Alexander Wiley, U.S. Senator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Wiley

Alexander Wiley (May 26, 1884 – May 26, 1967) was a member of the Republican Party who served four terms in the United States Senate for the state of Wisconsin from 1939 to 1963. When he left the Senate, he was its most senior Republican member.

Biography

Wiley was born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. He received his undergraduate education at Augsburg College in Minnesota and the University of Michigan. He received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1907 and was also admitted to the bar the same year. He served as the Chippewa County district attorney from 1909 to 1915.

Wiley was the Republican candidate for governor of Wisconsin in 1936 but his bid failed. Philip La Follette and the new Wisconsin Progressive Party, which split from the Republicans in 1934, won the election. In 1938 Wiley was elected to the U.S. Senate by defeating incumbent F. Ryan Duffy. In 1944, he was challenged by Marine Captain Joseph McCarthy in the Republican Party primary. He defeated McCarthy and went on to win the general election. Wiley was re-elected two more times in 1950 and 1956. In 1956, he was challenged by Congressman Glenn Robert Davis in the Republican primary, but once again prevailed. In 1962, Wiley lost his bid for a fifth term to Governor Gaylord Nelson.

Wiley had a distinguished Senate career that included the chairmanship of both the Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees.

Wiley died in Germantown, Pennsylvania on his 83rd birthday. His interment is at Forest Hill Cemetery in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. During his lifetime he was a member of the Freemasons, the Knights Templar, the Elks Club, the Kiwanis, the Knights of Pythias, the Moose International, the Sons of Norway, and Sigma Phi Epsilon.