Frank Aloysius Barrett (November 10, 1892May 30, 1962) was an American

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and

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, a ...

. He served as 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 ...

member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

and the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

, and as the 21st Governor of Wyoming.

Biography

Barrett was born in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

, to a family of eight. His parents were Patrick J. Barrett and Elizabeth A. Curran Barrett. His mother and his paternal grandparents emigrated to the United States from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

Creighton University Creighton University is a private Jesuit research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate and undergra ...

, and worked as a postal employee at the same time. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Barrett joined the Balloon Corps of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

for a two-year enlistment. He married Alice Catherine Donoghue on May 21, 1919, and they moved to Lusk,

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

. After arriving in Lusk, Barrett put his law degree to good use, acting as county attorney for Niobrara from 1922 until 1934. He served in the

Wyoming Senate The Wyoming Senate is the upper house of the Wyoming State Legislature. There are 30 Senators in the Senate, representing an equal number of constituencies across Wyoming, each with a population of at least 17,000. The Senate meets at the Wyomi ...

from 1933 until 1935, then served on the

Board of Trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

. He first ran for Federal office in 1936, but lost out to Paul Greever. He stood for Congress again in 1942, and won, serving there until 1950. In 1951, Barrett was sworn in as Governor. He resigned in 1953 after he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1952, when he unseated three-term incumbent

Joseph C. O'Mahoney Joseph Christopher O'Mahoney (November 5, 1884December 1, 1962) was an American journalist, lawyer, and politician. A Democrat, he served four complete terms as a U.S. Senator from Wyoming on two occasions, first from 1934-1953 and then again fro ...

. Barrett voted in favor of the

Civil Rights Act of 1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwigh ...

. He was defeated after only one term by one of O'Mahoney's former aides,

Gale McGee Gale William McGee (March 17, 1915April 9, 1992) was a United States Senate, United States Senator of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, and United States Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS). He represente ...

Family life

On February 17, 1956, his wife Alice died of cancer. They had had four children together, one of whom had died in infancy. On April 4, 1959, he remarried, to Augusta K. Hogan. Barrett completed his term in the Senate in 1958, and narrowly lost his re-election bid. In 1959 he was appointed Chief Counsel of the Department of Agriculture and sat on the board of directors of the

Commodity Credit Corporation The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) is a wholly owned United States government corporation that was created in 1933 to "stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices" (federally chartered by the CCC Charter Act of 1948 (P.L. 80-806) ...

. His son,

James E. Barrett James Emmett Barrett (April 8, 1922 – November 7, 2011) was a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Education and career Barrett was born in Lusk, Wyoming to Frank ...

, was a senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit and former judge of the

United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISCR) is a U.S. federal court whose sole purpose is to review denials of applications for electronic surveillance warrants (called FISA warrants) by the United States Foreign I ...

in Washington, D.C.

Death

Barrett was diagnosed with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

on May 15, 1962, and died just fifteen days later, at the age of 69. He was interred at Lusk Cemetery in Lusk. Barrett was a devout

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and a member of the

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...

References

External links

*
Wyoming State Archives biography
accessed 2005-11-10.
"Frank Barrett Dies Memorial Day, Last Rites Saturday Morning at 10:00 in High School Auditorium"
''The Lusk Herald'', May 1962. Accessed 2005-11-10.
Congressional biography
Accessed 2005-11-10.

Accessed 2005-11-10.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Frank A. 1892 births 1962 deaths 20th-century American politicians Politicians from Omaha, Nebraska Deaths from leukemia Republican Party governors of Wyoming Republican Party Wyoming state senators United States Army personnel of World War I American people of Irish descent Catholics from Nebraska Catholics from Wyoming Creighton University alumni Creighton University School of Law alumni Military personnel from Wyoming United States Army soldiers United States Department of Agriculture officials Wyoming lawyers Deaths from cancer in Wyoming Republican Party United States senators from Wyoming Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Wyoming People from Lusk, Wyoming 20th-century American lawyers