Gardner R. Withrow
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromWisconsin
In office January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1961
Preceded by	William H. Stevenson
Succeeded by	Vernon Wallace Thomson
Constituency	3rd district
In office March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1939
Preceded by	John M. Nelson
Succeeded by	Harry W. Griswold
Constituency	3rd district
In office March 4, 1931 – March 3, 1933
Preceded by	Merlin Hull
Succeeded by	Gerald J. Boileau
Constituency	7th district
Member of theWisconsin State Assembly from theLa Crosse 1st district
In office January 3, 1927 – January 7, 1929
Preceded by	James D. H. Peterson
Succeeded by	John Mulder
Personal details
Born	October 5, 1892 La Crosse, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	September 23, 1964(1964-09-23) (aged 71) La Crosse, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting place	Oak Grove Cemetery,La Crosse
Political party	Republican Progressive (1934–1946)
Spouses	Martha Amelia Riehl ​ (died 1944)​ Anne L. Gilligan ​ ​ (m. 1946⁠–⁠1964)​
Occupation	Railroad conductor, union representative, politician
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	Wisconsin National Guard
Years of service	1916
Unit	3rd Reg. Wis. Infantry
Battles/wars	Pancho Villa Expedition

Gardner Robert Withrow (October 5, 1892 – September 23, 1964) was an American union representative andProgressiveRepublican politician fromLa Crosse, Wisconsin. He served ten terms in theU.S. House of Representatives, representing western Wisconsin from 1931 to 1939, then again from 1949 to 1961. During his first term, he representedWisconsin's 7th congressional district, for the other nine terms he representedWisconsin's 3rd congressional district. Before being elected to congress, he served one term in theWisconsin State Assembly (1927). He was a fourth cousin ofAbraham Lincoln.^[1]

Gardner Withrow was born, raised, and lived most of his life inLa Crosse, Wisconsin. After graduating from high school, he briefly studied law under his brother, Frank E. Withrow, but ultimately went to work for theChicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad as a fireman andconductor.^[2] Through his employment, he became a member of theBrotherhood of Railroad Trainmen labor union. DuringWorld War I, he served eight months on active duty with theWisconsin National Guard in the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, and supported thePancho Villa Expedition on the Mexico border.^[3]

In early 1926, Withrow was charged with assault for allegedly punching the operator of a streetcar which collided with his car. His brother, Frank, served as his defense attorney and the jury acquitted him after 12 minutes of deliberation.^[4]

By 1925, Withrow was selected by his union to serve as one of their lobbyists to the state legislature.^[5] Through his political activities, he also became a member of the La Follette Progressive Republican Committee of La Crosse County. In 1926, he won the Republican nomination forWisconsin State Assembly inLa Crosse County's 1st district (comprising most of the city of La Crosse).^[6] Withrow easily prevailed in the general election with 68% of the vote.^[7] During the1927 legislative term, GovernorFred R. Zimmerman, a stalwart Republican, sought to lower the income tax and offset the revenue by raising theproperty tax. Withrow was a leader of the progressive resistance to those measures, describing it as an attempt to raise taxes on farmers to reduce taxes on wealthy business owners.^[8]

In 1928, U.S. representativeJoseph D. Beck announced he would run forGovernor of Wisconsin rather than seeking another term in Congress. Withrow chose to abandon his Assembly re-election to enter the Republican primary to succeed Beck as representative ofWisconsin's 7th congressional district. The progressive Republicans of the district quickly rallied around Withrow, but several other prominent politicians joined the race anyway, includingMerlin Hull, a former secretary of state who ran in the primary two previous times, andOtto Bosshard andAlexander Frederick, who had both served several terms in the Assembly.^[9] Withrow ultimately fell 2,300 votes short of Merlin Hull, who won the primary with 35% of the vote.^[10]

Withrow ran again in 1930, launching a primary challenge against Hull. Withrow sought to emphasize his campaign as supporting farmers' interests against the business interests which he alleged were represented by his stalwart Republican opponent.^[11] This time there were no other candidates in the race; Withrow won the head-to-head primary against Hull with 52% of the vote.^[12] He faced only a Prohibition Party opponent in the general election, but Hull received a large number of write-in votes. Withrow prevailed with 82% of the vote.^[13]

The72nd Congress was one of the most closely divided in American history. Withrow and seven other Wisconsin progressive Republicans led a faction of holdouts which refused to help organize the House until Republican leadership agreed to several of their policy prescriptions for theGreat Depression. Their demands included support for unemployment and agricultural relief programs.^[14] However, the issue became moot as Democrats took the majority before Republicans could pass an organizing resolution.

