NORRIS, GEORGE

The Depression years witnessed the fulfillment of the public career of George William Norris (July 11, 1861–September 2, 1944). Already in his seventies, he played a major role in the enactment of many of his legislative aspirations both in Washington and in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Elected to the House of Representatives in 1902 and to the Senate in 1912, Norris first came to public attention as a member in opposition; he opposed the power of the speaker of the house in 1910 and the nation's entrance into World War I, as well as the peace treaty that followed the war. During the 1920s Norris continued as an opposition leader, fighting against the disposal of government properties, including a dam under construction during World War I at Muscle Shoals, a series of swift rapids in the Tennessee River in northern Alabama. The dam was unfinished when the war ended. Norris also opposed individuals and groups interested in the private development of the dam's hydroelectric potential and what he considered flawed efforts to provide assistance to distressed rural America. However, by the last years of the Hoover administration, as the Great Depression unfolded with progressive Republicans holding the balance of power in the Senate, the Norris-La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act (1932) became law, and a measure championed by Norris for over a decade calling for an amendment abolishing the "lame duck" sessions of Congress was approved and then ratified in 1933 as the twentieth amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

With the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Norris saw more of his dreams coming true. Most important was the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which called for multipurpose development of the Tennessee River Valley. In Nebraska, Norris championed the Tri-County Project and other public power projects, creating in effect a miniature TVA that helped make Nebraska, like Tennessee, an all-public-power state. In 1934, Norris stumped the state calling for the creation of a unicameral legislature and was on hand for the convening of its first session in 1936.

An ardent supporter of the New Deal, Norris cosponsored measures calling for the permanent establishment of the Rural Electrification Administration. He also supported a farm forestry law, and endorsed funding for agencies and projects providing assistance to rural America. Norris supported measures to regulate corporations and to guarantee labor's right to organize, and he also supported the establishment of a system of social security, as well as appropriations providing work for the unemployed. Reluctantly, because he believed that "only God can change the Supreme Court," Norris voted for the president's court-packing scheme to secure justices more sympathetic to the New Deal. In 1936, seeking a fifth term, Norris abandoned his Republican Party affiliation and ran as an independent, becoming the first senator to be elected as an independent. President Roosevelt, campaigning in Omaha, endorsed Norris over his own party's candidate.

Defeated for reelection in 1942, Norris returned to his hometown, McCook, where he prepared his autobiography and maintained until his death an active interest in public affairs and the concerns of rural America.

See Also: NORRIS-LA GUARDIA ACT; TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY (TVA).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lowitt, Richard. George W. Norris. Vol. 1: The Making of a Progressive, 1861–1912. 1963. Vol. 2: The Persistence of a Progressive: 1913–1933, 1971. Vol. 3: The Triumph of a Progressive: 1933–1934, 1978.

Norris, George W. Fighting Liberal: The Autobiography of George W. Norris. 1945.

Richard Lowitt