Representative Edward Wheeler Goss

Edward Wheeler Goss (April 27, 1893 – December 27, 1972) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut who served three consecutive terms in Congress from 1929 to 1935. His congressional career spanned the onset of the Great Depression, during which he participated in the national legislative response to profound economic and social upheaval while representing the interests of his Connecticut constituents.

Goss was born in Waterbury, New Haven County, Connecticut, on April 27, 1893. He attended the public schools of Waterbury and subsequently enrolled at the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated. Returning to his native city, he entered the local brass industry, a major economic sector in Waterbury, and began what would become a long association with manufacturing and business.

From 1912 to 1930, Goss engaged in the manufacture of brass in Waterbury, gaining experience in industrial operations and management at a time when the city was a national center of brass production. During World War I, he entered military service on September 6, 1918, and was assigned to the Fortieth Company, Tenth Battalion, One Hundred and Sixty-sixth Depot Brigade. He served in the United States Army until his discharge as a sergeant on December 4, 1918. After the war, he resumed his business activities while increasingly involving himself in Republican Party affairs and state politics.

Goss’s political career developed in the 1920s alongside his business pursuits. He served as a member of the Connecticut State Senate from 1926 to 1928, participating in state legislative deliberations during a period of economic expansion and political realignment. At the national level, he was chosen as a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1924, 1928, and 1932, reflecting his growing prominence within the party and his role in shaping Republican platforms and presidential nominations during the interwar years.

Goss was elected as a Republican to the Seventy-first Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative James P. Glynn, and at the same time was elected to the Seventy-second Congress. He was subsequently re-elected to the Seventy-third Congress, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from November 4, 1930, to January 3, 1935. His tenure in Congress thus covered the final years of the Hoover administration and the early New Deal period under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During these three terms, Goss contributed to the legislative process at a time of severe economic crisis, participating in debates and votes on measures addressing banking stability, unemployment, and federal relief, while advocating for the needs of his Connecticut district. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1934 to the Seventy-fourth Congress, ending his service in the House at the close of his third term.

After leaving Congress, Goss remained in Washington, D.C., where he engaged in statistical and research work from 1935 to 1939, applying his legislative and business experience to analytical and policy-related endeavors. With the outbreak of World War II, he again entered uniformed service, this time in the United States Coast Guard Reserve. Enlisting on May 25, 1942, as a chief boatswain’s mate, he was later promoted to lieutenant and served through the wartime and immediate postwar period until his discharge on February 15, 1948. His Coast Guard service extended his record of public duty across two major global conflicts.

Following his military service in World War II, Goss returned to private enterprise. From 1948 to 1951, he worked as a distributor for Investors Diversified Services, Inc., of Minneapolis, Minnesota, a firm involved in investment and financial services, reflecting a postwar shift from manufacturing and public office to the growing field of personal finance and securities distribution. In his later years, he resided in Florida.

Edward Wheeler Goss died in Miami, Florida, on December 27, 1972. He was cremated, and his ashes were interred in Riverside Cemetery in his hometown of Waterbury, Connecticut, closing a life that combined industrial enterprise, military service in two wars, and three terms in the United States Congress during one of the most consequential eras in modern American history.