DeWitt Hyde

DeWitt Stephen Hyde (March 21, 1909 – April 25, 1986) was an American congressional representative from the sixth district of Maryland.

Birth and early years

Born in Washington, D.C., Hyde attended the public schools as a youth. He went on to George Washington University, where he received his J.D. in 1935. Hyde was admitted to the bar the same year he graduated and commenced the practice of law in Washington, D.C. He worked with the Farm Credit Administration for three years before moving to Maryland in 1938, where he continued law work.

Military service

In March 1943, during World War II, Hyde entered the United States Navy as a lieutenant, junior grade. He served in the South Pacific, and was separated from the service as a lieutenant commander in May 1946. After the war, he served as an instructor of law at Benjamin Franklin University in Washington, D.C. from 1946 to 1951.

Political career

Hyde began his political career with service in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1947 to 1950. He was later a member of the Maryland Senate in 1951 and 1952. In 1952, Hyde was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-third, Eighty-fourth, and Eighty-fifth Congresses, where he served from January 3, 1953 to January 3, 1959. Hyde did not sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto and voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1958 to the Eighty-sixth Congress, and returned to the practice of law. In 1959, he was appointed as an associate judge of the District of Columbia Court of General Sessions, which became the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1971. Hyde served until 1979, when he retired.

Retirement and death

He was a resident of Bethesda, Maryland, where he died in 1986. he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.