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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