Hugh Burton Mitchell, civic leader, politician, and businessman, was born in Montana in 1907. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1930 and began working as a reporter at The Leader newspaper in Great Falls, Montana, that same year. In 1931 he moved to Everett, Washington, to work as a reporter for the The Everett News . From 1933 until 1941 he was the assistant to Congressman Monrad C. Wallgren of Washington. This was the beginning of Mitchell's political career. He served as the Washington State delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1944 and 1948. He was appointed a United States senator from Washington in 1945 and held that position for two years. In 1947 Mitchell organized the League for the Columbia Valley Authority and also formed Hugh B. Mitchell, Inc., Northwest Development Counsel, which was an industrial development and political consulting firm. From 1949 until 1953 he was a United States representative from Washington's 1st District, and was candidate for governor of Washington in 1952. He was also a member of Phi Kappa Psi. Mitchell died in a nursing home in Seattle, on June 19, 1996.
From the guide to the Views of the Grand Coulee Dam, Columbia Basin Project, Washington, 1933-1937, (University of Washington Libraries Special Collections)
