Warren Magnuson

Warren Grant Magnuson (April 12, 1905 – May 20, 1989) was an American lawyer and politician who represented the state of Washington in Congress for 44 years, first as a Representative from 1937 to 1944, and then as a senator from 1944 to 1981.

Magnuson was a member of the Democratic Party.

He was Washington state's longest-serving senator, serving over 36 years.

During his final two years in office, he was the most senior senator and president pro tempore.

Warren Magnuson was born in Moorhead, Minnesota.

His birthdate is supposedly April 12, 1905, but the actual records of his birth are sealed.

According to various sources, he never knew his birth parents; they may have died within a month of his birth, or his unmarried mother may have put him up for adoption.

William Grant and Emma (née Anderson) Magnuson adopted Warren, and gave him their name.

The Magnusons were second-generation Scandinavian immigrants who operated a bar in Moorhead, and adopted a daughter, Clara, a year after adopting Warren.

His adoptive father left the family in 1921.

Magnuson attended Moorhead High School, where he played quarterback on the football team and was captain of the baseball team.

While in high school, he ran a YMCA camp, worked on wheat farms, and delivered newspapers and telegrams in Moorhead and nearby Fargo, North Dakota.

He graduated in 1923, and then enrolled at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.

In 1924, he transferred to the North Dakota Agricultural College in Fargo, which he attended for a year.

He then traveled through Canada for some time, riding freight trains and working with threshing crews.

Magnuson followed a high school girlfriend to Seattle, Washington, where he entered the University of Washington in 1925.

He was a member of Theta Chi fraternity, and worked delivering ice as a Teamsters member under Dave Beck.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1926, and earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Washington School of Law in 1929.

A Democrat, he first became active in politics in 1928, volunteering for A. Scott Bullitt for governor and Al Smith for president.

In 1929, Magnuson was admitted to the bar and joined the law office of Judge Samuel Stern in Seattle.

He served as secretary of the Seattle Municipal League from 1930 to 1931 and served as a special prosecutor for King County in 1932, investigating official misconduct.

He founded the state chapter of the Young Democrats of America that same year.

He was a leading supporter of repealing state Prohibition laws and establishing the state Liquor Control Board.

From 1933 to 1935, Magnuson served as a member of the Washington House of Representatives from the Seattle-based 37th Legislative District.

As a state legislator, he sponsored the first unemployment compensation bill in the nation.

Magnuson was a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1933.

He briefly served as Assistant United States District Attorney before being elected prosecuting attorney of King County, serving from 1934 to 1936.

In 1936, as incumbent Congressman and Magnuson's friend Marion Zioncheck showed serious mental instability and uncertainty about seeking reelection, Magnuson announced his candidacy.

Two days after Magnuson entered the race, Zioncheck announced that he would not run again, and within a week Zioncheck committed suicide by jumping from his office window.

With the endorsement of the influential, left-wing Washington Commonwealth Federation and support from the Seattle business community, Magnuson easily won the Democratic primary and then the general election.

In 1937, Magnuson and Senators Homer Bone and Matthew Neely introduced the National Cancer Institute Act, signed into law by Franklin Roosevelt on August 5 of that year.

He was reelected in 1938, 1940, and 1942.

After the Attack on Pearl Harbor, Magnuson staunchly supported the U.S. war effort.

Magnuson served in the United States Navy during World War II.

He was aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) for several months, seeing heavy combat in the Pacific Theatre until Roosevelt ordered all congressmen on active duty to return home in 1942.

In 1944, Magnuson was elected to the U.S. Senate.

On December 14, 1944, Governor Arthur B. Langlie appointed Magnuson to fill the vacancy created by Homer Bone's appointment to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

He resigned from the House and started his Senate tenure a month early, gaining an advantage in seniority.

Magnuson was reelected in 1950, 1956, 1962, 1968, and 1974.

He served on the Senate Commerce Committee throughout his tenure in the Senate.