Career
Active in Democratic Party politics, McGee was asked to run for the United States Congress in 1950 but declined saying he wanted to get more in touch with Wyoming and its people. In 1955–1956 he took a leave of absence from the university to work as top aide to Wyoming Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney.
In 1958 McGee left the university to make his bid for the U.S. Senate, running on a program of youth and new ideas. His campaign even attracted the attention of Eleanor Roosevelt, who conducted a national fund-raising drive for him. He won a very tight race against incumbent Frank A. Barrett by making campaign stops in almost every town in Wyoming. He was a member of the Democratic class of 1958 which was elected in the middle of President Eisenhower's term. After his victory he was appointed to the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee and to the prestigious Appropriations Committee, the first freshman senator to so be honored.
Read more about this topic: Gale W. Mc Gee
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“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
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“I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.”
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