Paul O. Husting

Husting was born April 25, 1866, in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Husting moved with his parents to Mayville, Wisconsin, in 1876, where he received a common school education. From the age of 17 years, he became successively a retail clerk in a general store, a railway postal clerk, a mailing clerk in the Wisconsin State Prison at Waupun, and assistant bookkeeper in the office of the Secretary of State of Wisconsin under Thomas J. Cunningham.{{cite report|url= https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/OTX7AEYW2333W82 |title= The Wisconsin Blue Book 1917 |year= 1917 |publisher= Industrial Commission of Wisconsin |chapter= Biographical Sketches |page= [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AOTX7AEYW2333W82/full/AIQMY4ZOB4M2HA8P 495] |accessdate= March 18, 2023 }}

Husting entered the University of Wisconsin Law School, passed the state bar examination, and was admitted to the bar in 1895. He initially practiced law in Mayville by himself, but in 1897 associated himself with C. W. Lamoreux until the latter was elected judge, upon which the firm of Husting & Brother was formed.

Husting was elected district attorney of Dodge County in 1902 and reelected in 1904. He was elected to the state senate in 1906, and reelected in 1910. In the state senate, he advocated conservation of the state's natural resources, the income tax, the "Husting bill" establishing a maximum passenger railroad fare of two cents per mile, initiative and referendum, and direct election of United States senators. He offered the original resolution to investigate, and assisted in the investigation of, the Wisconsin primary and election of 1908, which resulted in the enactment of the state's Corrupt Practices Act.

Husting was the first United States senator from Wisconsin to be elected by a direct vote of the people, defeating the incumbent Governor, Francis E. McGovern, at the November 1914 election by 967 votes. He succeeded Isaac Stephenson as the United States senator on March 4, 1915, and served in the Senate from 1915 until his death. During his time in the U.S. Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Fisheries during 1917 and chairman of a special committee investigating trespasses on Indian lands during his entire time in the Senate.

Husting was the only Democrat to win a state-wide election in Wisconsin between 1892 and 1932.

File:SenatorHusting.jpg

Husting was killed in a duck hunting accident on Rush Lake near Pickett, Wisconsin. While rising in a row boat after telling his brother Gustav to fire, Gustav accidentally shot his brother in the back. Husting fell into a coma, and died later that same day. The New York Times described him as "the most aggressive leader" of the "loyalist" (e.g. supportive of Woodrow Wilson's pro-Allied policies) forces in Wisconsin, and contrasted him with "Senator La Follette and the pro-German constituency behind him".{{cite news|url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/10/22/102368909.pdf |title= Husting is Killed by Brother in Hunt |newspaper= The New York Times |date= October 22, 1917 |accessdate= March 18, 2023 }} He is interred on the Husting family plot at Graceland Cemetery in Mayville.{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121124990/husting-burial/ |title= Husting is buried at Mayville today, colleagues attend |newspaper= La Crosse Tribune |date= October 24, 1917 |page= 6 |accessdate= March 18, 2023 |via= Newspapers.com }}

Husting's death was of political importance. In 1919 the Senate would have been under Democratic control had he not been succeeded by Republican Irvine Lenroot, as a consequence of which in 1919 the Senate had 49 Republicans and 47 Democrats (Vice-President Thomas R. Marshall was a Democrat, and had the power to break all ties).

Paul Husting was the second of seven children born to John P. and Mary M. ({{nee}} Juneau) Husting. John P. Husting had emigrated to Wisconsin from the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg in 1855. Mary M. Juneau was the twelfth of sixteen children born to Solomon Juneau—the co-founder and first mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Husting's younger brother, Berthold Juneau "Bert" Husting, had a brief career in professional baseball and was later United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in the 1940s.{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121125741/bert-husting-obit/ |title= B. J. Husting, Mayville, Dies at age of 70 |newspaper= The Sheboygan Press |date= September 3, 1948 |page= 1 |accessdate= March 18, 2023 |via= Newspapers.com }}

His older brother, Charles Ottomar "Otto" Husting, served as Paul's private secretary in the U.S. Senate.{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121126179/obituary-for-paul-o-husting/ |title= Paul Husting dies in hunting mishap |newspaper= Wauwatosa News |date= October 26, 1917 |page= 1 |accessdate= March 18, 2023 |via= Newspapers.com }}

{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Senate, 13th District Election, 1906{{cite report|url= https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/HDADZXSF7V6GS8Z |title= The Blue Book of the state of Wisconsin 1907 |year= 1907 |publisher= Industrial Commission of Wisconsin |editor-last= Beck |editor-first= J. D. |chapter= Biographical Sketches |pages= [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AHDADZXSF7V6GS8Z/full/A7QPAO3BXVPL4J8B 1130] |accessdate= March 18, 2023 }}}}

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 6, 1906

{{Election box winning candidate with party link|

|party = Democratic Party (US)

|candidate = Paul O. Husting

|votes = 4,646

|percentage = 61.81%

|change = +0.08%

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Republican Party (US)

|candidate = Leon Reible

|votes = 2,746

|percentage = 36.54%

|change = +0.26%

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Prohibition Party (United States)

|candidate = G. A. Paddock

|votes = 124

|percentage = 1.65%

|change = -0.35%

}}

{{Election box plurality

|votes = 1,900

|percentage = 25.28%

|change = -0.18%

}}

{{Election box total

|votes = 7,516

|percentage = 100.0%

|change = -8.40%

}}

{{Election box hold with party link no swing|

|winner = Democratic Party (United States)

