Harry E. Hull

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Harry E. Hull

|image = HarryEHull.jpg

|state = Iowa

|district = {{ushr|IA|2|2nd}}

|term_start = March 4, 1915

|term_end = March 3, 1925

|predecessor = Henry Vollmer

|successor = F. Dickinson Letts

|state_house1 =

|term_start1 =

|term_end1 =

|district1 =

|predecessor1 =

|successor1 =

|birth_name = Harry Edward Hull

|birth_date = {{birth date |1864|03|13}}

|birth_place = Belvidere, New York, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|1938|1|16|1864|3|13}}

|death_place = Washington, D.C.

|party = Republican

|spouse = Mary Louise Harris Hull

|children = Harris B. Hull

|education =

}}

Harry Edward Hull (March 12, 1864 – January 16, 1938) was an American businessman and politician who served five terms as a Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 2nd congressional district from 1915 to 1925. He also served as Commissioner General of Immigration in the Coolidge and Hoover administrations.

Biography

Born near Belvidere, New York, Hull moved with his parents to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1873.

He attended the grammar and high schools.

He was employed as a clerk and bookkeeper for a grain company.

He moved to Palo, Iowa, in 1883, and to Williamsburg, Iowa, in 1884 and engaged in the grain business.

He also engaged in the manufacture of brick and tile.

He was president of the Williamsburg Telephone Co..

He served as one of Williamsburg's aldermen from 1887 to 1889, as its mayor from 1889 to 1901, and as its postmaster from 1901 to 1914.{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/01/17/archives/harry-e-hull-dies-exlegislator-73-iowa-congressman-191424-served-as.html | date=January 17, 1938 | title=Harry E. Hull dies, ex-legislator, 73, Iowa congressman | newspaper=The New York Times}} He also served as president of the Williamsburg Fair Association from 1900 to 1915.

He also had a son, Harris B. Hull, who was a high-ranking American military officer.{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/01/17/archives/harry-e-hull-dies-exlegislator-73-iowa-congressman-191424-served-as.html | date=January 17, 1938 | title=Harry E. Hull dies, ex-legislator, 73, Iowa congressman | newspaper=The New York Times}}

= Congress =

In 1914, Hull was elected as a Republican to represent Iowa's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House, defeating Democrat W.J. McDonald."Second is Republican," Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, November 4, 1914 at p. 6. He served in the Sixty-fourth Congress and in the four succeeding Congresses. He was one of only fifty representatives who voted against the resolution authorizing the United States' entry into World War I,"House Votes for War," Iowa City Citizen, April 6, 1917, at p.1. and one of the few of those fifty to stave off challengers in the wartime primary and general elections in 1918."Election Returns are Mixed - Missouri seems Republican - Clark is probably defeated," Iowa City Citizen, November 6, 1918, at p.5.

In May 1917, during Hull's second term, his wife, Mary Louise Harris Hull, died when she mistook poison tablets for a headache remedy."Mrs. Harry Hull to be Buried in Williamsburg," Iowa City Citizen, May 23, 1917, at p.6.

In 1924, Hull opposed Henry Ford's proposal to operate fertilizer plants and a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River near Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Hull argued against the project over concerns about private business interests controlling important public resources. Ford later cancelled his plans for the project.{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/04/18/archives/assails-fords-bid-on-muscle-shoals-congressman-hull-asserts-it-has.html | date=April 18, 1924 | newspaper=The New York Times | title=Congressman Hull assails Ford's bid on Muscle Shoals}}

When seeking renomination in 1924, he was defeated in the Republican primary by Judge F. Dickinson Letts."Brookhart has 30,000 Majority,' Oelwein Daily Register, June 4, 1924, at p. 1. In all, he served from March 4, 1915, to March 3, 1925.

= Federal agency position =

On May 15, 1925, he was appointed by President Calvin Coolidge as commissioner general of immigration[https://web.archive.org/web/20080307104956/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,927747,00.html "Mr. Coolidge's Week"], Time, May 25, 1925. and served in that position until 1933, when he retired.