FISH, Hamilton

FISH, Hamilton
Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
1888–1991

Biography

FISH, Hamilton, (son of Hamilton Fish [1849–1936], grandson of Hamilton Fish [1808–1893], and father of Hamilton Fish, Jr. [1926–1996]), a Representative from New York; born in Garrison, Putnam County, N.Y., December 7, 1888; attended St. Marks School; was graduated from Harvard University in 1910; elected as a Progressive to the New York State assembly, 1914-1916; commissioned on July 15, 1917, captain of Company K, Fifteenth New York National Guard, which subsequently became the Three Hundred and Sixty-ninth Infantry; was discharged as a major on May 14, 1919; decorated with the Croix de Guerre and the American Silver Star and also cited in War Department general orders; colonel in the Officers' Reserve Corps; delegate, Republican National Convention, 1928; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-sixth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Edmund Platt; reelected to the Sixty-seventh and to the eleven succeeding Congresses and served from November 2, 1920, to January 3, 1945; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1944 to the Seventy-ninth Congress; author; was a resident of Cold Spring, N.Y., until his death there on January 18, 1991; interment in Cemetery of Saint Philip's Church in the Highlands, Garrison, N.Y.

View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

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External Research Collections

New York State Library
Manuscripts and Special Collections

Albany, NY
Papers: ca. 1711-1984, 42 linear feet. Papers concern Hamilton Fish's career in Republican politics and his historical interests, but also include papers of his grandfather Hamilton Fish and his great-grandfather Nicholas Fish. Fish's papers include letters, some of which are transcript copies; manuscript and typescript articles, speeches, and notes; clippings, including items from the Congressional Record; telegrams; photographs and prints; biographical articles and printed versions of family documents; invitations and other memorabilia; and scrapbooks. Subjects include Republican politics, anti-communism, the state of Israel, Judaism, American Jews, Fish's assessment of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Marquis de Lafayette, the Order of Lafayette, American presidents and other political figures, American sports, and Fish's interest in the history of Dutchess, Putnam, and Westchester Counties, West Point, black troops in World War I, and General MacArthur. Papers of his grandfather Hamilton Fish (1808-1893), New York Governor and United States Senator, consist of letters, receipts, accounts, agreements, and appointments, 1822-1893, concerning family news, business matters, legal questions, almshouse affairs, political and campaign matters, legislative affairs, and St. Mark's Church. A finding aid is available in the repository.

Center for Jewish History
American Jewish Historical Society

New York, NY
Papers: In the Isadore Breslau Papers, 1911-1975, 1.5 linear feet. Corrspondents include Hamilton Fish.

College of William and Mary
Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, Swem Library

Williamsburg, VA
Papers: In the Joel E. Spingarn Papers, 1934-1938, 17 items. Correspondents include Hamilton Fish.

Library of Congress
Manuscript Division

Washington, DC
Papers: In the Percival Flack Brundage Papers, 1918-1979, 14.8 linear feet. Persons represented include Hamilton Fish.
Papers: In the Helen Beatrice Cooke Miller Thornburg Papers, 1917-1941, 5 items. Correspondents include Hamilton Fish.

New-York Historical Society

New York, NY
Papers: 1922-1942. 8 letters. Finding aid in repository.

New York Public Library
Manuscript and Archives Division

New York, NY
Papers: In the Campaign for World Government. Records of the New York Office, ca. 1917-1972, 14.25 linear feet. Correspondents include Hamilton Fish.

New York State Library
Manuscripts and Special Collections

Albany, NY
Papers: In the Hamilton Fish (1926-1996) Papers, 1968-1994, 101 cubic feet. Persons represented include Hamilton Fish (1888-1991).

Ohio Historical Society

Columbus, OH
Papers: In the John Martin Vorys Papers, 1921-1968, 91 cubic feet. Correspondents include Hamilton Fish.

U.S. Military Academy Library
Special Collections

West Point, NY
Papers: In the Fish Family Papers, 1785-1936, 1 box. Persons represented include Hamilton Fish.

University of Michigan
Bentley Historical Library

Ann Arbor, MI
Papers: In the Ferry Family (William Montague Ferry) Papers, 1822-1905, 0.8 linear foot and 1 oversize folder. Correspondents include Hamilton Fish.

University of Pennsylvania Library
Rare Book and Manuscripts Library

Philadelphia, PA
Papers: 1940-1941, 3 items. Correspondence between Hamilton Fish and Lewis Mumford.

University of Virginia
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library

Charlottesville, VA
Papers: In the Colonel William M. Connor Papers, 1908-1949, 730 items. Correspondents include Hamilton Fish.
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Bibliography / Further Reading

Current, Richard Nelson. "Hamilton Fish." In Public Men In and Out of Office, edited by John Thomas Salter, pp. 210-24. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1946.

Fish, Hamilton. Memoir of an American Patriot. Epilogue by Brian Mitchell. Washington: Regnery Gateway, 1991.

Hanks, Richard K. "Hamilton Fish and the American Isolationism, 1920-1944." Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Riverside, 1971.

Troncone, Anthony C. "Hamilton Fish, Sr. and the Politics of American Nationalism, 1912-1945." Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers University, 1993.

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