Wilder Arthur Simpson Papers

W. Arthur Simpson was born in Lyndon, Vermont on June 22, 1887. He attended Lyndon Institute, from which he graduated in 1905. In 1912 he married Ruth Hoffman, and two years later obtained his first public office, that of school director. Other offices he held in Lyndon were those of selectman and moderator. In 1923 Simpson was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives, and in 1927 he went on to the state Senate. He served on the State Highway Board from 1927 - 1933, and in 1935 he was appointed chairman and director of the Vermont Old Age Assistance Commission. He resigned from this post in 1944 in order to run for governor, one of his four unsuccessful bids for the office. In 1947 he was re-elected to the House and re-appointed as Director of Old Age Assistance, which soon became the Department of Social Welfare. Simpson served as Commissioner of Social Welfare until 1959, when his age forced him to retire. During his career as Commissioner, he was indicted by the U.S. Congress under the Hatch Act, for political activity while holding an office subsidized by the federal government. After his retirement from the Department of Social Welfare, Simpson found it impossible to leave politics altogether, and he again sought (unsuccessfully) the Republican nomination for governor. He did serve three more terms in the House, from 1963-1968. He remained active in several agricultural groups and continued farming and writing until his death on March 31, 1971.