William R. Green

William R. Green
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 9th district
In office June 5, 1911 – March 31, 1928
Preceded by	Walter I. Smith
Succeeded by	Earl W. Vincent
Personal details
Born	November 7, 1856 Colchester, Connecticut, United States
Died	June 11, 1947(1947-06-11) (aged 90) Bellport, New York
Political party	Republican
Profession	Attorney, Judge

William Raymond Green (November 7, 1856 – June 11, 1947) was a longtime Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 9th congressional district, and chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, until he resigned to accept appointment as an associate judge on the United States Court of Claims.

Born in Colchester, Connecticut, Green attended the public schools in Malden, Illinois, and Princeton High School in Princeton, Illinois. He was graduated from Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio, in 1879. Rather than graduating from a law school, he studied law with the firm McCoy and Pratt. He was admitted to the bar in 1882 and commenced practice in Dow City, Iowa. Two years later, he moved his office to Audubon, Iowa. He served as judge of the district court in the fifteenth judicial district of Iowa from 1894 until 1911, when he resigned to run in a special election for Congress. In 1911, Representative Walter I. Smith of Iowa's 9th congressional district resigned, forcing a special election for his permanent replacement. Green ran as a Republican, and was sworn in on June 5, 1911 as a member of the Sixty-second Congress.

Green was reelected eight times, serving in the Sixty-third Congress and to the seven succeeding Congresses. He served as chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means from the Sixty-eighth through the Seventieth Congresses.

Green was considered a moderate Republican who worked well as Ways and Means Committee chair with President Calvin Coolidge's Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew W. Mellon. Mellon's primary legislative objectives during Green's tenure involved tax reductions.

Green resigned from Congress after his eighth re-election, when President Calvin Coolidge nominated him on February 20, 1928 as a judge of the United States Court of Claims. In all, Green served in Congress from June 5, 1911, to March 31, 1928. His seat was filled through a special election that coincided with the 1928 primary election, in which Republican Earl W. Vincent was elected. Green was the third consecutive Representative of Iowa's ninth congressional district who resigned in the middle of their term to accept appointment to the federal bench.

At the time of his judicial appointment, Green was over 71 years old. He served twelve years as a judge with the Court of Claims from April 1, 1928, until May 29, 1940, when he resigned. He was later recalled and served until June 1942.

Green retired from active pursuits and resided at Bellport, New York, until his death there on June 11, 1947. He was interred in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Green belonged to the Cosmos Club, the Elks, the Knights of Pythias, and the Masons.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• United States Congress. "William R. Green (id: G000422)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

• The United States Court of Claims : a history / pt. 1. The judges, 1855-1976 / by Marion T. Bennett / pt. 2. Origin, development, jurisdiction, 1855-1978 / W. Cowen, P. Nichols, M.T. Bennett. Washington, D.C.: Committee on the Bicentennial of Independence and the Constitution of the Judicial Conference of the United States. 1976.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress