Harley M. Kilgore

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Harley Martin Kilgore
United States Senator from West Virginia
In office January 3, 1941 – February 28, 1956
Preceded by	Rush D. Holt, Sr.
Succeeded by	William R. Laird, III
Born	January 11, 1893 Brown, West Virginia
Died	February 28, 1956 (aged 63) National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Lawyer, Judge, Military

Harley Martin Kilgore (January 11, 1893 - February 28, 1956) was a United States Senator from West Virginia.

Born in Brown, West Virginia, he attended the public schools and graduated from the law department of West Virginia University at Morgantown in 1914 and was admitted to the bar the same year.

He taught school in Hancock, West Virginia in 1914 and 1915, and organized the first high school in Raleigh County, West Virginia in the latter year. He was the school's first principal for a year, and commenced the practice of law in Beckley, West Virginia in 1916. During the First World War he served in the infantry from 1917 and was discharged as a captain in 1920; in 1921 he organized the West Virginia National Guard and retired as a colonel in 1953.

He was judge of the Raleigh County criminal court from 1933 to 1940, and was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1940, and won reelection twice. He was a member of the Senate from January 3, 1941 until his death in Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1956. During the Eighty-fourth Congress, he was chairman of the committee on the judiciary. Also while in the Senate, he chaired the Kilgore Committee that oversaw U.S. Mobilization efforts for and World War II, and helped set up the War Mobilization Board. He also helped establish the National Science Foundation in 1950.

Senator Kilgore was West Virginia's favorite-son candidate in 1948 Democratic presidential primaries and won his home state unopposed.

He died in 1956, aged 63 and was interred was in Arlington National Cemetery.

[edit] References

• Harley M. Kilgore at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

United States Senate
Preceded by Rush D. Holt, Sr.	United States Senator (Class 1) from West Virginia 1941 – 1956 Served alongside: Matthew M. Neely, Joseph Rosier, Hugh Ike Shott, W. Chapman Revercomb, Matthew M. Neely	Succeeded by William R. Laird, III
Political offices
Preceded by William "Wild Bill" Langer	Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee 1955 – 1956	Succeeded by James O. Eastland

v • d • e United States Senators from West Virginia Class 1: Van Winkle • Boreman • Caperton • Price • Hereford • Camden • Faulkner • Scott • Chilton • Sutherland • Neely • Hatfield • Holt • Kilgore • Laird • Revercomb • Byrd Class 2: Willey • Davis • Kenna • Camden • S. Elkins • D. Elkins • Watson • N. Goff • D. Elkins • G. Goff • Neely • Rosier • Shott • Revercomb • Neely • Hoblitzell • Randolph • Rockefeller

v • d • e United States presidential election, 1948 Democratic Party 1948 Democratic National Convention Candidates Kilgore · Russell · Truman · Wallace · VP Candidates Barkley Republican Party 1948 Republican National Convention Candidates Bender · Dewey · Hitchcock · McArthur · J. W. Martin · E. Martin · Saltonstall · Stassen · Vandenberg · Warren · Taft VP Candidates Stassen · Warren State's Rights Democratic Party Dixiecrat nomination Candidates Thurmond VP Candidates Wright Progressive Party Progressive Party nomination Candidates Wallace VP Candidates Taylor