Walter Lewis Hensley

Walter Lewis Hensley (September 3, 1871 – July 18, 1946) was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Missouri who served four consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1911 to 1919. Born near Pevely, Jefferson County, Missouri, he spent his early years in a rural setting and attended the local public schools, receiving a basic education that prepared him for professional study. His early life in eastern Missouri, close to the Mississippi River and the developing mining and agricultural regions of the state, helped shape his familiarity with the concerns of small-town and rural constituents that he would later represent in Congress.

Hensley pursued higher education in law at the University of Missouri, enrolling in the law department at Columbia. After completing his legal studies, he was admitted to the bar in 1894. He commenced the practice of law in Wayne County, Missouri, beginning a career that would combine private practice with public service. His early legal work in a largely rural county gave him practical experience with the legal and economic issues facing ordinary Missourians at the turn of the twentieth century.

Seeking broader professional opportunities, Hensley moved to Bonne Terre in St. Francois County, Missouri, where he continued the practice of law. Bonne Terre, a growing mining community, provided a more active legal environment and a base for his entry into local politics. He was elected prosecuting attorney of St. Francois County and served in that capacity from 1898 to 1902, handling criminal prosecutions and representing the county in legal matters. After completing his term as prosecuting attorney, he moved to nearby Farmington, the county seat of St. Francois County, where he continued to practice law and remained engaged in Democratic Party affairs and local civic life.

Building on his legal and political experience, Hensley was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-second Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1911, to March 3, 1919. As a member of the House of Representatives from Missouri, he participated in the legislative process during a significant period in American history that encompassed the Progressive Era and the First World War. Representing his Missouri district, he worked within the Democratic majority that supported the domestic reform and regulatory agenda of President Woodrow Wilson, while also addressing the needs and interests of his constituents in a state with both agricultural and industrial sectors.

Hensley’s congressional service was marked by his notable stance on U.S. entry into World War I. On April 5, 1917, when the House of Representatives voted on the resolution to declare war on Germany, he joined 49 other representatives in voting against the declaration. This vote placed him among a minority of lawmakers who opposed American involvement in the European conflict at that time, reflecting either personal conviction, constituent sentiment, or both, during a moment of intense national debate. He continued to serve through the war years but chose not to be a candidate for renomination in 1918, thereby concluding his House service at the end of the Sixty-fifth Congress in March 1919.

After leaving Congress, Hensley remained in federal public service for a brief period. He was appointed United States district attorney in March 1919, serving as a federal prosecutor until his resignation in May 1920. In this role, he was responsible for representing the United States in federal court within his jurisdiction during the immediate postwar period, a time that saw significant enforcement activity related to wartime legislation and the early enforcement of Prohibition-era laws.

Following his resignation as United States district attorney, Hensley reengaged in the private practice of law in St. Louis, Missouri. He practiced there from 1920 until 1936, working in one of the state’s principal legal and commercial centers and drawing on his extensive experience as a trial lawyer, county prosecutor, congressman, and federal attorney. In 1936 he retired from active practice and returned to the vicinity of his birthplace, moving to an area near Pevely, Missouri, where he spent his later years.

Walter Lewis Hensley died at his summer home in Ludington, Michigan, on July 18, 1946. His remains were returned to Missouri, and he was interred in Sandy Baptist Cemetery near Pevely, close to the community where he had been born seventy-four years earlier. His career reflected a progression from local legal practice and county office to national legislative service and federal prosecutorial responsibility, set against the backdrop of major political and social changes in the United States in the early twentieth century.