Lester C. Hunt

Lester C. Hunt

Infobox Governor
name = Lester Callaway Hunt


order = 19th
office = Governor of Wyoming
term_start = 1943
term_end = 1949
lieutenant =
predecessor = Frank E. Lucas
successor = Arthur G. Crane
birth_date = July 8, 1892
birth_place = Isabel, Illinois
death_date = June 19, 1954
death_place =
party = Democrat
spouse =
profession =
religion =

Lester Callaway Hunt (July 8, 1892–June 19, 1954) was a Democratic politician and dentist from the U.S. state of Wyoming. He served as governor of Wyoming from 1943 to 1949 and as United States Senator from January 3, 1949 until his suicide on June 19, 1954.

Hunt was born in Isabel, Illinois and worked as a switchman on a railroad to put himself through dental school at St. Louis University. Prior to dental school, Hunt attended and graduated from Wesleyan University. [http://www.nndb.com] Upon graduation from dental school in 1917, he moved to Lander, Wyoming, where he briefly established a dental practice before joining the United States Army Dental Corps when the United States entered World War I. Hunt served in the Dental Corps from 1917 to 1919 and rose to the rank of major. After postgraduate study at Northwestern University in 1920, Hunt resumed his practice in Lander and served as president of Wyoming State Board of Dental Examiners from 1924 to 1928.

Hunt was elected to the state legislature from Fremont County in 1933. He subsequently served two terms as Wyoming secretary of state from 1935 to 1943, and two terms as governor from 1943 to 1949. He is credited with the idea for the bucking bronco that has been featured on the Wyoming license plate since the 1930s.

Hunt was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1948, taking office on January 3, 1949. During his tenure in the Senate, Hunt became a bitter enemy of Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, and his criticism of McCarthy's anticommunist tactics marked him as a prime target in the 1954 election.

Blackmail and death

In July 1953, Hunt's twenty-year-old son was arrested for soliciting prostitution from a male undercover police officer in Lafayette Square. Republicans learned of this, and in early 1954, Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire delivered a blackmail demand. Hunt was to retire from the Senate, and not run for re-election. Furthermore, he was to resign from the Senate immediately, so the Republican governor could appoint a Republican to run as an incumbent. If Hunt refused, Wyoming voters would be informed of the arrest of Hunt's son. After some vacillation, Hunt announced on June 8, 1954, that he would not seek reelection. Eleven days later, he shot himself in his Senate office.

Republican Edward D. Crippa was appointed to fill the remainder of Hunt's Senate term. Democrat Joseph C. O'Mahoney won the seat in the general election of November 1954, which also tipped the Senate to a one vote Democratic majority.

This blackmail and eventual suicide in a Senator's office was fictionalized by Allen Drury in his best-selling and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Advise and Consent". Drury transferred the homosexual incident from a Senator's son to a Senator, with the blackmailing Senator, Fred Van Ackerman, in Wyoming, not the victim, who was Senator Brigham Anderson from Utah.

Hunt's anti-McCarthyism and his son's homosexuality are mentioned in Thomas Mallon's 2007 novel "Fellow Travelers." That novels examines the government's attitude towards homosexuality in the 1950s. Mallon uses Hunt's suicide to reflect the damage that could result from the persecutions.

References

* [http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/11/01/news/wyoming/8cf263f85d4be99387256f3e0020f92f.txt Tamara Linse, "A Senator's suicide", Caspar Star Tribune, November 1, 2004.]
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000975 Hunt's entry in the Congressional Biography Directory]
* [http://home.earthlink.net/~dbratman/drury.html David Bratman, "The Fictional Senate of Allen Drury's Advice and Consent"]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Lester Calloway Hunt — (* 8. Juli 1892 in Isabel, Illinois; † 19. Juni 1954) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker (Demokratische Partei), der von 1943 bis 1949 als Gouverneur des Bundesstaates Wyoming amtierte und diesen von 1949 bis 1954 im US Senat vertrat.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Lester C. Hunt — Lester Calloway Hunt (* 8. Juli 1892 in Isabel, Illinois; † 19. Juni 1954 in Washington D.C.) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker (Demokratische Partei), der von 1943 bis 1949 als Gouverneur des Bundesstaates Wyoming amtierte und diesen von 1949… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Lester — heißen folgende Orte: in den USA: Lester (Alabama) Lester (Iowa) Lester (Ohio) Lester (Pennsylvania) Lester (West Virginia) sowie: Lester (Singapur) Lester heißen folgende Gewässer: der Lester (Fluss), ein Zufluss des Oberen Sees in Nordamerika… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hunt (Familienname) — Hunt ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Inhaltsverzeichnis A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A Andy Hunt …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Lester Piggott — Lester Keith Piggott (born 5 November 1935) is a retired English jockey, popularly known as The Long Fellow . [ [http://www.newmarketracecourses.co.uk/about/11751596123228.html About the Home of Racing] ] [… …   Wikipedia

  • Lester Kline — Lester Les Stinley Kline (6 avril 1906 22 mars 1997[1]) était un animateur et réalisateur américain. Sommaire 1 Biographie 2 Filmographie 2.1 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Lester Matthews — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Matthews. Lester Matthews est un acteur britannique né le 6 juin 1900 à Nottingham (Royaume Uni), décédé le 6 juin 1975 à Los Angeles (États Unis). Sommaire 1 Biographie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The Hunt (The Wire episode) — Infobox The Wire episode caption = episode name = The Hunt episode no = 11 epigraph = Dope on the damn table. Daniels teleplay = Joy Lusco story = David Simon and Ed Burns writer = director = Steve Shill guest star = see below prod code = 111… …   Wikipedia

  • John Hunt Morgan — Infobox Military Person name= John Hunt Morgan lived= June 1, 1825 ndash; September 4, 1864 placeofbirth= Huntsville, Alabama placeofdeath= Greeneville, Tennessee caption= John Hunt Morgan photo taken between 1862 and 1864 nickname= Thunderbolt… …   Wikipedia

  • Man Hunt (1941 film) — Man Hunt Directed by Fritz Lang Produced by Kenneth Macgowan …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”