- Frank Moss (politician)
Infobox Officeholder
name=Frank E. Moss
imagesize=150px
jr/sr=United States Senator
state=Utah
term_start=January 3 ,1959
term_end=January 3 ,1977
predecessor=Arthur V. Watkins
successor=Orrin Hatch
birthdate=September 23 ,1911
birthplace=Salt Lake City, Utah
deathdate=death date and age|2003|1|29|1911|9|23
deathplace=Salt Lake City, Utah
party=Democratic
spouse=Phyllis Hart
alma_mater=University of Utah George Washington University Law School
religion=Mormon Frank Edward Moss (
September 23 ,1911 –January 29 ,2003 ) was amoderate Democratic United States Senator fromUtah . He represented Utah in theUnited States Senate from 1959 until 1977.Moss chaired the Consumer Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee where he sponsored a measure requiring detailed labeling on
cigarette packages noting the health hazards of smoking and banning tobaccoadvertising onradio andtelevision . He also sponsored theConsumer Product Warranty and Guarantee Act (Moss-Magnuson Act), theToy Safety Act , theProduct Safety Act , and thePoison Prevention Packaging Act .Early life, marriage, and descendants
Moss was the youngest of seven children of James and Maude Nixon Moss. He married Phyllis Hart on
June 20 1934 who diedFebruary 6 2007 . They had four children, Marilyn Moss Armstrong, Frank Edward Moss, Jr., Brian Hart Moss and Gordon James Moss, who later gave Frank and Phyllis 14 grandchildren.Education
Moss graduated from
Salt Lake City 's Granite High School in 1929, from theUniversity of Utah in 1933, and from theGeorge Washington University Law School in 1937.Career
Moss worked on the legal staff of the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 1937 to 1939. He became alaw clerk toUtah Supreme Court JusticeJames H. Wolfe in 1939. Moss was elected ajudge of Salt Lake City's Municipal Court in 1940. He was on the Judge Advocate General's staff of theU.S. Army Air Corps inEngland duringWorld War II . After the war Moss was reelected aSalt Lake City judge. In 1950 he was electedSalt Lake County Attorney was reelected in 1954.He ran unsuccessfully in 1956 for the Democratic
nomination forGovernor of Utah . In 1958, Moss ran for the U.S. Senate against two-termincumbent Arthur V. Watkins, a close ally of both the Eisenhower administration andThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (see alsoMormon ), and also againstJ. Bracken Lee , a non-Mormon and former two-term Utahgovernor (1949-57), who was running as an independent after losing to Watkins in the Republican primary. The Republican vote was split in the general election, largely over local dissatisfaction with Watkins' having chaired the committee that censured SenatorJoseph McCarthy , and Moss won election with less than 40 percent of the vote. Moss was elected to a second term in 1964, defeatingBrigham Young University PresidentErnest L. Wilkinson . He was elected to a third term in 1970 defeating four-term CongressmanLaurence Burton . He gained national prominence with regard to environmental, consumer, andhealth care issues. Moss became an expert on water issues and wrote "The Water Crisis " in 1967. He worked to secure additionalnational park s for Utah and started important investigations into the care of the elderly in nursing and retirement homes, and into physicians' abuses of the federalMedicaid program. He was also Chairman of theU.S. Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences from 1973 to 1977.Moss ran for a fourth term unsuccessfully in 1976 against
Orrin Hatch , afterwards returning to the practice oflaw inWashington, D.C. and Salt Lake City. As of 2008, Moss is the last Democrat to represent Utah in the Senate.External links
* [http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/m/MOSS,FRANK.html Frank Moss at the Utah History Encyclopedia]
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