William McDonald “Don” Wheeler served in Congress from January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1955 as the Representative from the 8th Congressional District of Georgia, which includes Berrien County, GA.
U.S. Representative William McDonald “Don” Wheeler
Born near Alma, Georgia, Wheeler attended the public schools and South Georgia College at Douglas, Middle Georgia College at Cochran, Georgia Teachers College at Statesboro, Georgia. He received an LL.B from Atlanta Law School in 1966. He was a farmer and a teacher. During WWII He served in the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1946. In 1952 he served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
Wheeler was elected as a Democrat to the 80th, 81st, 82nd, and 83rd Congresses (January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1955). He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1954. He worked in the Georgia Motor Vehicle Division in the Internal Revenue Department, Atlanta, Georgia from 1955 to 1956. His other work included sales and public relations, tax examiner for the State of Georgia, coordinator for Federal programs, Bacon County Board of Education. He served as assistant director, Governor’s Highway Safety Program, State of Mississippi. He died on May 5, 1989, in Alma, Georgia.
In the spring of 1848, Harry S. Truman was President and the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. Congressman W. M. “Don” Wheeler, a Democrat in the House of Representatives, wrote an article published in the Nashville Herald, Nashville, GA. Wheeler had promoted the Wheeler Discharge Petition in an attempt to force the Republicans to release the Federal Aid or Education bill out of committee. He criticized the Catholic Church for duplicity in defeating the education bill. Finally, in echoes of Civil War sectionalism, he accused northern Republicans of attempting to remove price supports from peanuts in retaliation for Democrat attempts reduce government regulation by cutting taxes on margarine, taxes which were intended to protect dairy interests.
Democrat William “Don” Wheeler discusses sectionalism in a Nashville Herald column, June 17, 1948.
Wheeler in Washington
G.O.P. Strives To Penalize The South.
By Cong. W.M. (Don) Wheeler
Barring a first class miracle Federal Aid for Education is doomed to failure this session of Congress. The Republican leaders have been aided by the Democratic leaders from some of the more wealthy states in keeping members from signing the Wheeler Discharge Petition. This fight will be carried over to the next session in the hope that an outraged American public will see to it that certain selfish groups such as the hierarchy of the Catholic Church does not defeat a measurer which will provide a sage means of raising the educational standard for American children.
It now seems very evident that Congress will adjourn on the 19th of June and not come back until the Eighty-first Congress convenes next January. The Republican leadership feels that it would be to their political disadvantage to have an interim session between conventions.
The Republicans are making a desperate attempt to penalize the South by destroying the price support program for agricultural products such as peanuts. This is being don in an attempt to “get even” with the South for supporting the repeal of oleomargarine taxes. They have about a 50-50 chance of succeeding in their plan.
Your Congressman will open an office at the Alma Hotel in Alma on the 23 of June where he will be glad to receive any and all who would like to discuss any matters with them. He is looking forward to a very busy summer especially since this is an election year and he will be engaged in a very active campaign for reelection.
Following the upset election of November 1948 which put Harry S. Truman back in the Whitehouse and gave control of the Senate and the House of Representatives to the Democrats, the Oleo Margarine Tax was repealed and the margarine industry deregulated.
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