William J. Harris
William Julius Harris was a United States Senator from the state of Georgia. He was a great-grandson of Charles Hooks, who had been a Representative from North Carolina, and son-in-law of Joseph Wheeler, Confederate General and Representative from Alabama.Early life
Harris was born in Cedartown in Polk County, Georgia, and attended the common schools and graduated from the University of Georgia at Athens in 1890.
He married Julia Knox Hull Wheeler, daughter of Joseph Wheeler.
He engaged in the general insurance business and banking at Cedartown, and served as private secretary to U.S. Senator Alexander S. Clay from 1904 to 1909. He was then a member of the Georgia Senate in 1911 and 1912. From 1913 to 1915 he was Director of the United States Census Bureau; in 1915 he resigned to become a member of the Federal Trade Commission. Harris was Acting Secretary of the Department of Commerce from 1913 to 1915 and a member of the Federal Trade Commission 1915-1918, when he resigned to become a candidate for the U.S. Senate. He was chairman of the commission 1917-1918. In 1918, he was elected as a Democrat to the Senate, and reelected in 1924 and 1930; his service was from March 4, 1919 until his death. While in the Senate, Harris was a member of the National Forest Reservation Commission from 1929 to 1932. He died of a heart attack in Washington, D.C., and funeral services were held in the Chamber of the United States Senate. His interment was in Greenwood Cemetery in Cedartown.
After Harris' death in 1932, the governor of Georgia, Richard Russell, Jr., declared a special election for September of that year to fill the vacant seat. Russell also declared himself a candidate and went on to win the election to replace Harris.
