Douglas, Paul Howard (1892-1976), a noted economist, served as a United States senator from Illinois. A Democrat, Douglas was a senator from 1949 to 1967. He was a leading liberal in the Senate.
Douglas was an economics professor at the University of Chicago from 1925 to 1948. He helped revise the Federal Social Security Act in 1939, wrote the first Illinois Old Age Pension Act of 1935, and helped write the first Unemployment Insurance Act of Illinois in 1937. He served as a Chicago alderman from 1939 to 1942. During World War II, Douglas enlisted as a private in the First Marine Division at the age of 50. He was wounded twice in the South Pacific, and received the Bronze Star for “heroic achievement in action.” He was born in Salem, Massachusetts.
