5/18/2008:
Senator Porter McCumber of North Dakota was born in Crete, Illinois in 1858. Following his graduation from the University of Michigan, McCumber moved to Wahpeton, Dakota Territory in 1881 to practice law. After several years in the Dakota Territorial legislature, he was eventually elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1899.
While representing North Dakota, Senator McCumber proved influential in many key areas. He presented a bill in the Senate that eventually became the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. Following World War One, he was the most outspoken advocate for the League of Nations among the Republican Senators and as chairman of the finance committee, he played a leading role in the creation of the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act of 1922.
After representing North Dakota for 23 years in the US Senate, Porter J. McCumber passed away on this day, May 18, 1933.
Written by Christina Sunwall
Sources:
Carpenter, Daniel P. The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Reputations, Networks and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies 1862-1928. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Holt, W. Stull. Treaties Defeated by the Senate Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, 1933.
"Porter James Mccumber", Biographical Directory of the United States Congress http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000397 (accessed 14 April 2008).