Evening star., 1953-02-10
David A. Reed Dies;
Former Senator
From PENNSYLVANIA
BY the Associated Press

SARASO1A, ria, FeD. 1U.-
Former United States Senator
David A. Reed of Pennsylvania,
for years a powerful political
figure in his home State, died
in a Sarasota hospital today.
Death came to the 72-year-old
lawyer and World War I hero at
6:15 am.
Mr.. Reed, in semiretirement
from his Pittsburgh law Office,
was spending the winter at Boca
Grand Island, about 40 miles
southwest of Sarasota in the
Gulf of Mexico.
Rushed to Hospital.
He was stricken with a heart
attack last night and rushed to
a hospital here. Mrs. Reed &C
companied him.
Mr.. Reid's doctor said the
former Senator had not been
we'll for six months.
Mr.. Reed was conscious when
he entered the hospital at IL
pm, and was placed in an
oxygen tent. He lapsed into a
coma about 4:45 am.
Mr. Reed is survived by his
widow, the former Edna French
of Syracuse. N. Y. whom he
married in 1948 after the death
of his first wife, Adele Wilcox
Reed of New York.
Also surviving are a son and
daughter by his first marriage,
David, jr., Denver. and Mrs.
Charles DENLY II, Pittsburgh,
and sister. Mrs. John Frazer,
Pittsburgh.
David Aiken Reed, the pow
erful and independently minded
Senator from Pennsylvania for
II years, was born in Pittsburgh
December 81, 1880. His father
was associated with the steel
magnates of that day-Andrew
Carnegie, Andrew w. Mellon
and Henry c. Frick.
Mr.. Reed early became almost
addicted to study. He entered
Princeton at Is. and acquired
a reputation for being always
deep in study and deep in trou-
bic" from a series of boyish
prankS.
He became a lawyer. and ar
gued before the Supreme Court
for United States Steel Corp. in
its successful fight against a
Government suit for dissolution.
In World War I he so dis
tinguished himself as an artillery
major in the Verdun and Meuse-
Argonne actions that he received
the French Cross of the Legion
of Honor and the American Dis
tinguished Service Medal.
Named on Commission.
After the armistice, he was
made the American field artil-
lery representative on the Inter-
Allied Armistice Commission,
and later was appointed by Mar
shall Foch as the American rep
resentative on the Allied Eco
nomic Commission.
In 1922, at Al. he was appoint
ed to the Senate by Gov. Sproul
of Pennsylvania to fill the unex-
pired term of Senator William E.
Grow. in the following general
election he won both the unex-
pired and full terms. In 1928
two years after calling his con-
stituents "dunderheads' from
the Senate floor, he was re-
elected by one of the largest plu-
ralities ever received by a sena-
torial candidate up to that time.
He was defeated in 1884 by
Joseph T. Guffey.
The dunderhead business came
about in this way:
William S. Ware defeated Sen
etor Reeds friend, George Whar-
ton Pepper. in the Republican
senatorial primary. In a Senate
debate the Senator said:
MY constituents voted like
dunderheadS."
Had a Biting Tongue.
Mr. Reed exercised biting
tongue on many subjects. and
once lambasted the press, refer
ring to the "so-called ethics of a
so-called profession" He later
said he hadn't meant to say it,
but pointing out his own habit
of sharp comments, said, If it
hadn't been this it would have
been something else next week
anyway"
Senator Reed began making