‘Big Ed’ Johnson of Colorado By Ray Hill For the better part of two decades, Edwin Carl Johnson dominated the politics of Colorado.  A hulking man over six feet tall with a thick, shaggy head of hair, Johnson was fondly known as “Big Ed” to his many friends in the...

The Gentleman From Colorado Edward T. Taylor By Ray Hill Edward Thomas Taylor served 32 years in the U.S. House of Representatives for Colorado.  Taylor didn’t get to Congress until he was 50 years old and stayed there until his death at age 83.  By the time...

Costigan of Colorado Edward P. Costigan By Ray Hill The most widely read news magazine in the world, TIME, aptly noted, “One way to spoil a party of which you disapprove is to leave it, making a disturbance as you go.” That was the description TIME used to report the...

Iowa’s Cantankerous Congressman Harold Royce “H. R.” Gross By Ray Hill It is fair to say there was not a speck of get-along-go-along in the character of Harold Royce Gross, a former newscaster who spent 26 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the...

The Unknown Long George S. Long of Louisiana By Ray Hill One of the most enduring of all political dynasties is that founded by Huey Pierce Long, Louisiana’s “Kingfish.” Even those who barely know anything about politics and history are oftentimes familiar with the...

Homer T. Bone of Washington By Ray Hill Homer T. Bone served just under twelve years in the United States Senate and sat on the federal bench as a judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1944 until his death in 1970.  A man devoted to his wife and son,...

Our Congressman Richard W. Austin By Ray Hill For a decade, the congressman from Tennessee’s Second Congressional District was Richard W. Austin.  Lean of frame, clean-shaven with piercing eyes and a bald pate, R. W. Austin counted his friends by the thousands. ...

The Gentleman From West Virginia Cleveland Bailey By Ray Hill Cleveland Monroe Bailey looked more like movie director Tim Burton’s idea of a mortician than a congressman.  Bald, jug-eared and slightly stooped, Bailey served a total of fourteen years in the U.S. House...

‘Stubby’ A Hero of the Great War By Ray Hill Faithful readers of this column know of my great love for dogs, and I cannot count the number of times people have told me how much they like it when I write about animals.  I have long contended that the dog is God’s most...

The Senator From Wisconsin F Ryan Duffy Wisconsin was considered to be a solidly Republican state by the time F. Ryan Duffy waged a campaign to be elected to the United States Senate in 1932.  Yet there were two strong elements of the Republican Party inside the...