Walter Mann Mumma

Walter Mann Mumma (November 20, 1890 – February 25, 1961) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania who served six consecutive terms in Congress from 1951 until his death in 1961. Over the course of his legislative career, he represented his Pennsylvania constituents during a significant period in mid-twentieth-century American history and participated actively in the federal lawmaking process.

Mumma was born on November 20, 1890, in Steelton, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, an industrial community near Harrisburg. Details of his early family life are not extensively documented, but his upbringing in central Pennsylvania placed him in a region shaped by steel production, transportation, and emerging state government institutions. This environment helped frame his later interest in public service and business in and around the state capital.

Mumma pursued specialized education in forestry, graduating from the Pennsylvania State Forestry Academy in Mont Alto, Pennsylvania, in 1911. The academy, which later became part of the Pennsylvania State University system, trained professionals for the management and conservation of the state’s forest resources. Immediately after completing his studies, he entered public service at the state level, working for the Pennsylvania State Forestry Department from 1911 to 1916. In that role, he was engaged in the early twentieth-century movement toward scientific forestry and conservation, gaining experience in state administration and resource management.

In 1916, Mumma transitioned from public forestry work to private industry, joining the sales department of the Lehigh Portland Cement Company in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he was employed until 1921. This position introduced him to the commercial and industrial sectors that were central to Pennsylvania’s economy. In 1921, he returned to the Harrisburg area and became the organizer, president, and manager of the Pennsylvania Supply Company of Harrisburg, a role he held from 1921 to 1947. Under his leadership, the company operated as a regional supplier in the construction and industrial fields. After more than two decades at its head, he continued with the firm as vice president from 1947 to 1951, reflecting his sustained influence in local business circles.

Alongside his business career, Mumma entered elective public office at the county level. He served as register of wills for Dauphin County from 1940 to 1944, administering probate matters and estate records in the county that includes the state capital, Harrisburg. This position provided him with direct experience in local government, legal processes, and constituent service, and it helped establish his reputation as a public official within the Republican Party and the broader community.

Mumma was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-second Congress and to the five succeeding Congresses, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 3, 1951, until his death on February 25, 1961. His tenure thus spanned the administrations of Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower and the beginning of the John F. Kennedy administration, a period marked by the Korean War, the early Cold War, and the initial phases of the modern civil rights movement. As a member of the House of Representatives, he participated in the democratic process at the national level, contributing to debates and votes on domestic and foreign policy and representing the interests of his Pennsylvania district in Congress.

During his congressional service, Mumma aligned with the Republican Party’s positions on many key issues of the era while also supporting landmark civil rights legislation. He voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Civil Rights Act of 1960, both of which were early federal efforts to protect voting rights and strengthen enforcement of existing civil rights guarantees. His support for these measures placed him among those legislators who backed incremental but significant federal action on civil rights during the 1950s.

Walter Mann Mumma died in office on February 25, 1961, in Bethesda, Maryland, while still serving in the House of Representatives. His death brought to a close a decade of continuous congressional service and a public career that had encompassed state forestry work, private enterprise, county office, and national legislative responsibility. He was interred at East Harrisburg Cemetery in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, reflecting his long-standing ties to the region he had served in both business and public life.