Porter H. Dale

Porter Hinman Dale (March 1, 1867 – October 6, 1933) was a member of both the United States House of Representatives and later the United States Senate from Vermont.

Early life and career

Dale was born in Island Pond, Vermont in 1867.

Dale attended public schools in his hometown and went on to study at Eastman Business College. Later he studied in Philadelphia and Boston and spent two years in study with a Shakespearean scholar and actor.

Upon completion of his education, he taught school at the Green Mountain Seminary in Waterbury, Vermont, and at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Dale then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1896; he practiced in his hometown of Island Pond, Vermont.

Dale served as chief deputy collector of customs at Island Pond from 1897 to 1910, when he resigned and was appointed judge of the Brighton municipal court.

Dale was elected to the Vermont Senate in 1910 and served two two-year terms. Dale later served in the State militia and as colonel on the staff of the Governor of Vermont involved in the lumber, electric, and banking businesses.

Dale was first elected as a Republican Representative of Vermont's Second Congressional District to the Sixty-fourth United States Congress and served from March 4, 1915. He served through the Sixty-fifth, Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh United States Congresses until August 11, 1923, when he resigned to become a candidate for the United States Senate. Dale served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury during the Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh Congresses.

Dale was elected as a to the United States Senate on November 6, 1923, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William P. Dillingham during the term ending March 4, 1927. Dale was reelected in 1926, and again in 1932, and served from November 7, 1923, until his death at his summer home in Westmore, Vermont in 1933. He had served as chairman of the Committee on Civil Service (Sixty-ninth through Seventy-second Congresses). He was buried in Lakeside Cemetery in his hometown of Island Pond.

Dale was known as being a passionate Boston sports fan and so is his family that lives on today, especially Zachary A. Dale.

References

• Porter H. Dale at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress