Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-02
Senator Butler IS Dead 1t 76,
Elected 3 Times in Nebraska
Fought Free Trode
And Foreign Spending
During His Career

Senator Hugh Butler, Repub-
licar, Of Nebraska. died at 1870
o'clock last night in Bethesda
Naval Hospital.
The Senator. who was 76,
suffered a stroke Wednesday
night while he was asleep. Mem
bers Of the family with whom he
lived found him in q semi-con-
scious condition, In his quarters
at 3065 Chestnut street NV.
and took him to the hospital.
A widower, the white. wavy-
haired Senator had put In a full
long day in his Office wednesday.
The third-term senior Republic
can saw visitors. and voted on
the tax bill on the Senate floor.
He was the fourth Senator
to die this year and the third
Senator from Nebraska to die
In the last three years. Kenneth
Wherry, then the minority
leader. died In November, 1851.
and last April. Dwight Griswold
died.
G. o. p. Successor Seen.
Senator Buffers death, 1t is
belived. will have no effect on
the Republican strength in the
Senate. Gov. Robert Crosby OF
Nebraska is a Republican and is
sure to name Republican to
succeed Senator Butler.
Senator Butler underwent q
major operation two years ago.
However. he came out in f1ne
shape and appeared in better
health than he had in some
time.
He fell in his home a few
weeks ago and sprained his hip,
then used a wheel chair for a
few days. Since then he fire.
quently had used a cane.
He had lived at the Chestnut
street address for several years.
with old friends. the Lloyd w.
Smith family. Wednesday night
he watched television with Mr..
; Smith and went to bed appar-
emily feeling normal.
President Eisenhower issued
this statement:
II am deeply distressed by the
sudden passing of Senator Hugh
Butler. He was a conscientious,
diligent public servant and de-
voted himself unsparingly to the
important business before the
Senate Interior Committee, of
which he was chairman. and the
Finance Committee, on which he
was the second ranking major
fly member. I share with all
others who knew him well the
loss of a good friend and a
valued associate"
Held County Posts.
Senator Butler, an ardent foe
of free trade and foreign SPEND
ing. got his political start in the
grass roots channels Of the
county central committee. ,
His first political Office was
chairman of the Republican CEN
trail committee in Nebraska's
Douglas County in 1884. Two
years later he became a member
Of the Republican National Com
mittee.
He was first elected to the
Senate in 1910, and at his death
was serving his third term. His
principal interests in the Senate
were foreign policy and the af-
fairs Of Alaska and Hawaii.
Senator Butler was busy from
the time he first came to Con-
gresS. When he took his seat in
the 77th Congress, he was as
signed to five committees Post
Ofices and Post Roads, Educa-
ton and Labor, Irrigation and
Reclamation, Privileges and Elec-
tions, and Public Buildings and
Grounds.
Family Homesteaded.
He was born February %. 1878.
In Missouri Valley. Iowa. Five
years later, the Butler family
staked a claim to a homestead
near Cambridge, Neb. Farming
proved improbable and when
the family moved to Cambridge
the father went to work In a
-four mill.
Senator Butler won a four
year scholarship to Doane Col
lege in Crete, Nebr., by selling
subscriptions to q church paper
In college he helped pay his
expenses by clerking in store
working as janitor and ring
ing the college bell.
When he was graduated II
1900, he went to work on a rail-
road construction crew. In 1908
he bought q grain elevator ant
flour mill In Curtis, Nebr. From
this start, he built a stable grair
firm. Later he. became a direc'
tor Of the Nebraska Consolidatet
Mills and the Sheridan (Wyo.
Flour Mills. Inc.
His wife, the former Fay John
son of Crete. Nebr., died in Feb
ruary. 1941. Their two children
both boys. died in childhood.
In the summer Of 1943, Sena
tor Butler made a 20,000-mil'
tour Of Latin America. and OF
his return issued q controversial
176-page report to the Senate.
The report criticized United
States aid to those countries a
"naively conceived and badl.
co ordinated boondo logging.
Some Of his colleagues cues