Quick Facts
Biography
Guy Tresillian Helvering (January 10, 1878 – July 4, 1946) was an American politician. He was a U.S. Representative from Kansas, and later served as the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and as a federal district court judge.
Early life
Born in Felicity, Ohio, Helvering moved to Kansas in 1887 with his parents. The family settled in Beattie, Marshall County, where Helvering attended the public schools. During the Spanish–American War, he enlisted as a corporal in Company M, Twenty-second Regiment, Kansas Infantry, and served from May 12 to November 3, 1898.
After the war, Helvering attended the University of Kansas at Lawrence, and later graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1906. While attending law school, he played as a reserve on the 1905 Michigan Wolverines football team. He was admitted to the bar in the same year and commenced practice in Marysville, Kansas.
Political career
Election to Congress
Helvering served as prosecuting attorney of Marshall County 1907–1911. He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election in 1910 to the Sixty-second Congress.
Helvering was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third, Sixty-fourth, and Sixty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1919). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1918 to the Sixty-sixth Congress.
After Congress
He moved to Salina, Kansas, and became engaged in banking. He served as mayor of Salina, Kansas, from February 15, 1926, until his resignation on December 8, 1930. He served as chairman of the Kansas Democratic Party from 1930–1934, and as state highway director in 1931 and 1932.
Helvering was appointed Commissioner of Internal Revenue by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 and served in that capacity until his appointment as a federal judge in 1943.
Judicial career
Helvering was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 14, 1943, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Kansas vacated by Richard J. Hopkins. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 28, 1943, and received commission on October 11, 1943. He served as a federal judge until his death in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 1946. He died in Washington, D.C. and was interred in Marysville Cemetery, Marysville, Kansas.