Underwood, Oscar Wilder, 1862-1929

Oscar Wilder Underwood (1862-1929) served Alabama for many years in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Known best for his extensive knowledge of and authorship of a sweeping tariff reform act, he was also a Democratic candidate for president in 1912 and in 1924, which saw the longest convention in U.S. history. He has been described as a conservative politician who opposed suffrage for women, Prohibition, and rights for organized labor.

Underwood was born on May 6, 1862, in Louisville, Kentucky, the first of three boys born to Frederica Virginia Wilder and Eugene Underwood, son of Joseph Rogers Underwood, a U.S. representative and senator from Kentucky. It was the second marriage for both Virginia Wilder and Eugene Underwood, whose first wife, Catherine Thompson, died in 1857, leaving him with three boys. Oscar Underwood thus also had three older half-brothers from his father's first marriage and a half-sister from his mother's first marriage. Because of Underwood's severe chronic bronchitis and his mother's ailments, the family moved in 1865 to St. Paul, Minnesota. In that dry, cold climate, young Underwood spent much time outdoors and met such notable national figures as Union generals George Custer and Winfield Scott as well as William "Buffalo Bill" Cody.

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