Louis Crosby Wyman (March 16, 1917 – May 5, 2002) was an American politician and lawyer. He was a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

and a

U.S. senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

from

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. He was a member of the Republican Party.

Early life and career

Louis Crosby Wyman was born on March 16, 1917, in

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is the List of municipalities in New Hampshire, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Located on the banks of the Merrimack River, it had a population of 115,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Manches ...

, the son of Alice Sibley (Crosby) and Louis Eliot Wyman. He graduated from the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

in 1938 and from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1941. He was admitted to the bars of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and New Hampshire in 1941, and of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in 1957, and commenced the practice of law in Boston, Massachusetts, at

Ropes and Gray Ropes & Gray LLP is an American multinational law firm with 14 U.S., Asia, and Europe offices. The firm has over 1,500 lawyers and professionals worldwide, its clients include corporations, financial institutions, government agencies, universitie ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Wyman served in the Alaskan Theater as a lieutenant in the

United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2004, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called reservists, are categorized as being in either the S ...

from 1942 to 1946. He also served as general counsel to a

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

committee in 1946; secretary to Senator

Styles Bridges Henry Styles Bridges (September 9, 1898November 26, 1961) was an American teacher, editor, and Republican Party politician from Concord, New Hampshire. He served one term as the 63rd governor of New Hampshire before a twenty-four-year career ...

in 1947; counsel to the Joint Congressional Committee on Foreign Economic Cooperation from 1948 to 1949;

attorney general of New Hampshire The attorney general of New Hampshire is a constitutional officer of the U.S. state of New Hampshire who serves as head of the New Hampshire Department of Justice. , the state's attorney general is John Formella. Qualifications and appointmen ...

from 1953 to 1961; president of the

National Association of Attorneys General The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of state and territory attorneys general in the United States which therefore means that the United States Attorney General in the federal government is n ...

in 1957; and as legislative counsel to the

governor of New Hampshire The governor of New Hampshire is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The governor is elected during the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along w ...

in 1961; member and chairman of several state legal and judicial commissions. His attempts to investigate alleged communists as attorney general lead to the Supreme Court case ''

Sweezy v. New Hampshire ''Sweezy v. New Hampshire'', 354 U.S. 234 (1957), was a case before the United States Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that jailing an academic when he refused to answer questions about university lectures he had given was a violation of du ...

'', which ruled against the state and Wyman on due process grounds.

House of Representatives

Wyman was elected as a Republican to the

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from in 1962. He was swept out in the Democratic landslide of 1964, but regained his seat in 1966 and was reelected three more times. Wyman was behind an amendment to 1964 automobile safety legislation which prohibited a "seat belt interlock system" in automobiles. The interlock system prevented automobiles from starting unless the driver was wearing a seatbelt. Consumer advocates had advocated for the safety measure, but the measure also provoked much opposition.

Senate election

Wyman did not run for reelection to his House seat in 1974, opting instead to run for the Senate seat that was due to come open by 20-year incumbent

Norris Cotton Norris Henry Cotton (May 11, 1900 – February 24, 1989) was an American politician from the state of New Hampshire. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Representative and subsequently as a U.S. Senator. Early life Cotton was b ...

's retirement. The initial returns showed him defeating Democratic candidate John A. Durkin by 355 votes on election night. Durkin demanded a recount, which resulted in Durkin winning by ten votes. Governor Meldrim Thomson then certified Durkin as the winner. However, Wyman demanded another recount in which he prevailed by two votes. Cotton resigned on December 31, 1974; Thomson appointed Wyman to the seat for the balance of the term ending January 3, 1975, to give him a leg up in seniority. This appeared to end the dispute, but Durkin appealed to the full Senate, which is the final arbiter of Senate elections per

the Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. The

Senate Rules Committee The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, also called the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, is responsible for the rules of the United States Senate, administration of congressional buildings, and with credentials and qualificat ...

, which has jurisdiction over the results of Senate elections, then deadlocked on whether to seat Wyman for the 1975–1981 term pending the resolution of the dispute. On January 14, the Senate returned the matter to the Rules Committee, which returned 35 disputed points to the full Senate based on 3,000 questionable ballots. However, the Senate was unable to break a deadlock on even one of the 35 points. After seven months of wrangling which included six unsuccessful Democratic attempts to seat Durkin, Wyman, having never been seated, proposed that he and Durkin run again in a special election. Durkin agreed, and the Senate declared the seat officially vacant on August 8, 1975, pending the new election. Thomson appointed Cotton to his old seat in the meantime. The special election was held on September 16, and Durkin won handily, defeating Wyman by nearly 28,000 votes—ending what is still the closest Senate election since the people gained the right to directly elect Senators with the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913.

Later life

Wyman served as an associate justice of the

New Hampshire Superior Court The New Hampshire Superior Court is the statewide court of general jurisdiction which provides jury trials in civil and criminal cases. There are 11 locations of the Superior Court, one for each county and two in Hillsborough County. Jurisdicti ...

from 1978 to 1987. He was a resident of Manchester, New Hampshire and

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

, until his death due to cancer on May 5, 2002. Wyman's remains were cremated, and the ashes scattered at sea.

References

Official Congressional Directory: 93rd Congress (1974)

Manual for the New Hampshire General Court (1979), page 412

External links