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Porter H. Dale

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American politician
Porter H. Dale
United States Senator
from Vermont
In office
November 7, 1923 – October 6, 1933
Preceded byWilliam P. Dillingham
Succeeded byErnest W. Gibson Sr.
Member of the
United States House of Representatives
from Vermont's 2nd district
In office
March 4, 1915 – August 11, 1923
Preceded byFrank Plumley
Succeeded byErnest W. Gibson
Member of the Vermont Senate from Essex County
In office
1910–1914
Preceded byMartin Van Buren Vance
Succeeded byElmer Reed
Judge of the Brighton, Vermont Municipal Court
In office
1910–1911
Preceded byHerbert W. Blake
Succeeded byE. J. Parsons
Personal details
BornPorter Hinman Dale
(1867-03-01)March 1, 1867
Island Pond, Vermont
DiedOctober 6, 1933(1933-10-06) (aged 66)
Westmore, Vermont
Resting placeLakeside Cemetery, Island Pond, Vermont
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Amy K. Bartlett (m. 1891-1907, her death)
Augusta M. Wood (m. 1910-1933, his death)
RelationsGeorge N. Dale (father)
Children4
EducationEastman Business College
ProfessionAttorney
Military service
Allegiance Vermont
Branch/serviceVermont Militia
Years of service1896–1898
Rank Colonel
UnitStaff of Governor Josiah Grout
Battles/warsSpanish–American War

Porter Hinman Dale (March 1, 1867 – October 6, 1933) was an American educator, lawyer, and politician who served as a member of both the United States House of Representatives from 1915 to 1923, and the United States Senate from Vermont from 1923 to 1933.

Early life and career

Porter H. Dale as candidate for Congress, 1898

The son of Lieutenant Governor George N. Dale and Helen (Hinman) Dale, Porter Dale was born in Island Pond, Vermont on March 1, 1867.

Dale attended public schools in his hometown and went on to study at Eastman Business College. Later he studied in Philadelphia and Boston, and he spent two years studying elocution and oratory with James Edward Murdoch, a Shakespearean scholar and actor.

Upon completion of his education, he taught school at the Green Mountain Seminary in Waterbury, Vermont, and at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Dale then studied law with his father, was admitted to the bar in 1896, and practiced in Island Pond. After the death of his father, Dale practiced in partnership with Harry B. Amey.

Dale served as chief deputy collector of customs at Island Pond from 1897 to 1910, when he resigned and was appointed judge of the Brighton municipal court. He also served in the state militia as colonel on the staff Governor Josiah Grout, and he was also involved in the lumber, electric, and banking businesses.

In 1900 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination in the election for Vermont's Second District seat in the U.S. House. Dale was elected to the Vermont State Senate in 1910 and served two two-year terms.

House of Representatives

In 1914, Dale was a candidate for the Republican U.S. House nomination in Vermont's 2nd District. He defeated Alexander Dunnett on the 21st ballot at the state party convention, and went on to win the general election. He served from March 4, 1915, to August 11, 1923, when he resigned to become a candidate for the United States Senate. Dale served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury during the Sixty-Sixth and Sixty-Seventh Congresses.

First inauguration of Calvin Coolidge

Dale was campaigning for the Senate on the night of August 2, 1923, when he heard of the death of President Warren G. Harding. Calvin Coolidge was staying at the home of his father John Calvin Coolidge Sr. in Plymouth, Vermont, and Dale traveled to the Coolidge home to ensure that Coolidge was informed and to offer his assistance. By most accounts, it was Dale who suggested persistently that Coolidge be sworn in immediately to ensure continuity in the presidency, and Dale witnessed Coolidge receiving the oath of office from John Coolidge early on the morning of August 3. Dale drafted and revised a written account of this event, which his grandson Porter H. Dale II and great-grandson Christopher Dale later discovered and published in the Journal of Vermont History in 1994.

U.S. Senate

Dale was elected to the United States Senate on November 6, 1923, for the remainder of the term ending March 3, 1927, which had been made vacant by the death of William P. Dillingham. Dale was reelected in 1926 and 1932, and served from November 7, 1923, until his death. He was chairman of the Committee on Civil Service (Sixty-ninth through Seventy-second Congresses).

Death and burial

Dale died at his summer home on Lake Willoughby in Westmore, Vermont on October 6, 1933. He was buried in Lakeside Cemetery in Island Pond.

Family

In 1891, Dale married Amy K. Bartlett (b. 1861) of Island Pond. She died on August 1, 1907, and in 1910 he married Augusta M. Wood (1876-1961) of Boston. With his first wife, Dale was the father of Marian (1892-1975), Timothy (1894-1977), Amy (1895-1938), and George (1898-1962).

See also

References

  1. Consolidated Publishing, Who's Who in the Nation's Capital, 1921, page 97
  2. John J. Duffy, Samuel B. Hand, Ralph H. Orth, editors, The Vermont Encyclopedia, 2003, page 100
  3. William Hartley Jeffrey, Successful Vermonters: a modern gazetteer of Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans Counties, Vermont, 1904, pages 12-13
  4. "Harry Amey, 80, Dies; Former U.S. District Attorney". Burlington Free Press. Burlington, VT. December 7, 1949. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. James Terry White, The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 44, 1967, page 371
  6. Dodd, Mead and Company, The New International Year Book, 1934, page 209
  7. The Vermonter magazine, Candidates for Congress in the Second District, April, 1900, pages 159-161
  8. "Porter H. Dale Wins". Orleans County Monitor. Barton, VT. September 9, 1914. p. 1 – via Library of Congress: Chronicling America; Historic American Newspapers.
  9. "Porter H. Dale Wins", p. 1.
  10. Vermont State Archives and Records Administration, Representatives to Congress, Terms of Service Archived 2013-05-03 at the Wayback Machine, 2008, page 4
  11. New York Times, Republicans Name House Committees, April 10, 1921
  12. Bill Harris, The First Ladies Fact Book, 2012, page 456
  13. Glenn D. Kittler, Hail to the Chief!: The Inauguration Days of our Presidents, 1965, page 167
  14. Porter H. Dale, The Calvin Coolidge Inauguration Revisited: An Eyewitness Account by Congressman Porter H. Dale, republished in Vermont History magazine, 1994, Volume 62, pages 214-222
  15. New York Times, Vermont to Elect a New U.S. Senator; Porter H. Dale Will Probably Be Chosen to Fill Dillingham's Unexpired Term, November 4, 1923
  16. New York Times, Vermont to Fill Senate Vacancy; Seat of Late Porter H. Dale Is Sought by Representative E.W. Gibson, October 22, 1933
  17. United Press, Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, Senator Dale, Vermont, Dies, October 8, 1933
  18. Boston Globe, U.S. Senator Dale Dead in Vermont, October 7, 1933
  19. Esther Buck Hamilton, Vermont is a State I Love, 1976, page 41

External links

Party political offices
Preceded byWilliam P. Dillingham Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Vermont
(Class 3)
1923, 1926, 1932 		Succeeded byErnest Willard Gibson
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded byFrank Plumley United States Representative from Vermont (2nd)
1915-1923 		Succeeded byErnest Willard Gibson
U.S. Senate
Preceded byWilliam P. Dillingham United States Senator (Class 3) from Vermont
1923-1933 		Succeeded byErnest Willard Gibson
United States senators from Vermont
Class 1 United States Senate
Class 3
Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on Post Office and Civil Service
Post Office and Post Roads
(1816–1947)		 Seal of the United States Senate
Civil Service and Retrenchment
(1873–1921)
Civil Service
(1921–1947)
Post Office and Civil Service
(1947–1977)

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

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