Representative Hubert Baxter Scudder

Hubert Baxter Scudder (November 5, 1888 – July 4, 1968) was an American lawyer, businessman, and Republican politician who served five terms as a U.S. Representative from California from 1949 to 1959. Over a decade in Congress, he contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, representing the interests of his California constituents in the House of Representatives.

Scudder was born in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, California, on November 5, 1888. He attended the public schools of Sebastopol and pursued further education through correspondence courses and night schools. Rather than attending a formal law school, he read law, following the traditional method of legal training by independent study and practical experience. This combination of self-directed education and local schooling laid the foundation for his later work as a lawyer, public official, and legislator closely tied to the civic life of his hometown and state.

Scudder began his public career in municipal service. On July 1, 1912, he became superintendent of utilities for the city of Sebastopol, a position he held until November 4, 1920. During this period, he was responsible for overseeing essential city services at a time when small California communities were modernizing their infrastructure. In 1918, amid World War I, he entered military service and served in the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps from May to December of that year. After leaving his post as superintendent of utilities in November 1920, he entered the insurance and real estate business, an occupation that would remain a central part of his professional life before, during, and after his political career.

Scudder’s involvement in local politics expanded in the 1920s. He was elected a city councilman of Sebastopol in April 1924 and, two years later, in 1926, was chosen as mayor. At the same time, he rose to state-level office. He was elected to the California State Assembly and served continuously from January 1925 to January 1940, representing his district for fifteen years. In the Assembly, he participated in state legislative deliberations during a period that encompassed the late 1920s economic expansion and the Great Depression, gaining extensive experience in public policy and governance. After a brief interval out of elective office, he was appointed real estate commissioner of the State of California in January 1943, a regulatory position in which he oversaw aspects of the state’s real estate industry. He held that post until his resignation on March 1, 1948. During this period, he also attained national prominence in regulatory circles, serving as president of the National Association of License Law Officials from November 1947 to September 1948.

Building on his long record in local and state government, Scudder was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-first Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1949, to January 3, 1959. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California, he participated in the democratic process during a transformative era marked by the early Cold War, postwar economic growth, and the beginnings of the modern civil rights movement. Among his notable recorded votes, Scudder supported the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first federal civil rights legislation enacted since Reconstruction, aligning himself with efforts to strengthen protections for voting rights. After five consecutive terms, he chose not to run for re-election in 1958, concluding his congressional service at the end of the Eighty-fifth Congress.

Following his departure from Congress, Scudder returned to private life and resumed his work in the real estate and insurance business, continuing the profession he had first entered in 1920. Remaining in his native Sebastopol, he lived there until his death on July 4, 1968. He was interred in Sebastopol Cemetery, closing a life and career that had been closely intertwined with the civic, economic, and political development of his hometown, the state of California, and the nation.