Due to theReapportionment Act of 1929, Wisconsin lost a congressional seat in reapportionment following the1930 United States census. This resulted in a significant redrawing of Wisconsin's congressional districts. Under the new plan, passed during a special session of the1931 legislature, Withrow resided inWisconsin's 3rd congressional district—roughly the southwest quadrant of the state. In the new district, Withrow faced another difficult primary against a stalwart Republican opponent, Charles A. Dittman. Withrow prevailed with 58% of the vote.^[15] In the 1932 general election, a Democratic wave saw Republicans lose 101 seats, but Withrow easily defeated his Democratic opponent, attorneyJohn J. Boyle.^[16]

During the73rd Congress, Withrow supported several of the new initiatives of Democratic presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt.^[17][18] In the midst of the1934 West Coast waterfront strike, Withrow led a successful bipartisan effort to bring a vote on a 30-hour work week for railroad employees, gathering enough signatures on adischarge petition to force a vote on his bill. But the House Committee with jurisdiction then voted to report the bill without their recommendation, which effectively killed it.^[19]

In May 1934, theWisconsin Progressive Party officially split from theRepublican Party of Wisconsin after three decades of bitter primary battles and intra-party feuding. Withrow did not attend the Progressive Party's organizing convention, but said he would poll his constituents and abide by their sentiment as to the split.^[20] Withrow formally announced in July 1934 that he would run for re-election on the Progressive Party ticket.^[21] In the 1934 election, Withrow easily won his third term in Congress, defeating RepublicanLevi H. Bancroft and Democrat Bart E. McGonigle.^[16] During the74th Congress, Withrow continued to vote in support ofNew Deal programs, and also supported the Democratic attempts to curb the power of the Supreme Court in response to their striking down several New Deal programs.^[22] He won re-election again in 1936 with 51% of the vote.^[16] He also pushed for benefits and compensation for theBonus Army. TheRecession of 1937–1938 and backlash against Roosevelt led to a Republican resurgence in 1938; Withrow lost re-election, along with five of the seven other progressives in Congress.^[16]

He was succeeded by RepublicanHarry W. Griswold, who died of a heart attack less than a year later. Despite the vacancy, there was no special election called by GovernorJulius P. Heil and the seat remained empty for three quarters of the76th Congress.^[23] Withrow chose to run again for the seat in 1940, but lost a close election to RepublicanWilliam H. Stevenson.^[16] In 1940, Withrow was opposed to the United States enteringWorld War II, but in announcing his campaign in 1942, he made it clear that he then supported prosecuting the war to victory.^[24] Throughout the 1942 campaign, he made significant efforts to distance himself from pastisolationist positions and criticized his Republican rival for his votes against pre-war preparedness policies.^[25] Withrow fell short again in another close election; Stevenson winning the election with 47% of the vote.^[16]

While out of office, Withrow returned to lobbying on behalf of the railroad brotherhood in Madison, Wisconsin.^[26] He also served as a mediator in labor disputes.^[27] In 1946, the Progressive Party disbanded with the majority of delegates voting to return to the Republican Party. Withrow followed that move and rejoined the Republican Party. He ran forsheriff of La Crosse County that fall,^[28] but lost the primary to Vernon H. Lamp.

Undeterred by four straight election losses, Withrow announced in 1948 that he would launch aprimary challenge against William H. Stevenson to reclaim the 3rd congressional district seat he had previously represented. His campaign announcement listed a number of political grievances against Stevenson, saying he had been silent on the economic pain of his constituents and the problems faced by organized labor, and again criticized Stevenson for isolationist votes and their potential economic impact in Wisconsin.^[29] Withrow prevailed by about 1400 votes in the Republican primary, and went on to an easy victory in the general election.^[16][30]

He faced another difficult primary in 1950, against state senatorFoster B. Porter and businessman Joseph F. Walsh. Withrow survived by just 879 votes, receiving 36% in the primary. Nevertheless, Withrow still won a substantial victory in the general election over Democratic nomineePatrick Lucey.^[16][31] William H. Stevenson returned for a rematch in the 1952 Republican primary, but Withrow prevailed again in another close election.^[32]

In 1958, Withrow was involved in a controversy due to his association with Dominican dictatorRafael Trujillo. Withrow was counted among Trujillo's defenders in Congress at a time when he was receiving American aide and his political enemies were dying mysterious deaths in the United States, but no illicit relationship was ever alleged or proved.^[3][33][34]

Throughout his career, he remained a progressive Republican; he voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of1957 and1960.^[35][36]

In October 1959, Withrow announced that he would retire at the end of the81st Congress.^[37]

Gardner Withrow was the third son of Thomas C. Withrow and his wife Helen E. (née Baxter). Gardner's elder brother, Frank Edwin Withrow, was a prominent lawyer in La Crosse for 59 years; at the time of his death he was described as the dean of the La Crosse bar.^[38] Withrow was a fourth cousin ofAbraham Lincoln; his paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Hanks, was a descendant of Lincoln's great-great-great-grandfather, William Hanks Sr.

Gardner Withrow married twice. His first wife was Martha Amelia Riehl, who died in 1944.^[39] Two years later, he remarried with Anne L. Gilligan.^[40] He had no children from either marriage.^[41]

Gardner Withrow died at a La Crosse hospital after a long illness. He was interred at La Crosse's Oak Grove Cemetery.^[3]

• United States Congress."Gardner R. Withrow (id: W000663)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

• 1892 births
• 1964 deaths
• Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen people
• Politicians from La Crosse, Wisconsin
• Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin
• Progressive Party (1924) members of the United States House of Representatives
• Wisconsin Progressives (1924)
• Wisconsin National Guard personnel
• Members of Congress who became lobbyists
• 20th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature
• 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

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