Moss, Frank E., 1911-2003

Frank Edward Moss (b. Sept. 23, 1911, Salt Lake City, Utah-d. Jan. 29, 2003, Salt Lake City), U.S. Senator from Utah, graduated from the George Washington University Law School in 1937. He served as judge advocate in the European Theater with the Air Corps during World War II, from 1942 to 1945 and was a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He was elected as a Democrat to the Senate in 1958, serving from 1959 to 1977.

Democratic U. S. Senator from Utah, 1959-1976.

Frank Edward Ted Moss (1911-2003)was born in 1911 in Holladay, Utah. He was educated in the Salt Lake City schools, graduating from Granite High School in 1929. Majoring in history, political science, and speech, Moss was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Utah in 1933.

After graduating, Frank Moss married Phyllis Hart and moved to Washington, D.C., where he attended George Washington University Law School. While a law student, Moss worked for the National Recovery Administration (1933-1935) and the Resettlement Administration (1935-1936). After having received a law degree in 1937, he was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia and served on the legal staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Moss returned to Utah in 1939 to become a law clerk to Utah Supreme Court Justice James H. Wolfe. In 1940 he was elected to his first public office as a judge in Salt Lake City's Municipal Court. Moss received his commission as a second lieutenant in the U. S. Army Reserve in 1938 and was called to active duty in February 1942. The following year he graduated from the judge advocate general's school after which he served as judge advocate in Salt Lake City and in Riverside, California. From 1943 to 1945, Moss was stationed in England with the judge advocate general of the U.S. Army Air Corps and completed his active military service in September 1945.

In the fall of 1945, Moss was elected to the Salt Lake City judgeship where he remained until 1950 when he won the election to the office of Salt Lake County attorney. During his two terms as county attorney, he was active in numerous professional organizations serving as the president of the National Association of County and Prosecuting Attorneys (1957-1958).

Moss's Senate career embraced the years of 1959-1976. For fourteen years Moss served on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee and was chairman of its Minerals, Materials, and Fuels Subcommittee. He also sat on the Public Works Committee for eight years and on the Small Business Committee for six. In 1973 Moss became chairman of the Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee.

Participating in the 1960s movement for increased consumer protection, he strongly supported the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, the Truth-in-Lending Act, and the Flammable Fabrics Act. As the principal sponsor of the Toy Safety Act, Moss conducted hearings which revealed the dangers of common toys. His legislative endeavors received national attention when he led the fight to compel the elimination of TV cigarette advertising. Moss was one of the original sponsors of Medicare and gained national attention in 1976 when he posed as an indigent, elderly Medicaid recipient in an effort to expose Medicare fraud. He became well known in the United States and Canada for his work in the field of water resources, publishing a book on this subject entitled "Water Crisis" in 1967.

Senator Moss was the first Utahn to attain majority leadership positions in the Senate. He was elected as secretary of the Democratic Conference on three occasions, and sat on the powerful Democratic Policy and Steering committees. At the time of his defeat in 1976, Moss was hoping to become the next majority whip.