Herman P. Eberharter

Herman Peter Eberharter (April 29, 1892 – September 9, 1958) was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Eberharter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During the First World War, he served in the United States Army as a private in the Twentieth Infantry and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He was a member of the Officers’ Reserve Corps with rank of captain. He graduated from Duquesne University Law School in Pittsburgh in 1925. He became a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 1935 and 1936.

He was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fifth and to the ten succeeding Congresses. He served from January 3, 1937, until his death in Arlington, Virginia. In 1945, Ebeharter introduced the legislation that gave official Congressional approval of the Pledge of Allegiance.^[1] Beginning with the 78th United States Congress, he sat as a member of the United States House Committee on Ways and Means.^[2]

Eberharter was a member of the Dies Committee, which received the "Yellow Report" alleging Japanese-American espionage during World War II based on cultural traits such as Buddhist faith and a high proportion of fishermen among the population. Eberharter was the only member of the committee to openly express opposition to wartime internment of Japanese Americans.^[3]

A confidential 1943 analysis of the House Foreign Affairs Committee by Isaiah Berlin for the British Foreign Office described Eberharter as^[4]

A New Dealer from Pittsburg [sic] of Austrian origin; internationalist-minded, and perhaps inclined to go slightly faster and further than the Administration. His position is well indicated by the fact that recently he urged that in the renewal of Lend-Lease there should be no implication in the wording that repayment is expected from the recipients. A Catholic; age 50; interested in the Austrian Legion.

References

• Herman P. Eberharter at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-07-02

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