Norris, George W.

▪ United States senator

in full  George William Norris  

born July 11, 1861, Sandusky, Ohio, U.S.

died Sept. 2, 1944, McCook, Neb.

 U.S. senator noted for his advocacy of political reform and of public ownership of hydroelectric-power plants.

      After attending Baldwin University (now Baldwin-Wallace College), Norris taught school and studied law at Northern Indiana Normal School (now Valparaiso University). He was admitted to the bar in 1883 and two years later moved to Nebraska to begin practice. In 1902 he was elected to Congress as a Republican and was reelected four times in succession, becoming leader of an insurgent group that in 1910 forced reforms in the House rules to reduce the autocratic control of the speaker.

      Elected in 1912 to the Senate, where he served until 1943, Norris became known as an independent, saying he “would rather be right than regular.” His strong antiwar convictions led him to vote against U.S. entry into World War I, and he denounced the Treaty of Versailles that followed it. He was the author of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished the so-called lame-duck sessions of Congress. He fought for the introduction of presidential primaries and for direct election of U.S. senators. One of his most significant contributions was his introduction of the bill establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority. He was coauthor of the Norris–La Guardia Act, which restricted the use of injunctions in labour disputes.

      Though always a Republican, Norris felt his party ties lightly; he endorsed Progressives Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 and Robert M. La Follette in 1924 and Democrats Alfred E. Smith in 1928 and Franklin D. Roosevelt in each of his campaigns for the presidency. In 1945 his book Fighting Liberal was published.

Additional Reading

Richard Lowitt, George W. Norris, 3 vol. (1963–78); and Norman L. Zucker, George W. Norris: Gentle Knight of American Democracy (1966) are standard biographies. Also useful is George W. Norris, Fighting Liberal: The Autobiography of George W. Norris (1945, reissued 1992).

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