State Web Site

Higher Office(s) Served: Representative

Military Service: Marines

War(s) Served:  World War I

WILLIAM MUNFORD TUCK was born in Halifax County, Virginia. Between college (at William and Mary) and law school (at Washington and Lee), he served in the Marine Corps during World War I. After receiving an LL.B., he practiced law in South Boston, Virginia. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1924 to 1932, a member of the Virginia State Senate from 1932 to 1942, and Virginia's Lieutenant Governor from 1942 until 1946, when he became governor. As governor, Tuck opposed most federal highway grants, advocating the abolition of the federal gasoline tax and the reimposition of the tax by the state. During his administration, about 1,600 production and maintenance workers from the Virginia Electric and Power Company were drafted to become an "unorganized" militia in an effort to avert a strike. Tuck secured legislation making it illegal to reemploy any public worker for one year after the worker had struck and outlawing union membership as a necessary condition of employment, and secured passage of a resolution declaring it to be against public policy for any public official to bargain with a labor union. In 1953 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to fill a vacancy and was subsequently reelected to seven succeeding Congresses, serving from 1953 to 1969. After leaving public office, he returned to the practice of law.

Sources:

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 4. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols

Commonwealth of Virginia

The Political Graveyard