Hamilton Fish III Hamilton Fish III ( born Hamilton Stuyvesant Fish and also known as Hamilton Fish , Jr . ; December 7 , 1888 – January 18 , 1991 ) was a soldier and politician from New York State . Born into a family long active in the state , he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1920 to 1945 and during that time was a prominent opponent of United States intervention in foreign affairs and was a critic of President Franklin D . Roosevelt . When Fish celebrated his 102nd birthday in 1990 , he was the oldest living American who had served in Congress . Background , family , and early life . Fish was born Hamilton Stuyvesant Fish in Garrison , Putnam County , New York to former U . S . Representative Hamilton Fish II and the former Emily Mann . His paternal grandfather , Hamilton Fish , was United States Secretary of State under President Ulysses S . Grant . The father of the first Hamilton Fish , Nicholas Fish ( born 1758 ) , an officer in the Continental Army and later appointed adjutant general of New York State by Governor George Clinton . The wife of Nicholas Fish was Elizabeth Stuyvesant , a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant , who was the Dutch colonial governor of New York . Through his mother , Emily Mann , Hamilton Fish III was also a descendant of Thomas Hooker , who settled Hartford , Connecticut in 1636 . Fish ' s uncle Elias Mann was a judge and three - term mayor of Troy , New York . Fish ' s great - grandmother , Susan Livingston , married Count Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz in 1800 after the death of her husband , John Kean ( who had been a delegate to the Continental Congress from South Carolina . ) A soldier and statesman , Niemcewicz was credited with writing the Polish Constitution of 1791 . John Kean and Susan Livingston ' s great - grandson , and thus a relative of Fish , was Thomas Kean , who was elected governor of New Jersey in 1982 . A cousin of Hamilton Fish III ( also named Hamilton Fish ) was sergeant in Company L of Theodore Roosevelt ' s " Rough Riders " , and the first American soldier killed in action during the Spanish - American War . At the age of ten , Hamilton Fish II had his son ' s name legally changed from " Hamilton Stuyvesant Fish " to just " Hamilton Fish " to honor his fallen cousin ( he and Hamilton Fish III never met ) . Fish was married in 1921 to Grace Chapin Rogers ( 1885 – 1960 ) , daughter of onetime Brooklyn Mayor Alfred C . Chapin ( 1848 – 1936 ) . Their son , Hamilton Fish IV , was a thirteen - term U . S . Representative from New York , holding office from 1969 to 1995 . The Fishes ' daughter Lillian Veronica Fish married David Whitmire Hearst , son of William Randolph Hearst . Education . During his childhood , Fish attended Chateau de Lancy , a Swiss school near Geneva , which his father also attended in 1860 ; there , the younger Fish learned French and played soccer . He spent summers with his family in Bavaria . He began his U . S . boarding school education at Fay School in Southborough , Massachusetts , and he later attended St . Mark ' s School , a preparatory school also in Southborough . Fish later described himself as a " B student " but successful in several different sports . Graduating from St . Mark ' s in 1906 , Fish went on to attend Harvard University . There , he played on Harvard ' s football team as a tackle and was a member of the Porcellian Club . Standing and weighing , " Ham " Fish was highly successful as a football player ; he was twice an All - America and in 1954 was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame . After graduating from Harvard , Fish continued his involvement in football . He donated $ 5000 for several awards to Harvard football players ; and organized the Harvard Law School football team , which played exhibition games with other colleges around the country . In 1909 , aged twenty , Fish graduated from Harvard with a " cum laude " degree in history and government . He declined an offer to teach history at Harvard and instead took a job in a New York City insurance office . Fish was a Progressive member of the New York State Assembly ( Putnam Co . ) in 1914 , 1915 and 1916 . Military service . Fish accepted an offer from Col . William Hayward to become a captain in the 369th U . S . Infantry Regiment , a unit made up of African American enlisted men which came to be known as the " Harlem Hellfighters . " The summer after President Wilson ' s declaration of war against Germany ( in April 1917 ) , Fish and about two thousand soldiers began training at Camp Whitman ( in New York ) . In October 1917 , the unit was ordered to Camp Wadsworth ( in South Carolina ) for further training . In November 1917 , the regiment boarded the USS " Pocahontas " , destined for France , although shortly thereafter the ship returned to shore due to engine problems . After another abortive departure , the ship left on December 13 , 1917 . Despite colliding with another ship and not having a destroyer escort to protect against German submarines , the regiment reached France . ( Fish complained to Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D . Roosevelt about the lack of an escort . ) Fish and his unit landed in Brest , France on December 26 ; the 369th was placed under the control of the French army by U . S . General John Pershing . Altogether , the 369th spent 191 days on the front lines , which was the longest of any American regiment . It was also the first Allied regiment to reach the Rhine River . Fish received the Silver Star and Croix de Guerre . In addition , Fish and his sister Janet , who had been a nurse near the front lines , were both later inducted into the French Legion of Honor for their wartime service . Service in the U . S . Congress . First elected to fill the vacancy caused by Edmund Platt , Fish was a member