Judd, Walter H., 1898-1994

Physician, congressman, missionary.

United States representative from Minnesota, 1943-1963; founder, Aid Refugee Chinese Intellectuals; co-founder, Committee of One Million.

Biographical Note

Walter Henry Judd was born in Rising City, Nebraska on September 25, 1898, the son of Horace Hunter and Mary Elizabeth (Greenslit) Judd. He was educated at the University of Nebraska, receiving both his B.A. and M.D. degrees there, the latter in 1923. From 1920 to 1924 he also taught zoology at the University of Omaha.

In 1925 he began his career as a medical missionary in China. He worked under the auspices of the Congregational Foreign Mission Board in Nanking from 1925 to 1926, and in the Shaowu and Fukien hospitals from 1926 to 1931. In 1931 he returned to the United States and studied surgery under a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. He returned to China in 1934 where he supervised a 125-bed hospital in Fenchow, Shansi Province. Following the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, Judd remained at the Fenchow hospital although his family returned to the United States. For five months he remained under Japanese rule before returning to the United States in 1938. After his return to the United States, he resigned from the mission field. He spent two years lecturing throughout the country on the crisis in the Far East, particularly voicing disapproval of American shipments of raw materials to Japan that could be made into war materials. In 1941 he opened a private medical practice in Minneapolis.

Backed by liberal Republicans and independents, he entered Minnesota's fifth congressional district race in 1942. In the Republican primary he defeated the isolationist incumbent, Oscar Youngdahl. He went on to win the general election, defeating the Farmer-Labor candidate, Joseph Gilbert, and the Democratic candidate, Thomas P. Ryan. In the nine succeeding congressional elections, he defeated his Democratic-Farmer-Labor opponents. In 1962, following redistricting, he lost to DFL candidate Donald Fraser.

During his congressional service, Judd served as the U.S. Delegate to the World Health Assemblies (1950, 1958), the U.S. Delegate to the First Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe (1951), and the U.S. Delegate to the United Nations (1957).

After his retirement from Congress, Judd remained in the Washington, D.C. area and maintained a rigorous speaking schedule, lecturing on public affairs, China, foreign policy, and religion and ethics. From 1964 to 1970 he was a radio commentator on the "Washington Report," sponsored by the American Security Council.

Walter Judd married Miriam Louise Barbar on March 13, 1932. They had three daughters: Mary Louise, Carolyn Ruth, and Eleanor Grace. Walter Judd died February 13, 1994 and Miriam Judd died June 23, 1994.