Frank Moss | |
|---|---|
 Moss in 1959 | |
| Secretary of the Senate Democratic Conference | |
| In office January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1977 | |
| Leader | Mike Mansfield |
| Preceded by | Robert Byrd |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Inouye |
| United States Senator fromUtah | |
| In office January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1977 | |
| Preceded by | Arthur Watkins |
| Succeeded by | Orrin Hatch |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Frank Edward Moss (1911-09-23)September 23, 1911 Salt Lake City,Utah, U.S. |
| Died | January 29, 2003(2003-01-29) (aged 91) Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| Resting place | Salt Lake City Cemetery |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Phyllis Hart |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | University of Utah (BA) George Washington University (LLB) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1942–1945 |
| Unit | United States Army Air Corps Army Judge Advocate General's Corps |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Frank Edward "Ted" Moss (September 23, 1911 – January 29, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician. From 1959 to 1977 he served as aUnited States Senator fromUtah, and as of 2025 was the lastDemocrat to do so.
Frank Moss was born inHolladay, a suburb ofSalt Lake City,Utah, as the youngest of seven children of James Edward and Maude (née Nixon) Moss.[1] His father, a well-known secondary school educator, was known as the "father of high school athletics" in Utah.[2] In 1929, he graduated fromGranite High School, where he had been freshman class president, editor of the school newspaper, two-time state debate champion, andcenter on the football team.[2]
Moss then attended theUniversity of Utah, where he was adouble major in speech and history.[3] During college, he was sophomore class president and coach of the varsity debate team.[2] He graduatedmagna cum laude in 1933.[4] The following year, he married Phyllis Hart (the daughter ofCharles H. Hart), to whom he remained married until his death in 2003; the couple had one daughter and three sons.[1]
Moss studied at theGeorge Washington University Law School inWashington, D.C., where he was an editor ofThe George Washington Law Review.[5] While studying in Washington, he worked at theNational Recovery Administration, theResettlement Administration, and theFarm Credit Administration.[2] He received hisJuris Doctor degreecum laude in 1937.[4]
After his admission to the bar, Moss was a member of the legal staff of theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 1937 to 1939.[3] He then returned to Utah, where he opened a private practice in Salt Lake City and became a law clerk toUtah Supreme Court justiceJames H. Wolfe.[1] In his first run for public office, he was elected a judge of Salt Lake City's Municipal Court in 1940.[4] DuringWorld War II, he served with theU.S. ArmyAir Forces in thejudge advocate general's department in theEuropean Theater (1942–1945).[3]
Following his military service, Moss returned to Salt Lake City and was re-elected as city judge, serving in that position until his resignation in 1950.[1] He served ascounty attorney forSalt Lake County from 1950 to 1959.[3] During those years, he practiced law in the firms of Moss & Hyde (1951–1955) and Moss & Cowley (1955–1959).[4] In 1956, he was an unsuccessful candidate for theDemocratic nomination forGovernor of Utah, losing to City CommissionerL.C. Romney.[4]
In1958, Moss ran for theU.S. Senate against two-termincumbentArthur V. Watkins, a close ally of both the Eisenhower administration andthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (see alsoMormon), and also againstJ. Bracken Lee, a non-Mormon and former two-term Utahgovernor (1949–1957), who was running as anindependent. The Republican vote wassplit in the general election, largely over local dissatisfaction with Watkins's having chaired the committee that censured SenatorJoseph McCarthy, and Moss won election with less than 40 percent of the vote.
Moss was an original sponsor of laws to createMedicaid, a program to cover health care for low income people.[6]
Moss was elected to a second term in 1964, defeatingBrigham Young UniversityPresidentErnest L. Wilkinson. He was elected to a third term in 1970 defeating four-termCongressmanLaurence J. Burton. He gained national prominence with regard toenvironmental, consumer, andhealth care issues. Moss became an expert on water issues and wroteThe Water Crisis in 1967. He worked to secure additionalnational parks for Utah and started important investigations into the care of the elderly in nursing and retirement homes, and into physicians' abuses of thefederalMedicaid program. In 1976, his capacity as chairman of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Long-Term Care, Senator Moss made a first-hand investigation of waste, fraud and mismanagement in the Medicaid program by posing as a patient and visiting the East Harlem Medical Center in New York City. Despite having no complaints of symptoms and having had his health checked by his own physician a month before, Senator Moss "was given a costly series of tests" and then told to come back the next day for more unnecessary tests that were billed to the federal government.[7]
In 1974, Moss joined SenatorFrank Church (D-Idaho) to sponsor the first legislation to provide federal funding forhospice care programs. The bill did not have widespread support and was not brought to a vote. Congress finally included a Hospice benefit inMedicare in 1982.[8] In 1976 Moss backed a constitutional amendment overturningRoe v. Wade and outlawing abortion.[9]
Moss chaired the Consumer Subcommittee of theSenate Commerce Committee where he sponsored a measure, theCigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1966, requiring detailed labeling oncigarette packages noting the health hazards of smoking and banning tobaccoadvertising onradio andtelevision. He also sponsored the Consumer Product Warranty and Guarantee Act (known as theMagnuson-Moss Act), theToy Safety Act, theProduct Safety Act, and thePoison Prevention Packaging Act. He was also Chairman of theU.S. Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences from 1973 to 1977.
Moss ran for a fourth term in1976 against RepublicanOrrin Hatch. Among other issues, Hatch criticized Moss's 18-year tenure in the Senate, saying "What do you call a Senator who’s served in office for 18 years? You call him home."[10] Hatch argued that many senators, including Moss, had lost touch with their constituents.[11] Hatch won the election by an unexpectedly wide nine-point margin and proceeded to hold that seat for the next 42 years.
Afterwards, Moss returned to the practice oflaw inWashington, D.C. and Salt Lake City. To date, he is the last Democrat to represent Utah in the U.S. Senate.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromUtah (Class 1) 1958,1964,1970,1976 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus 1971–1977 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Utah 1959–1977 Served alongside:Wallace F. Bennett,Jake Garn | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSenate Space Committee 1973–1977 | Succeeded by |
| Class 1 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
