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Senatorial Profile

Senator Paul Howard Douglas

Paul Howard Douglas served as a senator for Illinois (1949-1967).

Profile Timeline

  • Born.
  • Entered office.
  • Left office.

Paul Howard Douglas served as a Senator from Illinois in the United States Congress from 1949 to 1967. A member of the Democratic Party, Paul Howard Douglas contributed to the legislative process during 3 terms in office.

Paul Howard Douglas’s service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history. As a member of the Senate, Paul Howard Douglas participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of constituents.

Paul Howard Douglas (March 26, 1892 – September 24, 1976) was an American politician and Georgist economist. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. senator from Illinois for eighteen years, from 1949 to 1967. During his Senate career, he was a prominent member of the liberal coalition. Born in Massachusetts and raised in Maine, Douglas graduated from Bowdoin College and Columbia University. He served as a professor of economics at several schools, most notably the University of Chicago, and earned a reputation as a reformer while a member of the Chicago City Council (1939–1942). During World War II, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel and becoming known as a war hero. He first married Dorothy Wolff in 1915. They had four children. He divorced her in 1930 and a year later married Emily Taft Douglas, daughter of sculptor Lorado Taft and a U.S. representative from Illinois’s At-large district (1945–1947).