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George W. Norris

George W. Norris
Portrait by Harris & Ewing c. 1920s–1930s
United States Senator
from Nebraska
In office
March 4, 1913 – January 3, 1943
Preceded byNorris Brown
Succeeded byKenneth S. Wherry
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Nebraska's 5th district
In office
March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1913
Preceded byAshton C. Shallenberger
Succeeded bySilas Reynolds Barton
Chairman of the
Senate Committee on the Judiciary
In office
August 1926 – March 3, 1933
Preceded byAlbert B. Cummins
Succeeded byHenry F. Ashurst
Chairman of the
Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry
In office
1921–1926
Preceded byAsle J. Gronna
Succeeded byCharles McNary
Personal details
Born
George William Norris

(1861-07-11)July 11, 1861
York Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, U.S.
DiedSeptember 2, 1944(1944-09-02) (aged 83)
McCook, Nebraska, U.S.
Political partyRepublican (until 1936)
Independent (1936–1944)
Spouses
Pluma Lashley
​
​
(m. 1889; died 1901)​
Ellie Leonard
​
(m. 1903)​
Children3
Alma materBaldwin University
Northern Indiana Law School
ProfessionLawyer

George William Norris (July 11, 1861 – September 2, 1944) was an American politician from Nebraska. He served five terms in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican, from 1903 until 1913, and five terms in the United States Senate, from 1913 until 1943. He served four terms as a Republican and his final term as an Independent. Norris was defeated for re-election in 1942.

Norris was a leader of progressive and liberal causes in Congress. He is best known as the man behind the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933. Still in operation today, the Tennessee Valley Authority brought electricity to poor rural areas and constructed dams for flood control in the American Southeast. Norris was also the father of Nebraska's unicameral legislature (which remains the only one-house legislature in the United States) and the author of the Twentieth Amendment. He was known for his liberal and populist ideals, his defiance of party lines[1], his non-interventionist foreign policy, his support for labor unions, and his intense crusades against what he characterized as "wrong and evil".[2]

President Franklin D. Roosevelt called him "the very perfect, gentle knight of American progressive ideals", and this has been the theme of all his biographers.[3] He is one of eight senators profiled in President John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage. A 1957 advisory panel of 160 scholars recommended Norris as the top choice for the five best Senators in U.S. history.[4]

Early life

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Norris was born in 1861 in York Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. He was the eleventh child of poor, uneducated farmers of Scots-Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch descent. He graduated from Baldwin University and earned his LL.B. degree in 1883 at the Northern Indiana Law School.

He moved west to practice law, settling in Beaver City, Nebraska. In 1889 he married Pluma Lashley; the couple had three daughters (Gertrude, Hazel, and Marian) before her 1901 death. The widower Norris married Ellie Leonard in 1903; they had no children.

Political career

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House insurgent

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Portrait by C. M. Bell, 1903

In 1900 Norris relocated to the larger town of McCook, where he became active as a Republican in local politics. In 1902, running as a Republican, he was elected to the House of Representatives for Nebraska's 5th congressional district. In that election, he was supported by the railroads; however, in 1906 he broke with them, supporting Theodore Roosevelt's plans to regulate rates for the benefit of shippers, such as the merchants who lived in his district.

Rising to prominence as an insurgent in the House of Representatives, Norris led the 1910 revolt against House Speaker Joseph G. Cannon. At the time, the Speaker's position held enormous unchecked power. Norris convened with House Democrats to introduce a resolution reducing the Speaker’s powers. The successful resolution ended the Speaker’s control over legislation by reducing his influence on the House Rules Committee, which is responsible for passing most legislation to the floor for a vote. This reform ultimately had mixed results for Progressives. A new, larger Rules Committee replaced the Speaker as the gatekeeper of House legislation, so the Speaker's power was redistributed, not eliminated[5].

In January 1911, Norris helped create the National Progressive Republican League and served as its vice president. He originally supported Robert M. La Follette, Sr. for the 1912 presidential nomination but then switched to Roosevelt. However, he refused to leave the Republican convention and join Roosevelt's Progressive Party. He instead ran for the Senate as a Republican.

