Representative William Emil Hess

William Emil Hess (February 13, 1898 – July 14, 1986) was an American lawyer and politician who served three lengthy, non-consecutive stints as a Republican U.S. Representative from Ohio between 1929 and 1961. Over the course of 14 terms in the House of Representatives, he contributed to the legislative process during a period that spanned the Great Depression, World War II, the early Cold War, and the beginnings of the modern civil rights era.

Hess was born in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, on February 13, 1898. He attended the public schools of Cincinnati and went on to study at the University of Cincinnati. He subsequently enrolled in Cincinnati Law School, where he prepared for a legal career. During the First World War, Hess served in the United States Army as a private, an experience that coincided with his formative years and preceded his entry into public life.

After the war, Hess was admitted to the bar in 1919 and immediately commenced the practice of law in Cincinnati. His early legal career ran parallel with his initial involvement in local politics. From 1922 to 1926, he served as a member of the Cincinnati City Council, gaining experience in municipal governance and public administration. This period in city government helped establish his reputation as a public servant and laid the groundwork for his subsequent election to national office.

Hess was first elected as a Republican to the Seventy-first Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1929, to January 3, 1937. Representing his Ohio constituency in the House of Representatives, he participated in the democratic process during the onset of the Great Depression and the early years of the New Deal. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1936 to the Seventy-fifth Congress, after which he returned to Cincinnati and resumed the practice of law.

In 1938, Hess reentered national politics and was elected to the Seventy-sixth Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1939, to January 3, 1949. During this second congressional tenure, he was an interventionist in foreign policy from early 1940 until the attack on Pearl Harbor, advocating assistance to the United Kingdom in the Second World War at a time when American opinion was deeply divided over involvement in the conflict. He continued to represent his district through the war and the immediate postwar years but was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1948 to the Eighty-first Congress.

Hess returned once more to Congress when he was elected to the Eighty-second Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1951, to January 3, 1961. In this third and final period of congressional service, he participated in debates over Cold War policy, domestic economic issues, and emerging civil rights legislation. Notably, he voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Civil Rights Act of 1960, supporting landmark federal efforts to protect voting rights and strengthen civil rights enforcement. He chose not to be a candidate for renomination in 1960, concluding more than three decades of intermittent service in the House.

After leaving Congress in 1961, Hess again resumed the practice of law in Cincinnati. He remained a resident of his native city for the rest of his life, maintaining his ties to the community he had long represented. William Emil Hess died in Cincinnati on July 14, 1986, and was interred in Spring Grove Cemetery.