Dean Park Taylor (1902–1977) served as a United States Congressman from New York for nearly 20 years and came from a family long involved in public service to New York. Taylor was born in Troy, Rensselaer County, N.Y., on January 1, 1902, and attended the Troy public schools, Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y. (Class of 1925), and Albany Law School of Union University, Schenectady, N.Y.
Taylor was admitted to the bar in 1926 and commenced practice in Troy, N.Y. with his father, former Rensselaer County District Attorney John P. Taylor, and brother, Donald S. Taylor who went on to become a judge. Taylor served as Assistant United States Attorney, Northern District of New York from 1927-1930. He was chairman of the Rensselaer County Republican Committee from 1938–1952 and served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1940. Taylor was also chairman of the New York State Republican Committee from 1953-1954. He served as trustee of Russell Sage College, as well as a director of the Union National Bank and the Niagara Mohawk Power Co.[1]
Taylor was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1942 as a Republican to the Seventy-eighth and to the eight succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1943-January 3, 1961) (29th District 1943-45, 33rd District 1945-53, 31st District 1953-61). He served on various committees, including the United States House Committee on the Judiciary and the House Committee on Public Land. Taylor also sat on the sub-committee of the U.S. House Committee on Territories evaluating Hawaiʻi for statehood. Commencing in 1946, Taylor travelled to Hawaiʻi, conducted hearings, and briefed President Harry S. Truman and Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes on matters pertaining to legislation generally known as the Hawaii Admission Act, which, however, did not become law until 1959.[2]
Taylor was not a candidate for renomination in 1960 to the 87th United States Congress and retired to resume the practice of law. On September 30, 1960 at the Hendrick Hudson Hotel in Troy, N.Y., then Vice President Richard M. Nixon, though campaigning for the presidency at the time, attended Taylor's retirement celebration, along with Senator Kenneth B. Keating and then New York Lieutenant Governor Malcolm Wilson. Nixon noted he was there "to pay my respects to Dean as an individual, as one who has been a close personal friend of mine from the time I came to the House 14 years ago; one who I always considered to be a 'dean' to a certain extent, he always seemed older to me some way, but as I get older he seems younger."[3]
Taylor died in Albany, N.Y., on October 16, 1977 and is interred in Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, New York.
Taylor's papers are held by the Rensselaer County Historical Society Troy, New York, which also hosts the Dean P. Taylor Research Library, opened in 1993.
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by E. Harold Cluett |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 29th congressional district 1943–1945 |
Succeeded by Augustus W. Bennet |
| Preceded by Fred J. Douglas |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 33rd congressional district 1945–1953 |
Succeeded by Clarence E. Kilburn |
| Preceded by Bernard W. Kearney |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 31st congressional district 1953–1961 |
Succeeded by Carleton J. King |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by William L. Pfeiffer |
Chairman of the New York Republican State Committee September 1953 – September 1954 |
Succeeded by L. Judson Morhouse |