Benjamin Harrison Hulse (1894–1961) was a

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He represented the 39th district in the California State Senate for 12 years, including two years (1955–56) as Senate President Pro Tem. He was a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Personal life

Hulse was born and raised on a farm near Fayetteville in

Washington County, Arkansas Washington County is a regional economic, educational, and cultural hub in the Northwest Arkansas region. Created as Arkansas's 17th county on November 30, 1848, Washington County has 13 incorporated municipalities, including Fayetteville, the ...

. His parents were John Hulse, a wealthy farmer and U.S. marshall, and Drusilla (Delano) Hulse. With just a high school education, he came to

as a young man. He worked at a machine shop in Stockton for two years, then moved to

Imperial County Imperial Count (german: Reichsgraf) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. In the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from ...

in 1910, where he began to sell tractors and Ford cars in

Calexico Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. It is about east of San Diego ...

El Centro El Centro (Spanish for "The Center") is a city and county seat of Imperial County, California, United States. El Centro is the largest city in the Imperial Valley, the east anchor of the Southern California Border Region, and the core urban are ...

and Yuma. By 1920 his dealerships (Hulse and Dick in Yuma, Hulse and Anderson in El Centro) were important in promoting the agricultural development of Imperial County. He married Bessie Phenia in 1919; they lived in Imperial. He was an Elk and a Mason. He died at a hospital in El Centro in 1961 at the age of 66.

Political career

He served on the local school board and the Imperial County Board of Supervisors. He was elected to the Senate in 1932 and served four years. He was then re-elected in 1944, 1948, and 1952. He was known as "the watchdog of the treasury" during his years in the Senate, serving on the taxation and other committees. He was elected Senate President Pro Tem in 1955. He retired from the Senate on March 14, 1956.

Recognition

*Ben Hulse Elementary School in Imperial, California, is named for him. *A stretch of

California State Route 78 State Route 78 (SR 78) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from Oceanside east to Blythe, traversing nearly the entire width of the state. Its western terminus is at Interstate 5 (I-5) in San Diego County and its e ...

is named the Ben Hulse Highway.

Personal life

Political career

Recognition

References

Further reading