"Wisconsin Senator" Alexander Wiley Hand Signed TLS Dated 1950 Todd Mueller COA

Description

Up for auction
"Wisconsin Senator" Alexander Wiley Hand Signed TLS Dated 1950.
This item is certified authentic by Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-9262E
Alexander Wiley
(May 26, 1884 – October 26, 1967) was a
Republican
who served four terms in the
United States Senate
for the state of
Wisconsin
from 1939 to 1963. When he left the Senate, he was its
most senior
Republican member. Wiley was born in
Chippewa Falls
, Wisconsin. He received his undergraduate education at
Augsburg College
in
Minnesota
and the
University of Michigan
in
Ann Arbor
,
Michigan
. He received his law degree from the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
in 1907 and was also admitted to the bar the same year. He served as the
Chippewa County
district attorney from 1909 to 1915.
Wiley was the Republican candidate for
governor of Wisconsin
in 1936, but his bid failed.
Philip La Follette
and the new
Wisconsin Progressive Party
, which split from the Republicans in 1934, won the election. In 1938, Wiley was elected to the U.S. Senate, first defeating Tax Court judge
Stephen J. McMahon
to win the Republican nomination, and then defeating incumbent
F. Ryan Duffy
to win the seat. In 1944, he was challenged by
United States Marine Corps
Captain
Joseph R. McCarthy
in the Republican
primary
. He defeated McCarthy and won the general election. Wiley, then an
isolationist
in foreign policy, and Governor
Walter S. Goodland
supported Republican presidential nominee
Thomas E. Dewey
in the
1944
race over incumbent
Franklin D. Roosevelt
, and Dewey won Wisconsin's electoral votes but fell far short nationally.
Wiley was re-elected two more times in 1950 and 1956. In 1956, he was challenged by
U.S. Representative
Glenn Robert Davis
in the Republican primary, but again prevailed. Wiley voted in favor of the
Civil Rights Acts of 1957
and
1960
, as well as the
24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
. In 1962, Wiley lost his bid for a fifth term to Governor
Gaylord Nelson
, a
liberal
Democrat
. Wiley was the last Republican to serve as U.S. Senator from Wisconsin until the election of former
9th district
congressman
Bob Kasten
in
1980 United States Senate elections
. Wiley had a distinguished Senate career that included the chairmanship of both the Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees. Wiley died in
Germantown, Pennsylvania
at age 83.
[6]
He was interred at Forest Hill Cemetery in Chippewa Falls. During his lifetime he was a member of the
Freemasons
, the
Knights Templar
, the
Elks Club
, the
Kiwanis
, the
Knights of Pythias
, the
Moose International
, the
Sons of Norway
, and
Sigma Phi Epsilon
.