Theodore Francis GREEN, Congress, RI (1867-1966)

GREEN, Theodore Francis, (grandnephew of Samuel Greene Arnold, great-grandnephew of Tristam Burges, great-grandson of James Burrill, Jr., great-great-grandson of Jonathan Arnold, and great-great-nephew of Lemuel Hastings Arnold), a Senator from Rhode Island; born in Providence, R.I., October 2, 1867; attended private and public schools; graduated from Brown University, Providence, R.I., in 1887; attended Harvard University Law School and the Universities of Bonn and Berlin in Germany; admitted to the bar in 1892 and commenced practice in Providence, R.I.; instructor in Roman law at Brown University, Providence, R.I., 1894-1897; received a commission as lieutenant during the Spanish-American War; chairman of the city plan commission of Providence 1917-1919; member, State house of representatives 1907; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor in 1912 and 1930; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1918 to the Sixty-sixth Congress; Governor of Rhode Island 1933-1936; financially interested in numerous corporations and business enterprises and served as officer and director; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1936, 1942, 1948, and again in 1954 and served from January 3, 1937, to January 3, 1961; was not a candidate for renomination in 1960; chairman, Committee on Privileges and Elections (Seventy-seventh through Seventy-ninth Congresses), co-chairman, Joint Committee on the Library (Eighty-first and Eighty-second Congresses), chairman, Joint Committee on the Library (Eighty-fourth through Eighty-sixth Congresses), Committee on Rules and Administration (Eighty-fourth Congress), Committee on Foreign Relations (Eighty-fifth and Eighty-sixth Congresses); was ninety-three when he retired, and at the time, the oldest man to serve in Congress; died in Providence, R.I., May 19, 1966; interment in Swan Point Cemetery.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Levine, Erwin. Theodore Francis Green. 2 vols. Providence: Brown University Press, 1963-1971.

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