US Congressman and Senator from Iowa. A 1900 graduate of Drake University Law School in Des Moines, he was admitted to the bar that same year and began practicing in his hometown of Cherokee. He was prosecuting attorney of Cherokee County from 1907 to 1909, and a member of the Iowa State Senate from 1912 to 1916. During the 1920s he was active in private law practice and farming. The 1932 Democratic landslide that brought Franklin D. Roosevelt into office garnered Gillette his first US Congressional term, representing Iowa's 9th District; he was reelected in 1934. He resigned two years later after winning a special election to complete the Senate term of Richard L. Murphy, who had died in office, and was elected to a full term in 1938. As a free-thinking moderate Gillette opposed FDR over several aspects of the New Deal, and he had an isolationist attitude towards America's involvement in World War II until the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941. These views probably cost him his Senate seat in 1944. After a brief, unhappy stint as Chairman of the US Surplus Property Board, he served as President of the American League for a Free Palestine (1945 to 1948) before winning his third and final US Senate term (1949 to 1955). In 1951 he chaired the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections that investigated the campaign of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, earning him more enemies on Capitol Hill. Gillette was defeated for reelection in 1954, in a race that swept all Iowa Democrats out of Congress. He ended his career as counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee (1956 to 1961), then retired to Cherokee.
US Congressman and Senator from Iowa. A 1900 graduate of Drake University Law School in Des Moines, he was admitted to the bar that same year and began practicing in his hometown of Cherokee. He was prosecuting attorney of Cherokee County from 1907 to 1909, and a member of the Iowa State Senate from 1912 to 1916. During the 1920s he was active in private law practice and farming. The 1932 Democratic landslide that brought Franklin D. Roosevelt into office garnered Gillette his first US Congressional term, representing Iowa's 9th District; he was reelected in 1934. He resigned two years later after winning a special election to complete the Senate term of Richard L. Murphy, who had died in office, and was elected to a full term in 1938. As a free-thinking moderate Gillette opposed FDR over several aspects of the New Deal, and he had an isolationist attitude towards America's involvement in World War II until the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941. These views probably cost him his Senate seat in 1944. After a brief, unhappy stint as Chairman of the US Surplus Property Board, he served as President of the American League for a Free Palestine (1945 to 1948) before winning his third and final US Senate term (1949 to 1955). In 1951 he chaired the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections that investigated the campaign of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, earning him more enemies on Capitol Hill. Gillette was defeated for reelection in 1954, in a race that swept all Iowa Democrats out of Congress. He ended his career as counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee (1956 to 1961), then retired to Cherokee.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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