William Henry KING, Congress, UT (1863-1949)

KING, William Henry, (father of David S. King), a Representative and a Senator from Utah; born in Fillmore, Millard County, Utah, June 3, 1863; attended the public schools, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, and the University of Utah at Salt Lake City; church missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great Britain 1880-1883; returned to his home in Utah and was elected to various offices in the city of Fillmore and in Millard County; member, Territorial legislature two terms; graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; admitted to the bar in 1890 and commenced practice in Utah; member, Territorial council 1891 and served as president; associate justice of the Utah supreme court 1894-1896, when Utah was admitted as a state into the Union; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1897-March 3, 1899); was not a candidate for renomination in 1898; elected to the Fifty-sixth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the unseating of Brigham H. Roberts and served from April 2, 1900, to March 3, 1901; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1900 to the Fifty-seventh Congress and for election in 1902 to the Fifty-eighth Congress; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1916; reelected in 1922, 1928, and 1934 and served from March 4, 1917, to January 3, 1941; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1940; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Seventy-sixth Congress; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Sixty-fifth Congress), Committee on the District of Columbia (Seventy-third through Seventy-sixth Congresses); engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D.C., until April 1947; returned to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he resided until his death on November 27, 1949; interment in Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Bibliography

Hauptman, Laurence M. “Utah Anti-Imperialist: Senator William H. King and Haiti, 1921-1934.” Utah Historical Quarterly 41 (Spring 1973): 116-27; Libby, Justin H. “Senators King and Thomas and the Continuing War with Japan.” Utah Historical Quarterly 42 (Fall 1974): 370-80.

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