris was born in 1861 in York Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, United States, and was the eleventh child of poor, uneducated, farmers of Scots-Irish descent.
He attended Baldwin University in Ohio and Northern Indiana Normal School (now Valparaiso University), where he received a law degree in 1882.
He moved to Beaver City, Nebraska to practice law.
In 1902 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives.
Norris' legislative record was distinguished.
He was repeatedly reelected by the people of Nebraska, serving five consecutive terms in the House (1903 - 1913) and five in the Senate (1913 - 1942).
He opposed the preparedness program, filibustered against the armed merchant-ship bill, and in 1917 spoke and voted against a declaration of war against Germany.
During the war he supported most war measures, but attacked conscription and the espionage bill.
He introduced the bill creating the Rural Electrification Administration (1936) and sponsored the Norris-LaGuardia Anti-Injunction Act (1932), which outlawed "yellow-dog" contracts and restricted the use of federal injunctions in labor disputes.
In 1936 he had formally renounced the Republican label and won reelection, with Roosevelt's endorsement, as an independent.
In 1942, at the age of 81, he ran as an independent for a sixth consecutive term in the Senate, but in a three-way contest was defeated by the Republican candidate.
( In his foreword Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., places the ...)
He was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1902, where he aligned himself with the Progressive wing of the Republican party.
Originally a staunch Republican, he soon joined the insurgent wing of the party and led the fight to curb the dictatorial powers of the Speaker of the House, Joseph G. Cannon, in 1910.
In 1911 he was chosen vice-president of the National Progressive Republican League, organized to work for the liberalization of the party.
The Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution (1933) crowned his ten-year campaign for the abolition of the "lame duck" session of Congress, but his proposals to abolish the electoral college and to limit the Supreme Court's power of judicial review were ignored. No respecter of party lines, Norris voted for Robert M. La Follette campaigning for president on the Progressive Party ticket in 1924, campaigned for Alfred E. Smith in 1928, and supported Franklin D. Roosevelt in each of his four campaigns for the presidency.
He supported most New Deal measures.
Quotations:
Looking at the war in Europe he said, "Many instances of cruelty and inhumanity can be found on both sides. " Norris believed that the government wanted to take part in this war only because the wealthy had already aided the British financially in the war. He told Congress that the only people who would benefit from the war were "munition manufacturers, stockbrokers, and bond dealers" and added that "war brings no prosperity to the great mass of common and patriotic citizens. .. . War brings prosperity to the stock gambler on Wall Street–to those who are already in possession of more wealth than can be realized or enjoyed. "
Norris was a staunch "dry, " battling against alcohol even when the crusade lost favor in the Great Depression. He told voters that prohibition means "this greatest evil of all mankind is driven from the homes of the American people, " even if it means "we are giving up some of our personal rights and personal privileges. "
Norris believed in the wisdom of the common people and in the progress of civilization. "To get good government and to retain it, it is necessary that a liberty-loving, educated, intelligent people should be ever watchful, to carefully guard and protect their rights and liberties, " Norris said in a 1934 speech, "The Model Legislature. " The people were capable of being the government, he said, affirming his populist/progressive credentials.
To alert the people, he called for transparency in government. "Publicity, " he proclaimed, "is the greatest cure for evils which may exist in government. "
Siding against Japanese violence in China, he called the Japanese "disgraceful, ignoble, barbarous, and cruel, even beyond the power of language to describe. "
Unable to secure Democratic support in the state in 1942, he was defeated by Republican Kenneth S. Wherry. He parted from office saying, "I have done my best to repudiate wrong and evil in government affairs. "
He was a member of the Agriculture and Forestry and the Judiciary committees.
He was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives
from Nebraska's 5th congressional district
1903–1913.
In 1889 he married Pluma Lashley; the couple had three daughters (Gertrude, Hazel, and Marian) before her 1901 death. Norris then married Ellie Leonard in 1903; they had no children.