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Senate, 13th District Election, 1910{{cite report|url= https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/3N2CL32GSENEQ8D |title= The Blue Book of the state of Wisconsin 1911 |year= 1911 |publisher= Industrial Commission of Wisconsin |editor-last= Beck |editor-first= J. D. |chapter= Biographical Sketches |pages= [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A3N2CL32GSENEQ8D/full/AAWIPCDICU2KWH8X 741] |accessdate= March 18, 2023 }}}}

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 8, 1910

{{Election box winning candidate with party link|

|party = Democratic Party (US)

|candidate = Paul O. Husting (incumbent)

|votes = 4,734

|percentage = 62.38%

|change = +0.56%

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Republican Party (US)

|candidate = C. M. Davidson

|votes = 2,612

|percentage = 34.42%

|change = -2.12%

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Social Democratic Party of America

|candidate = Rae Weaver

|votes = 164

|percentage = 2.16%

|change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Prohibition Party (United States)

|candidate = Benjamin F. Sawyer

|votes = 79

|percentage = 1.04%

|change = -0.61%

}}

{{Election box plurality

|votes = 2,122

|percentage = 27.96%

|change = +2.68%

}}

{{Election box total

|votes = 7,589

|percentage = 100.0%

|change = +0.97%

}}

{{Election box hold with party link no swing|

|winner = Democratic Party (United States)

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=United States Senate Election in Wisconsin, 1914{{cite report|url= https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/MDGH3X7LTLI3O8A |title= The Wisconsin Blue Book 1915 |year= 1915 |publisher= Industrial Commission of Wisconsin |chapter= Election Statistics |pages= [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AMDGH3X7LTLI3O8A/full/ADTCMWFY7FB6FM87 234–235], [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AMDGH3X7LTLI3O8A/full/A6GZGYN3QAPXOI9E 238] |accessdate= March 18, 2023 }}}}

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| Democratic Primary, September 1, 1914

{{Election box winning candidate with party link|

|party = Democratic Party (US)

|candidate = Paul O. Husting

|votes = 35,963

|percentage = 54.93%

|change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Democratic Party (US)

|candidate = Thomas Kearney

|votes = 29,459

|percentage = 45.00%

|change =

}}

{{Election box write-in with party link

|votes = 47

|percentage = 0.07%

|change =

}}

{{Election box plurality

|votes = 6,504

|percentage = 9.93%

|change =

}}

{{Election box total

|votes = 65,469

|percentage = 100.0%

|change =

}}

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 3, 1914

{{Election box winning candidate with party link|

|party = Democratic Party (US)

|candidate = Paul O. Husting

|votes = 134,925

|percentage = 43.81%

|change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Republican Party (US)

|candidate = Francis E. McGovern

|votes = 133,969

|percentage = 43.50%

|change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Social Democratic Party of America

|candidate = Emil Seidel

|votes = 29,774

|percentage = 9.67%

|change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Prohibition Party (United States)

|candidate = Charles L. Hill

|votes = 9,276

|percentage = 3.01%

|change =

}}

{{Election box write-in with party link

|votes = 58

|percentage = 0.02%

|change =

}}

{{Election box plurality

|votes = 956

|percentage = 0.31%

|change =

}}

{{Election box total

|votes = 308,002

|percentage = 100.0%

|change =

}}

{{Election box gain with party link no swing|

|winner = Democratic Party (United States)

|loser = Republican Party (United States)

}}

{{Election box end}}

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)

{{reflist}}

{{CongBio|H001006}}

• [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t78s4v33s;view=1up;seq=7 Paul Husting, late a senator from Wisconsin, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1919]

{{s-start}}

{{s-ppo}}

{{s-new|first}}

{{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Wisconsin
(Class 3)|years=1914}}

{{s-aft|after=Joseph Davies}}

|-

{{s-par|us-wi-sen}}

{{s-bef|before = William Campbell North }}

{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Member of the Wisconsin Senate}} {{nowrap|from the 13th district}} |years= January 7, 1907{{spaced ndash}}January 4, 1915 }}

{{s-aft|after = Byron Barwig }}

|-

{{s-par|us-sen}}

{{s-bef|before=Isaac Stephenson}}

{{s-ttl|title=United States Senator (Class 3) from Wisconsin|years=1915–1917|alongside=Bob La Follette}}

{{s-aft|after=Irvine Lenroot}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Henry F. Ashurst}}

{{s-ttl|title=Chair of the Senate Indian Land Trespassers Committee|years=1915–1917}}

{{s-aft|after=Wesley Jones}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Harry Lane}}

{{s-ttl|title=Chair of the Senate Fisheries Committee|years=1917}}

{{s-non|reason=Position abolished}}

|-

{{s-legal}}

{{s-bef|before = Martin L. Lueck }}

{{s-ttl|title = District Attorney of Dodge County, Wisconsin |years= January 1, 1903{{spaced ndash}}January 1, 1907 }}

{{s-aft|after = Charles A. Kading }}

{{s-end}}

{{USSenWI}}

{{USCongRep-start|congresses=64th–65th United States Congresses|state=Wisconsin}}

{{USCongRep/WI/64}}

{{USCongRep/WI/65}}

{{USCongRep-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Husting, Paul O.}}

Category:1866 births

Category:1917 deaths

Category:19th-century American lawyers

Category:Accidental deaths in Wisconsin

Category:American people of French-Canadian descent

Category:American people of Luxembourgian descent

Category:Deaths by firearm in Wisconsin

Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Wisconsin

Category:Democratic Party Wisconsin state senators

Category:District attorneys in Wisconsin

Category:Firearm accident victims in the United States

Category:Hunting accident deaths

Category:Juneau family

Category:People from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

Category:People from Mayville, Wisconsin

Category:University of Wisconsin Law School alumni

Category:20th-century United States senators

Category:20th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature