Billings, Harry L., 1913-1990

Harry Billings was a lineman for Iowa Electric Light and Power Company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was an officer in the company union and an activist in the drive by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to organize his company in the 1930s. The Iowa Railway and Light Company changed its name to Iowa Electric Light and Power Company in 1932.

From the description of Reminiscence on unionizing Iowa Electric Light and Power Company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa : holograph. [1977?] (Iowa Sate Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 45030049

Harry L. Billings was born in Somers, Montana, in 1913; his father worked in the lumber mill. His mother was a homesteader and early day schoolteacher in the Hot Springs, Montana, area where he was raised. He was a graduate of Thompson Falls High School and earned a degree in journalism from the University of Montana--Missoula in 1933. His wife, Gretchen Garber Billings, was a native of Whitefish, Montana, whose grandparents homesteaded in the Plains area in the mid-1880s. The Billings jointly edited the farmer-labor owned newspaper The People's Voice in Helena, Montana, from 1946 to 1969, resigning after a lengthy dispute with organized labor over support of the Vietnam War. Billings opposed American involvement in Korea and Vietnam. As managing editor of The People's Voice, in the 1950s and 1960s, Billings took the Montana Power Company to task for rate increases, tax cuts, and overcharges that Billings and others felt were unfair actions on the Company's part. During the Montana sales tax fight of 1971, Harry coordinated the successful opposition to enactment of the proposed tax, and then spent two and one half years as Director of Education and Research for the Montana State AFL-CIO. He was also a member of the Montanan Bicentennial advisory council in the mid-1970s and in 1983 was awarded the University of Montana's distinguished alumni award.

The Billings retired first to their home in Thompson Falls and then moved full-time to Apache Junction, Ariz., when Harry began suffering respiratory problems. He died on April 23, 1990.

Russell L. Doty, Jr. served in the Montana State House of Representatives for Great Falls, Cascade County. He earned an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Montana--Missoula in 1970.

From the guide to the Harry Billings Montana Power Company Collection, 1939-1970, (University of Montana--Missoula Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections)