Representative Milton Willits Glenn

Milton Willits Glenn (June 18, 1903 – December 14, 1967) was an American Republican Party politician who represented New Jersey’s 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1957 to 1965. Over the course of four terms in Congress, he contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his South Jersey constituents.

Glenn was born on June 18, 1903. He attended Atlantic City High School in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and went on to study at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 1921 and 1922. He then enrolled at Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1924. The following year, in 1925, he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Atlantic City, New Jersey, establishing the professional foundation that would underpin his later public service.

In addition to his private legal practice, Glenn entered local public service in the years leading up to World War II. He served as municipal magistrate in Margate City, New Jersey, from January 1940 to November 1943. With the United States’ entry into World War II, he joined the armed forces; he was commissioned a lieutenant in the United States Navy and served on active duty from November 1943 to June 1946. After the war, he continued his association with the military as a lieutenant commander in the United States Naval Reserve, reflecting an ongoing commitment to national service.

Following his wartime service, Glenn turned more fully to elective office. He was elected to the Atlantic County Board of Chosen Freeholders, serving from June 1946 to January 1951. Building on his county-level experience, he won election to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1950 to fill an unexpired term and was subsequently reelected in 1951, 1953, and 1955. During these years in the state legislature, he solidified his reputation as a Republican lawmaker and positioned himself for higher office.

Glenn entered the United States House of Representatives as a Republican when he was elected to the Eighty-fifth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative T. Millet Hand. He took his seat on November 5, 1957, representing New Jersey’s 2nd congressional district, and was reelected to the Eighty-sixth, Eighty-seventh, and Eighty-eighth Congresses, serving continuously until January 3, 1965. His tenure in Congress coincided with a transformative era in American politics, marked by the Cold War, the early stages of the Vietnam conflict, and the height of the civil rights movement.

During his congressional service, Glenn participated actively in the legislative process and cast notable votes on key civil rights measures. He voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which strengthened federal enforcement of voting rights, and the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited segregation and discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and other areas. He also supported the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished the poll tax in federal elections. These votes placed him among those Republicans who backed major civil rights reforms during the early 1960s.

In 1964, Glenn sought reelection to the Eighty-ninth Congress but was unsuccessful. He was defeated by Democrat Thomas C. McGrath Jr., who was making his first run for elective office. With the conclusion of his congressional career in January 1965, Glenn returned to New Jersey and resumed the practice of law, continuing the profession he had begun four decades earlier.

Milton Willits Glenn died at his home in Margate City, New Jersey, on December 14, 1967. He was interred at West Creek Cemetery in West Creek, New Jersey. His career encompassed service as a lawyer, municipal magistrate, county freeholder, state legislator, naval officer, and four-term member of the United States House of Representatives, reflecting a long-standing engagement with public life at the local, state, and national levels.