Gilbert M. Hitchcock

Gilbert Monell Hitchcock (September 18, 1859 – February 3, 1934) was a Representative and a Senator from Nebraska, and the founder of the Omaha World-Herald.

[edit] Biography

Hitchcock was born in Omaha, the son of U.S. Senator Phineas Warren Hitchcock of Nebraska. He attended the public schools of Omaha and the gymnasium at Baden-Baden, Germany. He graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1881; he was then admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Omaha in 1882. He continued the practice of law until 1885.

[edit] Newspaper career

In 1885 Hitchcock established and edited the Omaha Evening World; four years later, he purchased the Nebraska Morning Herald and consolidated the two into the morning and evening editions of the Omaha World-Herald.

[edit] Political career

Hitchcock was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1898; four years later, he was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1903-March 3, 1905). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1904 to the Fifty-ninth Congress. Hitchcock was elected as a Democrat to the Sixtieth and Sixty-first Congresses (March 4, 1907-March 3, 1911).

He did not seek renomination in 1910, having become a candidate for the United States Senate. Hitchcock was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate January 18, 1911; he was reelected in 1916 and served from March 4, 1911, to March 3, 1923. During his two terms, he was the chairman of the Committee on the Philippines (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses), the Committee on Foreign Relations (a portion of the Sixty-fifth Congress), and the Committee on Forest Reservations and Game Protection (Sixty-sixth Congress). Hitchcock was unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1922 and for election in 1930.

[edit] End of life

After the end of his Senate service, he resumed newspaper work with the World-Herald. He retired from active business in 1933 and moved to Washington, D.C., where he died on February 3, 1934. He was interred in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Omaha.

[edit] Legacy

Aside from the continuing operation and expansion of his paper, Hitchcock Elementary School and Hitchcock Park are both named for Gilbert M. Hitchock.

[edit] References

• Ryley, Thomas W. Gilbert Hitchcock of Nebraska — Wilson’s Floor Leader in the Fight for the Versailles Treaty. New York: The Edward *Mellen Press, 1998
• Patterson, Robert. “Gilbert M. Hitchcock: A Story of Two Careers.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Colorado, 1940
• Wimer, Kurt. “Senator Hitchcock and the League of Nations.” Nebraska History 44 (September 1963): 189-204.

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