Senator

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Senator Norris on Capitol Hill, 1913

Norris is known for leading the conversion of Nebraska's bicameral legislature to the unicameral system. He believed the two-house system was unnecessarily complex, a drain on resources, and vulnerable to corruption and outside interference [6]. Norris's initiative was passed by Nebraska voters in 1934, and the first session of Nebraska's unicameral legislature convened in January 1937. To this day, Nebraska remains the only state with a one-house legislature.

Notably, Senator Norris was the primary author and sponsor of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, also known as the "Lame Duck" Amendment. The amendment shortened the “lame duck” period between elections and the start of new terms, enhancing government efficiency and creating accountability for elected officials who had been voted out of office.

Norris supported some of President Woodrow Wilson's domestic programs but became a firm isolationist, fearing that bankers were manipulating the country into war. In the face of enormous pressure from the media and the administration, Norris was one of only six senators to vote against the declaration of war on Germany in 1917.

Looking at the war in Europe, he said, "Many instances of cruelty and inhumanity can be found on both sides." Norris believed the government wanted to enter this war only because the wealthy had already aided the British financially in the war. He told Congress the only people who would benefit from the war were "munition manufacturers, stockbrokers, and bond dealers", adding that

"war brings no prosperity to the great mass of common and patriotic citizens. ... War brings prosperity to the stock gambler on Wall Street – to those who are already in possession of more wealth than can be realized or enjoyed."[7]

Senator Norris c. 1918–1921

Norris joined the Irreconcilables, who opposed and defeated U.S. participation in the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations in 1919.

After several terms, Norris's seniority gained him the chairmanships of the Agriculture and Forestry and the Judiciary committees. As chairman of the Agriculture Committee, Norris blocked auto tycoon Henry Ford's proposal to buy the unfinished Wilson Dam in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and turn the property and surrounding areas into a modern metropolis[8][9]. Norris was insistent that the property not be privatized, and instead be developed to provide public electricity and flood control.[10] He twice succeeded in getting Congress to pass legislation for a federal electric power system based at Muscle Shoals, but it was vetoed by presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.[11] Norris said of Hoover:

"Using his power of veto, he destroyed the Muscle Shoals Bill – a measure designated to utilize the great government property at Muscle Shoals for the cheapening of fertilizer for American agriculture and utilization of the surplus power for the benefit of people.... The power people want no yardstick which would expose their extortionate rates so Hoover killed the bill after it had been passed by both houses of Congress."[12]

Not willing to accept defeat and give up his vision for improving quality of life in the rural, underserved Tennessee Valley region, Norris built upon the ideas of his vetoed Muscle Shoals Bill to create the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) soon became one of the very first (and longest-lasting) programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal[13], and Norris's foremost legacy.

Although a nominal Republican (which was essential to his seniority), Norris routinely attacked and voted against the Republican administrations of Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. Norris supported Democrats Al Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt for president in 1928 and 1932, respectively. As a Progressive Republican, "Regular Republicans" deemed him one of the "Sons of the Wild Jackass".[14]

Norris was a resolute teetotaler, battling against alcohol even when the crusade lost favor during the Great Depression. Prohibition was ended in 1933. He told voters prohibition means "this greatest evil of all mankind is driven from the homes of the American people," even if it means "we are giving up some of our personal rights and personal privileges."[15]

Senator Norris of Nebraska (left) and New York City Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia in 1938

In 1932, along with Representative Fiorello H. La Guardia (NY-20), Norris secured passage of the Norris–La Guardia Act. It prohibited the practice of employers' requiring prospective employees to commit to not joining a labor union as a condition of employment (the so-called yellow-dog contract) and greatly limited the use of court injunctions against strikes.

In 1935, Norris voted along primarily with Democrats to adjourn the United States Senate as the chamber was deadlocked over the Costigan-Wagner Bill;[16] the anti-lynching bill was ultimately defeated. In spite of inaction on the anti-lynching bill, Norris led efforts to outlaw poll taxes.[17]

Tennessee Valley Authority and later career

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt (center) signs the Rural Electrification Act with Representative John E. Rankin (left) and Senator Norris (right), 1936

The major achievement of Senator Norris's career was the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933, a plan he conceived and fought incessantly over several years to bring to fruition. The Act established the Tennessee Valley Authority, which brought electricity to widespread areas of the rural South, stimulated the regional economy, and mitigated destructive flooding. Today, TVA is the electricity provider for over 10 million Americans. [18] In appreciation for his impact, the Norris Dam and Norris, Tennessee, a new planned city, were named after Norris.[19][20] Norris was also the prime Senate supporter of the Rural Electrification Act, which expanded upon the benefits of TVA by bringing electrical service to underserved and unserved rural areas across the entire United States.

