Paul Hughes

**Paul Edward Hughes** (Born July 31th 1911) is an American politician serving as a United States Senator from Maryland since 1951.He also served as a U.S Representative for Maryland's 2nd Congressional District from 1943 to 1951 and as the House Majority Whip from 1949-1950.

## Paul Hughes (R-MD)

### Relatives

Wife: Jenna 1929- Son: John (1929-) Daughters: Pamela (1950-) Susan (1950-) Mother: Ellen (1886-) Father: Jack (1879-)

## Early Life

He was born on July 31st, 1911 in the city of Dover, Delaware. His parents were Jack Hughes, a lawyer and anti-New Deal Republican, and Ellen Hughes, a former nurse and housewife. At the age of 3, Paul and his family moved to the city of Annapolis for Jack's new law firm job in the city.

He graduated from Annapolis High School in 1928. He met his wife in 1927 at the school dance, and they quickly got married after their graduation. Later that year, Jenna gave birth to their first child, John, on Nov 30, 1929.

In 1929, Paul started a 4-year graduate program for Political Science at Maryland State University or MSU. During that period, Paul worked as a Manager at the United States Marine Academy to get money for the family.

In 1934, Paul joined his father's law firm while Jenna stayed at home with John. In 1940, His father had a terrible stroke, which caused him to retire and the company liquidated. After that, he worked as the assistant to the mayor of Annapolis until 1942.

## Career

In 1942, Maryland's 2nd Congressional district's longtime Democratic Representative, William Cole, resigned his seat to become a U.S Judge, and the seat was open. Paul was convinced by the mayor of Annapolis to run as a Democrat. Due to the mayor's backing, Paul easily won his 1942 House primary by 13.9% over the next candidate.

In the general election, he faced off against Charles Kingston, a right-wing republican who had served in the Maryland House for 12 years. He won the election by a margin of less than 1% due to a last minute scandal by Kingston.

In his first term, he closely tied himself to President Roosevelt and supported him in every election that he ran in. When Truman took office, Paul did not trust Truman to the same extent as Roosevelt, especially on the use of the atomic bombs in Japan. Paul was against weapons of mass destruction, as he thought that humankind would end itself with them.

In 1948, Paul supported Fellow Representative Estes Kefauver for the Presidency, as he saw Governor Rundham as a terrible leader. However, in 1949 Paul made headlines by joining the Republican Party. He later told reporters that the reason that he switched parties is that his father was on his dying days, and he switched for him, as he was a lifelong Republican.

However, that joy was short lived as later that same day, Paul was shot twice in the chest by a mercenary hired by Douglas MacArthur, as he had spoken against the arrest of suspected communists. After the shooting, Paul Announced that he was running for the U.S Senate in 1950 senate election, as his constituents increasingly distrusted him.

On January 15th 1950, Paul was involved in a car accident that almost became fatal however Paul was rushed to the hospital and luckily was only disabled for a few months, which then forced him to suspend his Senate Campaign. A few months later, he recovered and re-started his senate campaign, as he won the Republican primary by 77%. On election day, Paul won his election by a margin of 2.6% over Millard E. Tydings,The incumbent senator.

## Personal Life

He was born into a small, upper middle class family, with ancestry from the British Isles, France, Germany and Italy. He has two brothers, and a twin sister. They are Alex (Born 1908), Francis (Born 1909), Marie (Born 1911). The Hughes's grew up in a Protestant household, and he is Deeply religious as he is a member of the baptist church, and they go to church every Sunday.

One day, when Paul came home, he saw a bad man raping his wife, so he delivered justice by killing the man, and he took it to his grave.