William King | |
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| President pro tempore of the United States Senate | |
| In office November 19, 1940 – January 3, 1941 | |
| Preceded by | Key Pittman |
| Succeeded by | Pat Harrison |
| Secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus | |
| In office March 4, 1917 – March 3, 1927 | |
| Leader | Thomas S. Martin Gilbert Hitchcock (Acting) Oscar Underwood Joseph Taylor Robinson |
| Preceded by | Key Pittman (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Hugo Black |
| United States Senator fromUtah | |
| In office March 4, 1917 – January 3, 1941 | |
| Preceded by | George Sutherland |
| Succeeded by | Abe Murdock |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromUtah'sat-large district | |
| In office April 2, 1900 – March 3, 1901 | |
| Preceded by | B. H. Roberts (Elect)* |
| Succeeded by | George Sutherland |
| In office March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1899 | |
| Preceded by | Clarence Emir Allen |
| Succeeded by | B. H. Roberts (Elect)* |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Henry King (1863-06-03)June 3, 1863 |
| Died | November 27, 1949(1949-11-27) (aged 86) Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| Resting place | Salt Lake City Cemetery |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 7, includingDavid |
| Relatives | Culbert L. Olson (first cousin) |
| Education | University of Utah University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (LLB) |
| *Roberts was denied from being seated. | |
William Henry King (June 3, 1863 – November 27, 1949) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist fromSalt Lake City,Utah. As a Democrat, King represented Utah in theUnited States Senate from 1917 until 1941.
King was born inFillmore,Utah Territory to Josephine (née Henry) and William King.[1] He graduated fromBrigham Young Academy inProvo, Utah and attended theUniversity of Deseret (now University of Utah) inSalt Lake City. He served as a missionary of theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great Britain from 1880 to 1883.
After holding local offices and serving two terms in the territorial legislature, he graduated from the law department of theUniversity of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He later joined the Utah bar and practiced law. He held other territorial offices and was appointed as an associate justice of theUtah Supreme Court, serving between 1894 and 1896.
After Utah became a state in 1896, King was elected to theUnited States House of Representatives and served in the55th Congress from March 4, 1897 to March 3, 1899. He was not nominated for a second term, but when his replacement,B. H. Roberts, was denied his seat because he was apolygamist, King was elected to complete Roberts's term. He served from April 2, 1900 to March 3, 1901. He ran for the same position in1900 and again in1902, but lost both times.
King was elected to the United States Senate four times, serving between March 4, 1917 and January 3, 1941. In 1918 and 1919, he served on theOverman Committee, which investigated seditious pro-German activity during World War I andBolshevik-inspired anti-Americanism in the months following the war's end.
Though a Democrat, King was somewhat independent of the popular Democratic presidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt; he was re-elected in 1934 on the strength of support for Roosevelt'sNew Deal, but he opposed theproposal to expand the Supreme Court as well as FDR's candidacy for an unprecedented third presidential term. When he ran for re-election in 1940, he lost the Democratic nomination to CongressmanAbe Murdock, a "100% New Dealer" who strongly supported Roosevelt.[2]
He served as thePresident pro tempore of the Senate from 1940 to 1941 during the76th Congress.
King remained in Washington, D.C., where he practiced law until April 1947. He returned to Utah and died there in 1949. He was buried atSalt Lake City Cemetery.
King was married twice, first to Louisa Ann "Annie" Lyman, to whom he wed in 1889, and remained with her to her death on April 16, 1906.[3][4] He was then married to Vera B. Sjodahl, a daughter ofJanne M. Sjödahl, from 1912 to his own death in 1949.[5] One of his sons by Vera,David S. King, served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and was a United States Ambassador to both theMalagasy Republic andMauritius. One of his granddaughters,Jody Olsen, has served as Director of thePeace Corps since 2018. His paternal first cousin,Culbert Olson, was aGovernor of California.
King was a direct descendant ofEdmund Rice, his family's English immigrant ancestor toMassachusetts Bay Colony, as follows:[6]
Media related toWilliam H. King at Wikimedia Commons| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromUtah's at-large congressional district 1897–1899 | Succeeded by B. H. Roberts Elect |
| Preceded by B. H. Roberts Elect | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromUtah's at-large congressional district 1900–1901 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| First | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromUtah (Class 1) 1916,1922,1928,1934 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Key Pittman Acting | Secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus 1917–1927 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Utah 1917–1941 Served alongside:Reed Smoot,Elbert D. Thomas | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of the Senate Post Office Expenditures Committee 1917–1919 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSenate District of Columbia Committee 1933–1941 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate 1940–1941 | Succeeded by |
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| Two at-large seats (1913–1915) |
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| Districts (1915–present) (3rd district established in 1983) (4th district established in 2013) |
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