Norman D. Shumway

Biography

Norman David Shumway was born in Phoenix, Arizona on July 28, 1934. After moving to California in 1939, he was educated in the Stockton public school system, graduating from Stockton High School in 1952. He received an A.A. degree from Stockton (now San Joaquin Delta) Community College in 1954. An active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mr. Shumway served as a missionary to Japan from 1954 to 1958. Upon his return from the Orient, Mr. Shumway enrolled at the University of Utah from which institution he received a B.S. in Political Science in 1960. Mr. Shumway completed his legal education with a J.D. degree from the University of California's Hastings College of Law in 1963.

Prior to assuming public office, Mr. Shumway was a partner in a Stockton law firm. From 1970 through 1976, he was a Bishop of the Latter-day Saints Church. In 1974, then-Governor Reagan appointed him to the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors. Later in the year, he was elected to the same position, and was re-elected in 1976. He served as Chairman of the Board in 1978.

In November 1978, Mr. Shumway, a Republican, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 14th District, which includes: Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, San Joaquin, Tuolumne, and portions of Mono, Sacramento, and Stanislaus counties. He was re-elected in 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, and 1988, thus serving in the 96th through 101st Congresses. While in the House of Representatives, Congressman Shumway was a member of the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs; the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries; and the House Select Committee on Aging.

As a member of the House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, Mr. Shumway served as the ranking minority member of the Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization. He was also a member of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions Supervision, Regulation and Insurance and the Subcommittee on International Trade, Investment and Monetary Policy. As a member of the House Committee on Merchant Marine & Fisheries, Mr. Shumway served as the ranking minority member of the Subcommittee on Oceanography. He was also a member of the Subcommittee on Merchant Marine and the Sucommittee on the Panama Canal and Outer Continental Shelf.

Congressman Shumway's district encompasses important agricultural and forested areas. The Congressman had a special interest in farming and environmental legislation. He is largely responsible for the creation of Mono Lake National Monument. Congressman Shumway endorsed many of the views of President Ronald Reagan and other conservative Republicans of the 1980s. He favored reductions in government spending on social programs, a strong national defense, and diminished government regulation of business and financial institutions. He was a supporter of legislation mandating a balanced Federal budget. He opposed across-the-board, equal reparations to Japanese

Americans who had been interned during World War II because he felt that some had suffered more than others and that restitution should reflect these differences. Mr. Shumway introduced resolutions limiting U.S. Representatives to six terms and designating English the official language of the United States. Shumway announced his retirement from Congress in March 1990. In 1991, he was appointed to the California State Public Utilities Commission.

From the guide to the Shumway (Norman D.) Congressional Papers, 1977-1991, (University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections)