Henry S. Reuss

Henry Schoellkopf Reuss
Image courtesy of the Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 5th district
In office January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1983
Preceded by	Charles J. Kersten
Succeeded by	Jim Moody
Personal details
Born	(1912-02-22)February 22, 1912 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Died	San Rafael, California
Resting place	Forest Home Cemetery
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Margaret Reuss, née Magrath (wed 1942, died 2008)
Children	Christopher Reuss (died 1986) Michael Reuss Jacqueline Reuss Anne Reuss
Parents	Gustav A. Reuss Paula Schoellkopf Reuss
Alma mater	Cornell University

Henry Schoellkopf Reuss (February 22, 1912 – January 12, 2002) was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Wisconsin.

Early life

Childhood and education

He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in that city's German section. Reuss earned his A.B. from Cornell University in 1933 and was a member of the Sphinx Head Society. He then earned his LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1936.

Early career

He was a lawyer in private practice and business executive. He served as assistant corporation counsel for Milwaukee County, Wisconsin from 1939 to 1940 and Counsel for United States Office of Price Administration from 1941 to 1942.

Marriage

In 1942 he married Margaret Magrath (about 1920 - 2008 September 30). She was an alumna of Bryn Mawr College who earned a master's degree from the University of Chicago in 1944, and a Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1968, both in economics. She worked at the Office of Price Administration in the 1940s, and taught at Federal City College from 1970. University of District of Columbia took over FCC in 1977, and she continued teaching there until she retired in 1985, as department chairman. She served mayor Marion Barry in several capacities, supported the Community for Creative Non-Violence, Emily's List, and various Democrats. They had four children, seven grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

World War II

He was in the United States Army from 1943 to 1945, leaving as a major. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in the infantry. He served as chief of price control, Office of Military Government for Germany in 1945, and deputy general counsel for the Marshall Plan, Paris, France in 1949.

Attorney after World War II

Reuss became a special prosecutor for Milwaukee County in 1950.

He left the Republican party in 1950 due to antipathy for Senator Joseph McCarthy. As a Democrat, Reuss waged an unsuccessful primary election campaign to become McCarthy's opponent in the 1952 general election. He attended the 1952 Democratic National Convention as an alternate delegate.

He served as member of the school board for Milwaukee from 1953 to 1954. He served as member of legal advisory committee, United States National Resources Board from 1948 to 1952. He was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Milwaukee in 1948 and 1960, losing to Frank Zeidler and Henry Maier, respectively.

Congressman

Reuss was elected as a Democrat from the 5th district to the Eighty-fourth and to the thirteen succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1983). He served as chairman of the Committee on Banking, Currency, and Housing in the Ninety-fourth Congress. He served as chairman of the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs in the Ninety-fifth and Ninety-sixth Congresses. He served as chairman of the Joint Economic Committee in the Ninety-seventh Congress.

After the 1974 post-Watergate Democratic landslide victories in Congress, Reuss defeated the more senior Wright Patman of Texas as chairman of the House Banking Committee.

He opposed the war in Vietnam, and supported the campaign of U.S. Senator Eugene J. McCarthy for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. He served as an at-large delegate for McCarthy at the Democratic National Convention that year.

He watched as planning, land acquisition, and utility relocation activities occurred for the Park West Freeway in his district (1955–1972). These activities cost the federal, state, and county governments almost $25 million. Only after the Milwaukee County electorate approved construction of the Park West in November 1974 did he come out in opposition to it in May 1975.

Life after Congress

He was not a candidate for reelection to the Ninety-eighth Congress in 1982.

His name graces the Reuss Plaza Federal Office Building in Milwaukee, and the National Park Service's Henry Reuss Ice Age Center near Dundee, Wisconsin.

He donated to Senator Russ Feingold's and Paul Tsongas's campaigns in 1992. Mrs. Reuss was a bigger and more active donor to Democrats and related groups.

Bibliography

• (inspired the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin).

References

• Henry S. Reuss at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Charles J. Kersten	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 5th congressional district January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1983	Succeeded by Jim Moody