Ralph Owen BREWSTER, Congress, ME (1888-1961)

BREWSTER, Ralph Owen, a Representative and a Senator from Maine; born in Dexter, Penobscot County, Maine, February 22, 1888; attended the public schools; graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, in 1909, and from the law department of Harvard University 1913; high school principal 1910; admitted to the bar in 1913 and commenced practice in Portland, Maine; member of the Portland school committee 1915-1923; member, State house of representatives 1917-1918, but resigned to enter military service; served successively as private, second lieutenant, captain, and regimental adjutant, Third Infantry, Maine National Guard; member, State house of representatives 1921-1923; member of the State senate 1923-1925; Governor of Maine 1925-1929; chairman of the National Governors Conference 1925-1927; unsuccessful candidate for election to the Seventy-third Congress in 1932; elected as a Republican to the Seventy-fourth, Seventy-fifth, and Seventy-sixth Congresses (January 3, 1935-January 3, 1941); did not seek renomination in 1940, having become a candidate for United States Senator; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1940; reelected in 1946 and served from January 3, 1941, until his resignation December 31, 1952; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1952; chairman, Special Committee on National Defense (Eightieth Congress); died in Boston, Mass., December 25, 1961; interment in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Dexter, Maine.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Maher, Sister M. Patrick Ellen. “The Role of the Chairman of a Congressional Investigating Committee: A Case Study of the Special Committee of the Senate to Investigate the National Defense Program, 1941-1948.” Ph.D. dissertation, St. Louis University, 1962.

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