Winston L. Prouty
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| Winston L. Prouty | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1959-September 10, 1971 Serving with George Aiken |
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| Preceded by | Ralph E. Flanders |
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| Succeeded by | Robert T. Stafford |
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| Born | September 1, 1906 Newport, Vermont |
| Died | September 10, 1971 |
| Political party | Republican |
Winston Lewis Silliman Prouty (September 1, 1906 - September 10, 1971) was a United States Representative and Senator from Vermont.
Prouty hailed from Vermont's first family. The Prouty family owned and operated Prouty & Miller, a lumber and building materials company, with forests east of the Mississippi and in Canada. His grandfather, George H. Prouty, served as governor of Vermont from 1908 until 1910.
Winston Prouty was born in Newport, Vermont, September 1, 1906. He attended The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania and Yale College. Prouty had to leave Yale in his junior year for family reasons but returned to college graduating from Lafayette College in 1930.[1] He became an officer and director of Prouty & Miller.
Prouty was the mayor of Newport from 1938 to 1941. He was a member of the Vermont house of representatives in 1941, 1945, 1947; he served as speaker in 1947.
At the time, the normal path of advancement for an upwardly mobile politician in Vermont was: Speaker of the House, State Senator, President Pro Tem of the Senate, Lt. Governor, Governor for two terms, US Representative, culminating with US Senator. A politician who attempted to usurp this process did so at his peril. Prouty did just that in 1948 by skipping the state senate entirely, and running for Lieutenant-Governor. He lost the nomination to conservative Republican Harold J. Arthur, the incumbent President Pro Tem of the Vermont Senate, back when the general election was a formality.[2] This turned out to be a serendipitous loss.
His liberal ally and mentor, Governor Ernest Gibson, appointed him Chair of Vermont State Water Conservation Board where he served from 1948 to 1950.
In 1950, Governor Gibson accepted an appointment as US District Judge. Under the state constitution, the vacancy was automatically filled by Arthur. That same year, Vermont Representative to Congress, Charles Plumley, decided not to run for re-election. Prouty's most formidable rival, Arthur, was effectively sidelined, running the state. Prouty decided to run for the vacant seat. He was successful.
He was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-second Congress; re-elected to the three succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1951-January 3, 1959); was not a candidate for renomination in 1958; elected to the United States Senate in 1958; reelected in 1964 and 1970 and served from January 3, 1959, until his death; died in Boston, Mass., on September 10, 1971; interment in Pine Grove Cemetery, Newport, Vermont.
Prouty died of cancer at 65 while in office in 1971 and was eulogized by President Richard Nixon.
[edit] Footnotes
| Preceded by Ralph E. Flanders |
U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Vermont 1959—1971 |
Succeeded by Robert Stafford |