of the United States House of Representatives from November 2 , 1920 until January 3 , 1945 , having been defeated for reelection in 1944 . In nearly 25 years as a congressman , Fish would become known as a strong anti - communist and a bitter opponent of his erstwhile friend Franklin D . Roosevelt , which raised his profile and made him an ally of the anti - Roosevelt members of Congress . He was opposed to Franklin D . Roosevelt ' s New Deal policies before and after Pearl Harbor . A non - interventionist until Pearl Harbor , Fish was responsible for a number of legislative and diplomatic moves aimed at helping Jews out of Hitler ' s Germany and turned aside as refugees . His unapologetic opposition to the New Deal provoked Roosevelt into including him with two other Capitol Hill opponents in a rollicking taunt that became a staple of FDR ' s 1940 re - election campaign : " Martin , Barton and Fish . " Finally , in part under the influence of New York Governor Thomas E . Dewey , Fish ' s congressional career ended when he won the Republican Party primary in his district but lost the general election in 1944 . The Unknown Soldier of World War I and the Tomb of the Unknowns . On December 21 , 1920 , Congressman Hamilton Fish introduced legislation which was to be among his most enduring and patriotic acts as a member of Congress . It was Resolution 67 of the 66th Congress which provided for the return to the United States the remains of an unknown American soldier killed in France during World War I and for interment of his remains in a hallowed tomb to be constructed outside the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington , Virginia across the Potomac River from the nation ' s capital . The Congress approved the resolution on March 4 , 1921 . On October 23 , 1921 at Châlons - sur - Marne , France , about 90 miles from Paris , remains of an unknown soldier were selected from among six caskets containing remains of unknown American soldiers killed in France . The selected remains were returned to the United States and interred at the tomb site in Arlington National Cemetery on November 11 , 1921 in solemn ceremony following a state funeral procession from the U . S . Capitol building where the World War I Unknown had lain in state . The tomb , completed in 1937 , came to be known as The Tomb of the Unknowns ( Soldiers ) which is today guarded around the clock daily by elite sentries of the U . S . Army ' s historic ceremonial but combat ready 3rd Infantry Regiment — " The Old Guard . " The tomb , and unknown soldiers of three U . S . wars interred there today , is thought to be the most hallowed military site in the United States and may well be Fish ' s greatest legacy to the nation . Fish Committee . Hamilton Fish was a fervent anti - communist ; in a 1931 article , he described communism as " the most important , the most vital , the most far - reaching , and the most dangerous issue in the world " and believed that there was extensive communist influence in the United States . On May 5 , 1930 , he introduced House Resolution 180 , which proposed to establish a committee to investigate communist activities in the United States ; the resulting committee , commonly known as the Fish Committee , undertook extensive investigations of people and organizations suspected of being involved with or supporting communist activities in the United States . Among the committee ' s targets were the American Civil Liberties Union and Communist Party presidential candidate William Z . Foster . The committee recommended granting the United States Department of Justice more authority to investigate communists , and strengthening of immigration and deportation laws to keep communists out of the United States . In 1933 , Fish was on a committee that sponsored the publication in the United States of a translation of a Nazi book called " Communism in Germany " by Adolf Ehrt . In the prefatory note , the committee said that they did not publish it as a defense of antisemitism or the Nazi regime , but because they believed that the struggle between Nazis and communists in Germany provided a lesson about using " effective measures " to defend against communism . The book claimed that Jews were responsible for communism in Germany , and that only Adolf Hitler could stop it . Under pressure from American Jewish and liberal groups , Fish and the other committee members disavowed the book . Fish ' s alleged Nazi ties and isolationism . Fish was touted by the Germans as a friendly American ally . " Time " magazine once termed him " the Nation ' s No . 1 isolationist . " On August 14 , 1939 , Fish , president of the U . S . delegation to the Interparliamentary Union Congress conference in Oslo , Norway , met with Joachim Ribbentrop . Fish flew to Oslo in Ribbentrop ' s private plane . Fish , a staunch opponent of Roosevelt , advocated better relations with Nazi Germany and hoped to solve the " Danzig question " during the conference in Norway . " Stepping out of Joachim von Ribbentrop ' s plane in 1939 , Fish opined that Germany ' s claims were ' just . In 1940 , just after the presidential election , Fish sent a telegram to Roosevelt which read : " Congratulations . I pledge my support for national defense . . . and to keep America out of foreign wars . " In 1941 , a judiciary panel investigating the activities of Nazi agents in the U . S . , sent officers to the Washington headquarters of an anti - British organization , the Islands for War Debts Committee , to seize eight bags of franked Congressional mail containing speeches by isolationist members of Congress . George Hill , Fish ' s chief of staff , had the mail taken to Fish ' s office storeroom just prior to their arrival . A grand jury was convened and summoned Hill to explain : 1 ) why he had been so solicitous about the Islands for War Debts Committee ' s mail ; and 2 ) his close association with George Sylvester Viereck , a Nazi propaganda agent . ( Viereck would later be convicted of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act and for having subsidized the Islands for War Debts Committee . ) Hill said he had not sent for the mail and did not know Viereck . The jury promptly indicted Hill for perjury . Shortly after the indictment , Fish defended Hill claiming , " George Hill is 100 % O . K . , and I ' ll back George Hill to the limit on anything . " During the trial , Hill had explained that Viereck visited Capitol Hill in 1940 and arranged for wholesale distribution of Congressional speeches attacking the Administration ' s foreign policy . After hearing a jury had reached its verdict and anticipating a conviction , Fish issued a statement : " I am very sorry to learn that George Hill , a disabled , decorated veteran of the World War and a clerk in my office , has been convicted of perjury . . . Mr . Hill is of English ancestry . . . He had an obsession against our involvement in war . " Twenty hours later , the jury did convict Hill . Less than two weeks before the 1942 midterm congressional election , columnist Drew Pearson ' s nationally - syndicated column ( " Washington Merry - Go - Round " ) described in detail how in 1939 Fish had received over $ 3 , 100 in cash from a source with German ties . Britain ' s campaign to defeat Hamilton Fish . The British Security Cooperation focused a great deal of effort attempting to influence Congressmen through front groups , campaigning , and agents of influence . In 1940 , BSC agents ran the Nonpartisan Committee to Defeat Hamilton Fish in order to “ put the fear of God into every isolationist senator and congressman . ” The committee raised substantial sums of money for Fish ’ s opponent , coordinated several media attacks , created false charges of wrongdoing just before elections , and helped distribute books charging Fish with disloyalty . The committee as much as possible tried to make attacks on Fish appear to originate from his district though historical documents indicate most attacks originated outside of his district . Fish survived the attack in 1940 but won his election with less than half the margin of victory he earned 2 years earlier . Wartime elections . In the 1942 election , Fish ( like other former isolationists ) was considered vulnerable . The Orange and Putnam district that Fish represented had begun to turn against him . Polls predicted , incorrectly , that Fish would not even win the Republican primary . For the first time in his 22 years of political campaigning he opened campaign headquarters . Soon thereafter he was repudiated by the popular Republican gubernatorial candidate , Thomas Dewey . But the November 1942 election occurred when voters were impatient for the battlefield victories that would later come , and Fish defeated his Democratic opponent by 4 , 000 votes . However , reapportionment , which took effect in 1944 , fragmented his district . That year he ran in a district that no longer included his home county of Putnam , but included one county ( Orange ) from his previous district and three new counties . Fish was defeated by approximately 5 , 000 votes . As " Time " magazine reported , " In New York , to the nation ' s delight , down went rabid anti - Roosevelt isolationist Hamilton Fish , after 24 years in Congress . His successor : Peter A . Quinn . " About his exit from Congress , Fish said in his election - night concession speech that " my defeat should be largely credited to Communistic and Red forces from New York City backed by a large slush fund probably exceeding $ 250 , 000 . " As he viewed it several weeks later , " It took most of the New Deal Administration , half of Moscow , $ 400 , 000 , and Governor Dewey to defeat me . . . " Embittered by his defeat , Fish promptly sued Robert F . Cutler ( executive secretary of the group , Good Government Committee ) for libel , seeking $ 250 , 000 in damages for advertisements depicting Fish as a Nazi sympathizer . The ads also depicted Fish associating with the " American Führer " , Fritz Kuhn . He would later discontinue the lawsuit without a settlement . After Congress . Although pledging on December 8 , 1941 that he would volunteer for the Army to avenge the attack on Pearl Harbor , Fish did not serve in World War II ; he was actually 53 years old at that time . Fish wrote a short history of World War I and an autobiography , " Hamilton Fish : Memoir of an American Patriot " , published shortly after his death . For many years he was a familiar speaker at various political and veterans ' functions ; an indefatigable traveler , he was known to do it by car as often as not . Almost invariably , he ended such speeches with , " If there is any country worth living in , if there is any country worth fighting for , and if there is any country worth dying for , it is the United States of America . " In 1958 Fish founded the Order of Lafayette , a hereditary and patriotic organization of American officers who served in France in both world wars and their descendants . Fish was the Order ' s first President , serving for a number of years . Ancestors and descendants . Although he was the third Hamilton Fish in direct line in his family , like his father and his son , he was known as " Hamilton Fish , Jr . " during his time in Congress . His grandson has also been known as " Hamilton Fish III " , and was publisher of the liberal magazine " The Nation " before making his own unsuccessful run for Congress as " Hamilton Fish , Jr . " in 1994 . He is also referred to as Hamilton Fish V . Hamilton Fish III married his fourth and last wife , Lydia Ambrogio Fish on September 9 , 1988 and they remained married until his death . She currently lives in retirement in Port Jervis , NY .