William Beck Widnall (March 17, 1906 – December 28, 1983) was a

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

politician who served as a 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 ...

for 24 years representing

New Jersey's 7th congressional district New Jersey's 7th congressional district includes all of Hunterdon and Warren Counties; and parts of Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Union Counties. The district is represented by Republican Thomas Kean Jr., who was first elected in 2022, defe ...

. Born in

Hackensack, New Jersey Hackensack is a city in and the county seat of Bergen County, New Jersey, United States.New Jers ...

, Widnall attended public schools, graduating from

Hackensack High School Hackensack High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Hackensack, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Hackensack Public Schools. Hackensack High School serves students from the Bergen County, New Jer ...

in 1922. He graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1926 with a

Ph.B. Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; la, Baccalaureus Philosophiae or ) is the title of an academic degree that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's ...

degree and went on to receive a law degree from the New Jersey Law School (now

Rutgers School of Law–Newark Rutgers Law School is the law school of Rutgers University, with classrooms in Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It is the largest public law school and the 10th largest law school, overall, in the United States. Each class in the three-year J.D. pr ...

) in 1931. Widnall then practiced law in Hackensack and served in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...

from 1946 to 1950. He was elected to Congress on February 6, 1950, in a special election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of

J. Parnell Thomas John Parnell Thomas (January 16, 1895 – November 19, 1970) was a stockbroker and politician. He was elected to seven terms as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from New Jersey as a Republican Party (United States), Re ...

, who had been convicted and sentenced to federal prison for corruption. He opposed building the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

in its current location as being too difficult to reach and not attached to the larger

Metro system Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...

. Widnall served until his own resignation from Congress on December 31, 1974, following his failed reelection bid in 1974. Widnall voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

, and

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

, and the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...

. After leaving Congress, Widnall served as chairman of the National Commission of Electronic Fund Transfers from November 1975 to 1981. A longtime resident of

Saddle River, New Jersey Saddle River is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located just over northwest of Manhattan. The town is known for its natural fields, farmland, forests, and rivers, and has a bucolic atmos ...

, Widnall died at a nursing home in

Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 24,958,atherosclerosis Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis in which the wall of the artery develops abnormalities, called lesions. These lesions may lead to narrowing due to the buildup of atheroma, atheromatous plaque. At onset there are usu ...

and

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

.Cook, Joan
"Ex-Rep. William B. Windall; Served In House For 25 Years"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', December 30, 1983. Accessed November 17, 2017. "William Beck Widnall, a New Jersey Republican who represented northern Bergen County in the House of Representatives for 25 years, died Wednesday in a Ridgewood nursing home after a long illness. He was 77 years old and lived in Saddle River, N.J., until he became ill."

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Widnall, William B Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Brown University alumni Hackensack High School alumni Rutgers School of Law–Newark alumni 1906 births 1983 deaths People from Saddle River, New Jersey Politicians from Hackensack, New Jersey Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey 20th-century American politicians Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York)