Underwood, Oscar Wilder, 1862-1929, American political leader, U.S. Senator from Alabama (1915-27), b. Louisville, Ky. A lawyer in Birmingham, Ala., he became important in Democratic party politics. In the U.S. House of Representatives (1895-96, 1897-1915) he introduced the Underwood Tariff Act of 1913. The act drastically reduced tariff schedules and transferred many articles to the free list but was only in force briefly because of the outbreak (1914) of World War I. In the Senate (1915-27) he was a leading exponent of President Wilson's foreign policy. Underwood was a prominent contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1912 and 1924. He wrote Drifting Sands of Party Politics (1928).

Oscar Wilder Underwood (May 6 1862–January 25 1929) was an American politician. He served as a Representative from Alabama in the House of Representatives from 1895 to 1896 and from 1897 to 1915. He was subsequently elected to the Senate and served there from March 4 1915 to March 3 1927, and did not run for reelection in 1926.

Underwood was the first House minority whip from 1900 to 1901. He was then House majority leader between 1911 and 1915. Finally, he was Senate minority leader from 1920 to 1923. He was a candidate for the Democratic vice presidential nomination in 1912 and the Democratic presidential nomination in 1924. He was a "wet" (opponent of prohibition), and was the leader of the anti-Ku Klux Klan forces in the Democratic party in 1924.

Underwood was the grandson of Joseph R. Underwood.

References

• Fleming, James S. "Oscar W. Underwood: The First Modern House

Leader, 1911—1915," in Raymond W Smock and Susan W Hammond, eds. Masters of the House: Congressional Leadership Over Two Centuries (1998) pp 91-118

• Evans C. Johnson. Oscar W. Underwood: A Political Biography (LSU Press, 1980).