Charles Henderson (Nevada politician)
Charles Belknap Henderson was an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as United States Senator from Nevada.Biography
Born in San Jose, California, he moved with his parents to Nevada in 1876, and attended the public schools in Elko, the University of the Pacific, and Leland Stanford Junior University in California. He earned a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1895, and was admitted to the bar in 1896, commencing practice in Elko. He served as first lieutenant in Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders during the Spanish–American War, and was district attorney of Elko County from 1901 to 1905. He was a member of the Nevada Assembly from 1905 to 1907, and a regent of the University of Nevada from 1907 to 1917.
Henderson was appointed to the U.S. Senate on January 12, 1918 by Governor Emmet D. Boyle to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Francis G. Newlands. He was subsequently elected on November 5, 1918 as a Democrat and served until March 3, 1921. While in the Senate, Henderson was chairman of the Committee on Industrial Expositions and a member of the Committee on Mines and Mining. Henderson was defeated in his bid for reelection in 1920 by former governor, Tasker Oddie, a Republican.
In 1934, Henderson was appointed a member of the board of directors of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, elected chairman in 1941, and resigned in 1947. He retired from political activities, and was president and director of the Elko Telephone & Telegraph Co., and a director of the Western Pacific Railroad.
Charles Henderson died in San Francisco, California in 1954, and was interred in Elko Cemetery, Nevada.
The city of Henderson, Nevada is named after him.