Norris believed in the wisdom of the common people and in the progress of civilization.[21] "To get good government and to retain it, it is necessary that a liberty-loving, educated, intelligent people should be ever watchful, to carefully guard and protect their rights and liberties," Norris said in a 1934 speech, "The Model Legislature". The people were capable of being the government, he said, affirming his populist/progressive credentials.[22] To alert the people, he called for transparency in government. "Publicity," he proclaimed, "is the greatest cure for evils which may exist in government".[23]

Senator Norris was also a strong advocate for abolishing the electoral college, which he saw as a barrier to the voice of the American people. In fact, Norris initially included a provision to abolish the electoral college within his draft of the Twentieth Amendment, but was universally warned by his colleagues in Congress to strike that provision or else they would not support the amendment.[24] Of the electoral college, Norris wrote:

"No reason can be given why an independent people, capable of self-government, should not have the right to vote directly for the [President], who has more power than any other official in our government. ....the system [of the Electoral College] is unnecessary, cumbersome, and confusing, and has no merit whatever that can be mentioned in its favor, it has a severe and disastrous effect, and as a matter of fact....takes away from the voter the right to effectively express his will.... I do not believe that the American people ever will attain their full freedom until they win emancipation from convention manipulation through the privilege of voting directly upon the President and the Vice President of the United States."[25]

In 1936, Senator Norris left the Republican Party and was reelected to the Senate as an Independent. Norris won with 43.8% of the vote against Republican former congressman Robert G. Simmons (who came in second) and Democratic former congressman Terry Carpenter (who came in a distant third). A staunch supporter of the New Deal among other progressive initiatives, the senator believed the Republican Party no longer represented the common American. Norris received a modicum of Democratic support when he departed the Republican Party, but remained an Independent and spent the rest of his career as such.

Norris opposed Roosevelt's Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 to pack the Supreme Court, and railed against corrupt patronage.

Senator Norris gradually shifted his stance on isolationism and non-interventionism in the late 1930s as Japan continued to escalate tensions in Asia with aggressive expansionist military action. Siding against Japanese violence in China and Korea, Norris called the Japanese government "disgraceful, ignoble, barbarous, and cruel, even beyond the power of language to describe".[26] He served as vice-president of the League of Friends of Korea, which advocated for Korea's independence.[27]

Unable to secure enough Democratic support in Nebraska in 1942, and having largely ostracized himself from the Republican Party, Norris was defeated by Republican Kenneth S. Wherry. He departed from office saying, "I have done my best to repudiate wrong and evil in government affairs."[2]

Legacy and memorials

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A bust of Norris was created in 1942 by Jo Davidson for the Nebraska Hall of Fame

Norris is one of eight senators profiled in John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, included for opposing Speaker Cannon's autocratic power in the House, for speaking out against arming U.S. merchant ships during the United States' neutral period in World War I, and for supporting the presidential campaign of Democrat Al Smith.

The principal north–south street through downtown McCook, Nebraska, is named George Norris Avenue. Norris's house in McCook is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and is operated as a museum by the Nebraska State Historical Society.

The west legislative chamber of the Nebraska State Capitol, home of the unicameral legislature borne of Norris's own efforts, was named after Norris in February 1984[28].

George W. Norris Middle School and Norris Elementary School, both in Omaha, Nebraska, as well as Norris School District 160 near Firth, Nebraska, memorialize the late Senator. When several public power districts in southeastern Nebraska merged into one in 1941, the new utility was named the Norris Public Power District in Senator Norris's honor. Norris Electric, an energy co-op with headquarters in Newton, Illinois, is named after Norris and his progressive efforts to electrify the nation.[29]

On July 11th, 1961, a four-cent stamp was issued in his honor. It depicts, in shades of green, a TVA dam in the upper left, with his portrait in later life, to the right. "Gentle knight of progressive ideals" a quote on his character from FDR, is inscribed at the bottom left, while George W. Norris appears below his portrait.

In 1961, Norris was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame.

