Howard Homan Buffett (August 13, 1903 – April 30, 1964) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He was a four-term

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 ...

United States Representative 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 chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for the state of

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. He was the father of

Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net w ...

, the American billionaire businessman and investor.

Early life

Howard Buffett 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 Henrietta Duvall Buffett and Ernest P. Buffett, owners of a grocery business. Ernest P. Buffett's parents were second cousins, both having mainly English descent. The Buffet surname (renamed to Buffett) originates in France with a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

weaver, named John Buffett, who became Buffett's first American Buffett ancestor when he immigrated to New York in the late-1600s. Howard Buffett attended public schools and graduated from the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

in 1925. While a student, Buffett was a brother of the Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity. He married Leila Stahl on December 27, 1925. The Buffetts were active members of Dundee Presbyterian Church. After failing to secure a job in the family grocery business, he started a small stock brokerage firm.

Career

Entering the

investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

business, Buffett also served on the Omaha

board of education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

from 1939 to 1942. In 1942 he ran for the

U.S. 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 chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in the Nebraska district in which Omaha was located. In that election, Buffett was seen as "a Republican

sacrificial lamb A sacrificial lamb is a metaphorical reference to a person or animal sacrificed for the common good. The term is derived from the traditions of Abrahamic religion where a lamb is a highly valued possession. In politics In politics, a sacrificial ...

in Nebraska's second district when

FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

was a popular wartime leader."Klein, Philip (2011-09-20
Buffett's dad was the Ron Paul of his day
, ''

Washington Examiner The ''Washington Examiner'' is an American conservative news outlet which consists principally of an online/digital website with a weekly magazine, based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is ow ...

'' Nevertheless, he went on to win the Republican nomination in the

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and then the subsequent

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. He was reelected twice. In 1948 he again was the Republican nominee for another term, but was defeated for reelection; however, he was the Republican nominee for the office again in 1950 and won the office back. In 1952 Buffett decided against seeking another term and returned to his investment business in Omaha, Buffett-Falk & Co., in which he worked until shortly before his death. He also served as the campaign manager for conservative Senator

Robert A. Taft Robert Alphonso Taft Sr. (September 8, 1889 – July 31, 1953) was an American politician, lawyer, and scion of the Republican Party's Taft family. Taft represented Ohio in the United States Senate, briefly served as Senate Majority Lead ...

in Taft's 1952 presidential campaign. According to

biographer

Roger Lowenstein Roger Lowenstein (born 1954) is an American financial journalist and writer. He graduated from Cornell University and reported for ''The Wall Street Journal'' for more than a decade, including two years writing its '' Heard on the Street'' column, ...

Political philosophy

Howard Buffett is remembered for his highly

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

Old Right stance, having maintained a friendship with

Murray Rothbard Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian m ...

for a number of years. He "would invariably draw 'zero' ratings from the

Americans for Democratic Action Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is a liberal American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA views itself as supporting social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research, and supporting prog ...

and other

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

groups."Rothbard, Murray
Life in the Old Right
''

LewRockwell.com Llewellyn Harrison Rockwell Jr. (born July 1, 1944) is an American author, editor, and political consultant. A libertarian and a self-professed anarcho-capitalist, he founded and is the chairman of the Mises Institute, a non-profit dedicated to ...

'', first published in ''

Chronicles Chronicles may refer to: * ''Books of Chronicles'', in the Bible * Chronicle, chronological histories * ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', a novel series by C. S. Lewis * ''Holinshed's Chronicles'', the collected works of Raphael Holinshed * ''The Idhu ...

'', August 1994 Buffett was a vocal critic of the

Truman Doctrine The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that pledged American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats." The doctrine originated with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. It was ...

and the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

. Of the Truman Doctrine, he said: "Our Christian ideals cannot be exported to other lands by dollars and guns." Buffett was also "one of the major voices in Congress opposed to the Korean adventure," and "was convinced that the United States was largely responsible for the eruption of conflict in Korea; for the rest of his life he tried unsuccessfully to get the

Senate Armed Services Committee The Committee on Armed Services (sometimes abbreviated SASC for ''Senate Armed Services Committee'') is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defe ...

to declassify the testimony of

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

head Admiral

Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter Roscoe Henry Hillenkoetter (May 8, 1897 – June 18, 1982) was the third director of the post–World War II United States Central Intelligence Group (CIG), the third Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and the first director of the Central In ...

