Key PITTMAN, Congress, NV (1872-1940)

PITTMAN, Key, a Senator from Nevada; born in Vicksburg, Warren County, Miss., September 12, 1872; educated by private tutors and at the Southwestern Presbyterian University, Clarksville, Tenn.; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1892 and commenced practice in Seattle, Wash.; joined in the gold rush to Klondike, Alaska, in 1897 and worked as a miner until 1901; practiced law in Alaska; moved to the silver boom-town of Tonopah, Nev., in 1902 and continued the practice of law; appointed to represent the State of Nevada at the St. Louis Exposition, the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and the irrigation congress; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1910; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1913 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of George S. Nixon; reelected in 1916, 1922, 1928 and 1934 and served from January 29, 1913, until his death; had been reelected in 1940 for the term beginning January 3, 1941; served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the Seventy-third through Seventy-sixth Congresses; chairman, Committee on Territories (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses), Committee on Industrial Expositions (Sixty-sixth Congress), Committee on Foreign Relations (Seventy-third through Seventy-sixth Congresses); died in Reno, Nev., November 10, 1940; interment in Mountain View Cemetery.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Glad, Betty. Key Pittman: The Tragedy of a Senate Insider. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986; Israel, Fred. Nevada’s Key Pittman. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1963.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present