Representative Walter B. Huber

Walter B. Huber (June 29, 1903 – August 8, 1982) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served three consecutive terms as a U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1945 to 1951. Over the course of his public career, he held a series of legal, legislative, and investigative positions at both the county and federal levels, contributing to the legislative process during a pivotal period in mid‑twentieth‑century American history.

Huber was born on June 29, 1903, in Akron, Ohio, a major industrial center whose growth and political life helped shape his early outlook. Details of his early education and legal training are not extensively documented in public sources, but he pursued the study of law and entered the legal profession, establishing himself as an attorney in his native state. His legal background provided the foundation for his later roles in public service and legislative work.

By the mid‑1930s, Huber had become closely involved in county‑level law enforcement and legal administration. From 1936 to 1944 he was associated with the Summit County prosecuting attorney in Ohio. In this capacity, he worked within the prosecutorial office during the closing years of the Great Depression and through the early years of World War II, gaining practical experience in criminal law, public administration, and the operation of local government. This period helped to build his reputation in Democratic Party circles and prepared him for higher office.

Huber was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy‑ninth, Eightieth, and Eighty‑first Congresses, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 3, 1945, to January 3, 1951. Representing Ohio as a member of the Democratic Party, he participated in the legislative process during three terms in office, a time marked by the final stages of World War II, the transition to a peacetime economy, and the early years of the Cold War. As a member of the House of Representatives, Walter B. Huber took part in debates and votes on domestic and foreign policy issues of the era and represented the interests of his Ohio constituents in the federal government.

After six years in Congress, Huber sought to continue his legislative career but was unsuccessful in his bid for reelection in 1950 to the Eighty‑second Congress. He again ran for a House seat in 1952, seeking election to the Eighty‑third Congress, but was not elected. These defeats ended his tenure as an elected official, but he remained active in federal legislative and investigative work in a staff and advisory capacity.

Following his congressional service, Huber embarked on a lengthy second phase of public service in Washington. From October 20, 1955, to April 30, 1958, he served as an investigator for the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights, where he contributed to oversight and inquiry in areas of intellectual property law and federal regulation. He then became an administrative assistant with the House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight, serving from May 1, 1958, to January 3, 1959, during a period of heightened congressional scrutiny of executive agencies and regulatory practices.

From 1959 to 1968, Huber worked as a consultant with the House Un‑American Activities Committee, participating in one of the most controversial investigative bodies of the Cold War era. In this role, he was involved in the committee’s continuing inquiries into alleged subversive activities and internal security concerns. After his work with that committee, he also served as a consultant with an environmental protection association, reflecting the growing national attention to environmental issues in the 1960s and 1970s and extending his public service into the emerging field of environmental policy and advocacy.

In his later years, Huber resided in Nanjemoy, Maryland, a rural community in Charles County, while maintaining ties to the Washington, D.C., area through his professional activities. He died in Lexington Park, Maryland, on August 8, 1982. Walter B. Huber was interred at Christ Church in Ironsides, Maryland, closing a career that spanned local law practice, county legal service, three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, and more than a decade of investigative and consultative work for Congress and related organizations.