Gilbert N. Haugen

Gilbert N. Haugen
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 4th district
In office March 4, 1899 – March 3, 1933
Preceded by	Thomas Updegraff
Succeeded by	Fred Biermann
33rd Dean of the United States House of Representatives
In office May 1928 – March 1933
Preceded by	Thomas S. Butler
Succeeded by	Edward W. Pou
Personal details
Born	April 21, 1859 Orfordville, Wisconsin, United States
Died	July 18, 1933(1933-07-18) (aged 74) Northwood, Iowa
Political party	Republican
Profession	Banker

Gilbert Nelson Haugen (April 21, 1859 – July 18, 1933) was a seventeen-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district, then located in northeastern Iowa. For nearly five years, he was the longest-serving member of the House. Born before the American Civil War, and first elected to Congress in the 19th century, Haugen served until his defeat in the 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt landslide.^[1]

Biography

Born near Orfordville, Wisconsin, Haugen attended rural schools. He moved to Decorah, Iowa, in 1873 and engaged in agricultural pursuits.He attended Breckenridge College in Decorah, and Academic and Commercial College, in Janesville, Wisconsin. After leaving college, Haugen engaged in various enterprises, principally real estate and banking. Moving to Northwood, Iowa in 1886, Haugen engaged in banking. In 1890, he organized the Northwood Banking Co. and became its president. He also served as treasurer of Worth County, Iowa from 1887 to 1893.^[1]

In 1894, Haugen was elected to his first of two terms in the Iowa House of Representatives, where he served until 1898. That year, he was elected as a Republican to represent Iowa's 4th congressional district in the U.S. House, first serving in the Fifty-sixth Congress. He was re-elected sixteen times. On April 5, 1917, he was one of the 50 representatives who voted against declaring war on Germany. He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior (in the Sixtieth Congress), and on the Committee on Agriculture (in the Sixty-sixth through Seventy-first Congresses).^[2][3]

Haugen served as the U. S. Congressional Agriculture Committee's chairman from 1919 to 1931. Together with Senator Charles L. McNary (R-Oregon), Haugen was the co-author of the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill, a moderate farm relief bill which was offered in three separate congresses before finally passing in 1927. The McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Act was a proposed bill to limit agricultural sales within the United States. Agricultural products would be either stored or exported to protect the prices of commodities. The bill was supported by Secretary of Agriculture Henry C. Wallace and even Vice President Charles Dawes; however, it was vetoed by President Calvin Coolidge, and never went into effect.^[3]

In May 1928, Haugen had served longer than any of his House colleagues, earning him the informal title of Dean of the United States House of Representatives, a title that he would hold for five years. As of 2013, he is still the most recent Republican to hold the title, some eight decades after his death. In all, he served in Congress from March 4, 1899 to March 4, 1933. In 1932, Haugen, like many other Republican candidates, was defeated in the Roosevelt landslide, losing to Democratic publisher Fred Biermann of Decorah. Several months after leaving Congress, Haugen died at Northwood, on July 18, 1933. He was interred in Sunset Rest Cemetery in Northwood.

References

Other sources

• Harstad, Peter T., and Bonnie Lindemann. Gilbert N. Haugen: Norwegian-American Farm Politician. (Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1992.

• Michael, Bonnie. Gilbert N. Haugen. Apprentice Congressman. (Palimpsest 59. July/August, 1978: 118-29)

• Murphy, Daniel D. Contested Election Case of D. D. Murphy v. G.N. Haugen from the Fourth Congressional District of Iowa. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1911)

• Schacht, John N. Three Progressives From Iowa: Gilbert N. Haugen, Herbert C. Hoover, Henry A. Wallace. (Iowa City: Center for the Study of the Recent History of the United States, 1980)

External links

• Gilbert N. Haugen at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Gilbert N. Haugen at Find a Grave

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa 1st W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum 2nd Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack 3rd Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young 4th Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King 5th Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thruston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King 6th A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy 7th Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle 8th McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven 9th Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey 10th Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist 11th Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell AL Hastings and Leffler Terr Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.