Ellsworth B. Buck

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Ellsworth Brewer Buck

| image name = Ellsworth Buck.jpg

| office = Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from New York

| constituency = {{ushr|NY|11|11th district}} (1944–45)
{{ushr|NY|16|16th district}} (1945–49)

| party = Republican

| term_start = June 6, 1944

| term_end = January 3, 1949

| preceded = James A. O'Leary

| succeeded = James J. Murphy

| birth_date = {{birth date|1892|07|03}}

| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois

| death_date = {{death date and age|1970|08|14|1892|07|03}}

| death_place = Stephenson, Wisconsin

| spouse = Constance Tyler

| children =

| religion =

| occupation =

| residence =

| alma_mater = Dartmouth College

}}

Ellsworth Brewer Buck (July 3, 1892 – August 14, 1970) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from New York during the 1940s.

Early years

Buck was born in Chicago, Illinois{{cite book|title=Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 2|year=1914|publisher=Dartmouth College|page=[https://archive.org/details/bulletin06collgoog/page/n13 10]|url=https://archive.org/details/bulletin06collgoog }} and attended Morgan Park Academy. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1914{{cite book|title=Dartmouth College Bulletin|year=1914|publisher=Dartmouth College|page=262|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2cs5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA262 }} and enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve in 1917.{{cite book|title=Register of the commissioned and warrant officers of the United, Volume 1919|year=1919|publisher=United States. Navy Dept|page=761|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YREPAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA761 }} He became a meteorology instructor following his training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He moved to Staten Island in 1919 where he served as chairman of the board of L.A. Dreyfus Co. (before that chewing gum company moved to Edison, New Jersey and was subsequently purchased by Wrigley){{cite book|title=Who's who in Commerce and Industry, Volume 8|year=1953|publisher=Marquis Who's Who|page=215|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KlmAAAAMAAJ&q=Ellsworth+Brewer+Buck++L.A.+Dreyfus+Co.}} Buck served as chairman of the Chewing Gum Code Authority from 1934 to 1935{{cite book|title=Who's who in Finance and Industry|year=1951|publisher=Marquis Who's Who|page=222|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jb0QAAAAIAAJ&q=Ellsworth+Brewer+Buck+chairman+of+the+Chewing+Gum+Code+Authority}} and became a member of the New York City Board of Education in 1935. He was vice president of the New York City Board of Education from 1938 until 1942, and president from 1942 until 1944.{{cite book|title=Biographical directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005|year=2005|publisher=United States Congress|page=734|isbn=9780160731761|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v9MBIctdjjkC&pg=PA734 }}

Political career

Buck was elected to Congress in 1944 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James A. O'Leary. He served from June 6, 1944 until January 3, 1949, serving in the Seventy-eighth United States Congress, Seventy-ninth United States Congress and Eightieth United States Congress. While in Congress, Buck strongly backed the Taft-Hartley Act, opposed by organized labor; and voted in favor of a proposal to ban the poll tax, a device which kept southern blacks from voting. He did not run for reelection in 1948. Also, while representing Staten Island, he was an opponent of the establishment of the Fresh Kills Landfill.Steinberg, Ted (2010), Gotham Unbound: The Ecological History of Greater New York, New York: Simon & Schuster, pp. 242–58, 320–22, {{ISBN|978-1-476-74124-6}}

Retirement

On April 5, 1949, months following his retirement from Congress, Buck was shot and seriously wounded by a gunman while crossing the street on Stuyvesant Place outside Staten Island Borough Hall. The assailant, Charles Van Newkirk, was a dismissed Merchant Marine engineer who was disgruntled after Buck, as chairman of a House Education and Labor subcommittee, denied his appeal to regain his position.{{cite book|title=Ellsworth Buck Shot In Spite By Man On S.I|publisher=Yonkers Herald Statesman|url=http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%2010/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201949%20Grayscale/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201949%20Grayscale%20-%200065.pdf}}

Following his recovery, Buck served as a delegate to the 1952 Republican National Convention. He was director of the Office of Trade Investment and Monetary Affairs in 1954, and was public advisor of the United States delegation to the United Nations Economic and Social Council in Geneva, Switzerland in 1955.

Buck died at his home in Stephenson, Wisconsin in 1970 and was cremated. His ashes were placed in Thunder Mountain Ranch Cemetery.