Kenneth S. Wherry

Kenneth Spicer Wherry (February 28, 1892-November 2, 1951) was a United States Senator from Nebraska.

Biography

He was born in Liberty, Gage County, Nebraska on February 28, 1892. He graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi, in 1914. He also attended Harvard University in 1915 and 1916.

During the First World War, Wherry served in the United States Navy Flying Corps.

He was a member of the Pawnee City council in 1927 and 1929 and served as mayor of Pawnee City from 1929 to 1931 and from 1938 to 1943. He was a member of the Nebraska State Senate from 1929 to 1932 and ran for Governor of Nebraska in 1932, but was defeated. Two years later, he was defeated in his first attempt at running for the Senate. He was finally elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1942, defeating George Norris, and was reelected in 1948 and served until his death. He served as Republican whip from 1944 to 1949 and Senate Minority Leader from 1949 to 1951.

In 1951, in the wake of McCarthyism, he said that he was on a 'crusade to harry every last pervert from the Federal Government services', meaning male and female homosexuals [Lillian Faderman, "Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America", Penguin Books Ltd, 1991, page 143] .

He died in Washington, D.C. on November 2, 1951, while serving as Republican Floor Leader.

References

External links

* [http://www.nebraskahistory.org/lib-arch/research/manuscripts/politics/wherry.htm Kenneth S. Wherry papers] at Nebraska State Historical Society