See also

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Notes and references

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  1. ^ https://history.nebraska.gov/senator-george-norris-state-historic-site/
  2. ^ a b Fred Greenbaum (2000). Men Against Myths: The Progressive Response. Greenwood. p. 7. ISBN 9780275968885.
  3. ^ Robert Muccigrosso, ed., Research Guide to American Historical Biography (1988) 3:1165
  4. ^ "Traditions of the senate". Styles Bridges opposed recommending him.
  5. ^ https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1901-1950/The-House-s-all-night-session-to-break-Speaker-Joe-Cannon-s-power/
  6. ^ https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=22862366
  7. ^ ""Opposition to Wilson's War Message"". Archived from the original on 2014-08-21. Retrieved 2010-01-11.
  8. ^ https://msnha.una.edu/henry-ford-envisioned-muscle-shoals-as-manufacturing-center/
  9. ^ https://www.tva.com/about-tva/our-history/built-for-the-people/a-dam-for-the-people
  10. ^ https://www.tva.com/about-tva/our-history/built-for-the-people/a-dam-for-the-people
  11. ^ Tobey, Ronald C. (1996). Technology as Freedom: The New Deal and the Electrical Modernization of the American Home. University of California Press. pp. 46–48. ISBN 9780520204218.
  12. ^ From "Norris Calls For Defeat of Hoover in 1932" Archived 2004-09-19 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ Norman Wengert, "Antecedents of TVA: The Legislative History of Muscle Shoals". Agricultural History (1952) 26#4 pp: 141–147. in JSTOR
  14. ^ https://www.senate.gov/about/parties-leadership/progressives-sons-of-wild-jackass.htm
  15. ^ Burton W. Folsom (1999). No More Free Markets Or Free Beer: The Progressive Era in Nebraska, 1900–1924. Lexington Books. p. 72. ISBN 9780739100141.
  16. ^ TO ADJOURN. THE PENDING BUSINESS IS S. 24, A BILL TO PREVENT LYNCHING, ON WHICH THE SENATE WAS DEADLOCKED. GovTrack.us. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  17. ^ Barnes, Harry W. (August 1969). VOICES OF PROTEST: W.E.B. DUBOIS AND BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, p. 6. Smith College. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  18. ^ https://www.tva.com/about-tva
  19. ^ TVA: An American Ideal
  20. ^ TVA: Norris Reservoir
  21. ^ Charlyne Berens, One House, The Unicameral's Progressive Vision for Nebraska (2005, University of Nebraska Press)
  22. ^ Robert F. Wesser, "George W. Norris, The Unicameral Legislature and the Progressive Ideal", Nebraska History (December 1964)
  23. ^ Mark H. Leff (2003). The Limits of Symbolic Reform: The New Deal and Taxation, 1933–1939. Cambridge U.P. p. 69. ISBN 9780521521246.
  24. ^ George W. Norris (1945). Fighting Liberal. The MacMillan Company. p. 332-333. ISBN 9780803226760. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  25. ^ George W. Norris (1945). Fighting Liberal. The MacMillan Company. p. 335-337. ISBN 9780803226760. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  26. ^ Paterson, Thomas G.; Clifford, John Garry; Hagan, Kenneth J. (1999). American Foreign Relations: A history since 1895. Vol. 2 (5 ed.). Houghton Mifflin. p. 151. ISBN 0-395-93887-2.
  27. ^ Palmer, Brandon (December 2020). "The March First Movement in America: The Campaign to Win American Support". Korea Journal. 60 (4): 205–206. ISSN 0023-3900 – via DBpia.
  28. ^ https://legislative.ncsa.org/nebraska-unicameral/unicameral-history
  29. ^ Noland, Duane (April 2013). "Learning from our history". First Thoughts. Illinois Country Living. Retrieved March 31, 2025.

Bibliography

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to George W. Norris.
Party political offices
First Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Nebraska
(Class 2)
1913, 1918, 1924, 1930 		Succeeded by
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Nebraska's 5th congressional district
1903–1913 		Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 2) from Nebraska
1913–1943
Served alongside: Gilbert M. Hitchcock, Robert B. Howell,
William H. Thompson, Richard C. Hunter, Edward R. Burke, Hugh A. Butler 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee
1926–1933 		Succeeded by