Evening star., 1961-05-14
NEWS
George Norris Stamp
To Mark Centennial
BY BELMONT FAIRIES
Star Stamp Editor

n COILl1llCIllO1 dOIfC oOdu1p
marking the centennial Of
the birth of Senator George
w. Norris Of Nebraska will
be issued here July IL, Post
master General j. Edward
Day announced yesterday.
A Republican who had
long fought for public power,
especially for farm areas.
Senator Norris was the
father Of the Tennessee VAL
ley Authority and co-author
Of the Rural Identification
Act, key measures of Frank
lin D. Roosevelt's Democra-
tic New Deal.
The stamp will be in the
letter rate denomination,
presumably 4 cents, in COM
memorative size, and is eX-
pected to include a portrait
of Senator Norris against a
background of the TWAS
Norris Dam.
Deputy Postmaster Cen
eral H. w. Brawley is sched-
uled to show the design for
the first time publicly on
Wednesday at a luncheon
meeting of the two day
George w. Norris National
Centennial Conference at
the Willard Hotel.
Secretary of the Interior
Stewart Udan will be the
luncheon speaker Tuesday,
and Theodore c. Sorenson,
President Kennedy's special
counsel, will talk on. George
Norris and the New From
tier" at a banquet Tuesday
night. Mr.. SorenSon knew
Senator Norris as a boy in
Nebraska, when his father
was the Senator's campaign
manager.
The conference is spon-
sored by the George w. Nor
ris National Centennial
Committee. a group OF lead
ers of public power, farm
and labor organizations. The
committee also requested the
Norris stamp.
Born July II, 1861 in
SanduSky County. Ohio,
young Norris studied law in
Indiana and then moved to
McCook, Nebraska, in 1885.
He was elected to the House
of Representatives in 1903
and was the leader of the
liberal coalition which broke
the autocratic power of
Speaker Joe Cannon in 1910.
He served as Senator from
Nebraska from 1918 to 1943,
winning as an Independent
m 1886 after he had been
read out of the Republican
Party for supporting Presi-
dent Roosevelt.
George Norris was, in the
words of President Kennedy
in his book Profiles in
Courage. "an idealist. an
independent, a fighter-a
man of deep conviction and
fearless honesty"
Twice he took an unpop-
ular position in defiance of
both his party and his Ne
braska electorate. He was
one Of the little group of
willful men" who filibustered
President Wilson's Armed
Ship Bill in 1917. A Prot
eStant and a dry from the
Middle West, he backed AL
Smith, a Catholic and a wet
from New York's Tammany
Hall. in 1928 because he
could see no hope Of liberal
legislation under Herbert
Hoover. He lost both times,
but in his own mind his
failures were a greater con-
tribution to his country than
his successes.
In addition to his long
fight for public power, Sen
ator Norris was co-sponsor
of the Norris-La Guardia
Act limiting the use of in
functions as an anti-labor
weapon, and wrote both the
goth Oame Duck) Amend
ment to the Constitution
and the bill establishing
NebraSka's one-c h a NIB e r
Legislature. the only one in
the United States.
He was defeated for re-
election in 1943 after he had
abandoned his earlier isola-
zionist views to support
Americas entry into World
War II. He died at McCook
September 2, 1914.
4 4 Il
11-Cent Air Letter Sheet