, which Buffett told othbardestablished American responsibility for the Korean outbreak." Rothbard, Murray N.br>Confessions of a Right-Wing Liberal
''

Ludwig von Mises Institute Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a libertarian nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is named after the Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). It wa ...

'' The CIA failed to predict the Marxist invasion of the Republic of Korea in 1950, just as it had failed to predict the Soviet Atomic Bomb the previous year - 1949, it was these intelligence failures that Rear Admiral Hillenkoetter testified about. Speaking on the floor of Congress, he opposed

military interventionism Interventionism refers to a political practice of intervention, particularly to the practice of governments to interfere in political affairs of other countries, staging military or trade interventions. Economic interventionism refers to a diffe ...

: In the summer of 1962, he wrote "an impassioned plea... for the abolition of the

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

" in the ''New Individualist Review''. Dionne, E.J.
Why Americans Hate Politics
pg. 265 Buffett wrote: In addition to non-interventionism overseas, Howard Buffett strongly supported the

gold standard A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the la ...

because he believed it would limit the ability of government to inflate the money supply and spend beyond its means. His son

is not an advocate of the gold standard. North, Gary (2010-05-29
The Wall Street Journal's War On Gold
''

Personal life

Buffett married Leila Stahl Buffett (March 18, 1904 – August 30, 1996), who was of German and English descent; they had three children: *

(son): businessman,

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some specie ...

, and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, Chairman & CEO of

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from ...

Peter Buffett Peter Andrew Buffett (born May 4, 1958) is an American musician, composer, author and philanthropist. With a career that spans more than 30 years, Buffett is an Regional Emmy Award winner, New York Times best-selling author and co-chair of the ...

(grandson):

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Howard Graham Buffett Howard Graham Buffett (born December 16, 1954) is an American businessman, former politician, philanthropist, photographer, farmer, and conservationist. He is the middle child of billionaire investor Warren Buffett. He is named after Howard B ...

(grandson): Corporate board member of

***

Howard Warren Buffett Howard Warren Buffett (born October 14, 1983) is an American adjunct professor in public policy and international affairs, a political advisor, philanthropist and a grandson of Warren Buffett. He serves as an adjunct faculty member at Columbia Un ...

(great-grandson): Public relations professor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Susan Alice Buffett Susan Alice Buffett (born July 30, 1953) is an American philanthropist who is the daughter of Warren Buffett and Susan Thompson Buffett. Her charitable work has focused largely on the Sherwood Foundation, formerly known as the Susan A. Buffett ...

(granddaughter) *

Doris Buffett Doris Eleanor Buffett (February 12, 1928 – August 4, 2020) was an American philanthropist also known as the 'retail' philanthropist and the founder of ''The Sunshine Lady Foundation'', ''The Learning By Giving Foundation'', and ''The Letters ...

Bryant (daughter) * Roberta Buffett Bialek (daughter)

Publications

* Buffett, Howard Homan
Human Freedom Rests on Gold Redeemable Money
Financial Chronicle 5/6/48 * Buffett, Howard Homan. ''The Evil Men in the Kremlin Must Be Chortling as Militarism Runs Wild in America''. Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1952.Cf
Howard Homan Buffett
– entry at the

NNDB The Notable Names Database (NNDB) is an online database of biographical details of over 40,000 people. Soylent Communications, a sole proprietorship that also hosted the now-defunct Rotten.com, describes NNDB as an "intelligence aggregator" of n ...

References

External links

*
Howard Homan Buffett: Old Rightist Extraordinaire
by Joseph R. Stromberg *
Howard Buffett: A Man of the Old Right
by Noah M. Clarke * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Buffett, Howard 1903 births 1964 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Presbyterians American chief executives of financial services companies American investors American libertarians American people of Scandinavian descent American Presbyterians American stockbrokers

Howard Buffett Howard Homan Buffett (August 13, 1903 – April 30, 1964) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He was a four-term Republican United States Representative for the state of Nebraska. He was the father of Warren Buffett, the Ameri ...

Businesspeople from Omaha, Nebraska Christian libertarians John Birch Society members Monetary reformers Non-interventionism Old Right (United States) Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Nebraska School board members in Nebraska Stock and commodity market managers University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni