19 Facts About Pat Harrison

Byron Patton "Pat" Harrison was a Mississippi politician who served as a Democrat in the United States House of Representatives from 1911 to 1919 and in the United States Senate from 1919 until his death.

Pat Harrison's father was a Confederate veteran of the Civil War and died in 1885.

Pat Harrison dropped out after two years due to a lack of funds but was brought on to pitch for the Pickens, Mississippi, semi-professional baseball team in the 'Old Tomato League' summer circuit.

Pat Harrison taught and later became principal of the local high school.

Pat Harrison passed the Mississippi State Bar and opened a law practice in 1902.

In 1906, Pat Harrison was elected district attorney to the Second Judicial District, and in 1908, moved to Gulfport, Mississippi.

Pat Harrison served as district attorney until being elected to the US House of Representatives in 1910.

One of the youngest members of the House, Pat Harrison made his mark as an effective debater against Republican tariff and tax policies and soon became a favored aide to Democratic President Woodrow Wilson.

In particular, Harrison supported Wilson's New Freedom policies and those concerning Mexico and Germany at the onset of America's involvement in World War I In 1918, he ran against incumbent US Senator James K Vardaman, an enemy of President Wilson.

Already popular among his constituents, Pat Harrison emphasized his differences with Vardaman and won over a majority of Mississippi voters, who were effectively limited to white Democrats, following the state legislature's disenfranchisement of most black voters by a new constitution and discriminatory practices dating from 1890.

Pat Harrison ran unopposed in 1930 for his third term in the US Senate.

Bilbo, a race-baiting Democratic demagogue whose base was among tenant farmers, hated the upper-class Pat Harrison, who represented the rich planters.

Pat Harrison served on the Senate Finance Committee and was chairman of that body from 1933 to 1941, and served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Seventy-seventh Congress, in 1941 until his death that year.

Pat Harrison was a highly effective politician and a brilliant orator.

Pat Harrison listened to his district and provided information, services, and patronage.

Pat Harrison became known as the "Gadfly of the Senate" due to his oratory rebuking Republican policies.

Pat Harrison was especially well liked by the general membership of the Senate, and because of his position as chairman of the powerful Finance Committee, where so much of the recovery program was channeled, he was known as an effective and liberal senator.

Pat Harrison had played a large role in passing the NRA, the Social Security Act and the Roosevelt tax program.

On 16 June 1941, Pat Harrison underwent surgery for an intestinal obstruction.