William Henry Harrison III

William Henry Harrison III was born on August 10, 1896, in Terre Haute, Indiana, to Russell Benjamin Harrison and Mary Saunders. He was part of the Harrison family of Virginia, which included two U.S. Presidents: his great-great-grandfather William Henry Harrison and his grandfather Benjamin Harrison. His maternal grandfather, Alvin Saunders, served as a territorial governor and senator from Nebraska.

Harrison received his early education in Omaha, Nebraska, and attended the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. During World War I, he served as a private in the Aviation Section of the U.S. Signal Corps, part of the United States Army. After the war, he served as a park ranger at Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. He was a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Between 1919 and 1920, Harrison attended the University of Nebraska Omaha. He married Mary Elizabeth Newton on October 19, 1920. In 1925, he was admitted to the bar in Indiana.

Harrison's political career began in Indiana. While studying at the University of Nebraska Omaha, he joined the Junior Chamber of Commerce in Omaha and later served on Indianapolis's Junior Chamber of Commerce board of directors, eventually becoming the organization's president. In 1926, he represented Indiana and parts of Ohio and Kentucky at the Junior Chamber of Commerce national convention in Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1926, Harrison was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives representing Marion County, serving until 1929. During this period, his father was a member of the Indiana Senate. He ran unsuccessfully for Marion County attorney in 1928. On December 2, 1931, he was elected president of the Universal Club, a welfare and education organization.

In 1932, Harrison received the Republican nomination for Indiana's 12th congressional district. During the campaign, he praised President Herbert Hoover and received endorsements from both the Anti-Saloon League and the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment. He was defeated in the general election by incumbent Representative Louis Ludlow.

Harrison owned land in Wyoming and visited there regularly. In 1937, he purchased the IXL Ranch in Dayton, Wyoming, from Jack B. Milward. He relocated there, practiced law in Sheridan, Wyoming, and became involved in local politics. In 1944, Harrison was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives representing Sheridan County as a Republican. During his tenure, he co-sponsored legislation to reorganize the Game and Fish Commission into the Department of Game and Fish.

He was active in Wyoming Republican Party affairs, serving as chairman of the Sheridan County Republican Party in 1948. He resigned from this role in 1950 to campaign for Congress. Harrison was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Wyoming's at-large district in 1950, succeeding Frank A. Barrett. He served in multiple terms throughout the 1950s and 1960s, being reelected in 1952, 1954, and 1956.

Harrison's congressional service included committee assignments on Agriculture, Interior and Insular Affairs, and subcommittees related to Public Lands, Indian Affairs, and Irrigation and Reclamation. He advocated for interventionist foreign policies, anti-communism, Native American rights, and development initiatives in Wyoming.

In 1954, Harrison announced he would not run for reelection for the Senate seat against incumbent Senator Lester C. Hunt. Following Hunt's withdrawal from the race and subsequent suicide in 1954, Harrison declared his candidacy for the special election to fill the vacancy. However, he was defeated by former Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney in both the special and the general election.

After his congressional terms, Harrison was appointed on April 8, 1955, as the Southern regional administrator for the Housing and Home Finance Agency, based in Atlanta, Georgia, overseeing Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. He resigned from this position on August 31, 1956. Subsequently, he worked for the farm division of the Republican National Committee in Chicago, Illinois.

On May 29, 1969, President Richard Nixon appointed Harrison to the Federal Renegotiation Board, where he served until his resignation on October 4, 1971. Harrison also participated in the 1980 Republican presidential primaries as a member of the Wyoming Steering Committee supporting George H. W. Bush. William Henry Harrison III died on October 8, 1990, at the age of 94.