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Hugh Burnton Mitchell | |
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWashington's1st district | |
| In office January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953 | |
| Preceded by | Homer Jones |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Pelly |
| United States Senator fromWashington | |
| In office January 10, 1945 – December 25, 1946 | |
| Appointed by | Monrad Wallgren |
| Preceded by | Monrad Wallgren |
| Succeeded by | Harry P. Cain |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1907-03-22)March 22, 1907 Great Falls, Montana, U.S. |
| Died | June 10, 1996(1996-06-10) (aged 89) Seattle,Washington, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
Hugh Burnton Mitchell (March 22, 1907 – June 10, 1996), was an American politician and journalist who served as a member of theUnited States Senate from 1944 to 1946 and as a member of theUnited States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1953. He represented the state ofWashington. He leftDartmouth College and the class of 1930 in 1929 when the Great Crash hit. He traveled to Washington State and a job as a sports reporter in 1929, but the political reporter for the Everett News was removed to prevent bias, as she was involved with the Mayor. Mitchell took over the political beat and, assessing the changing political climate, was among the first if not the first in the area to predict Franklin Roosevelt's victory as president in 1932.
Mitchell, aDemocrat, was appointed on January 10, 1945, to fill a vacancy in the Senate caused by the resignation ofMonrad Wallgren, who Mitchell had been executive assistant to since 1933. He proposed extending theMarshall Plan to Asia, seeing economic and infrastructure development as critical to the development of democracy. This was defeated on budget grounds by Republican adversaries, setting the stage for Truman's dependence on military containment of communist expansion, and the readmission of France to Viet Nam after World War II as a part of containment. He did not win re-election in 1946, and resigned on December 25, 1946, to give his successor seniority in committee assignments important to Washington State.
In 1948, Mitchell won election to the House of Representatives in the First Congressional District. He won his bid for re-election in 1950. He proposedintegrated resource planning for the Columbia River Valley, adding fish and watershed management to irrigation and power production. This was defeated by a coalition of industrial and bureaucratic interests, including irrigation and power production private concerns and the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management, whose authority and budgets were threatened. In 1952, Mitchell did not run for re-election, instead running forGovernor of Washington to pursue state development including Columbia River Valley integrated resource development. He was unsuccessful in that election, as well as in his candidacies for the House of Representatives in 1954 and 1958. He was later appointed by President Carter to the Presidential Commission on Japanese Internment during World War II. This Commission considered that Constitutional guarantees had been violated by internment and recommended reparation to those affected.
Mitchell was known as a reformer while in Congress and helped expose the scandal surrounding the sale of World War II surplus property.[1]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromWashington (Class 1) 1946 | Succeeded by |
| Democratic nominee forGovernor of Washington 1952 | Succeeded by | |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 1) from Washington January 10, 1945 – December 25, 1946 Served alongside:Warren Magnuson | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromWashington's 1st congressional district 1949–1953 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Youngest member of the United States Senate January 18, 1945 – August 26, 1945 | Succeeded by |
| Class 1 |  | |
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| Class 3 | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
