Changes

In 1934, Bridges was elected as the nation's youngest governor at that time and served a single two-year term prior to entering the U.S. Senate.<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=263001 NH Governor]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved April 18, 2021.</ref> In 1937, he retired from the [[United States Army]] Reserve Corps, in which he had served as a lieutenant since 1925. In 1940, he attempted to win the Republican presidential nomination, which instead went on the sixth ballot by [[Moderate Republican]] [[Wendell Willkie]]. After losing the presidential nod, he obtained two delegates for the Republican vice-presidential nomination, which eventually went to another Moderate Republican, [[Charles McNary]] of [[Oregon]], who ran opposite Senator [[Harry Truman]]. Bridges broke his hip on December 31, 1941, and missed several months of the next Senate session.

In 1934, Bridges was elected as the nation's youngest governor at that time and served a single two-year term prior to entering the U.S. Senate.<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=263001 NH Governor]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved April 18, 2021.</ref> In 1937, he retired from the [[United States Army]] Reserve Corps, in which he had served as a lieutenant since 1925. In 1940, he attempted to win the Republican presidential nomination, which instead went on the sixth ballot by [[Moderate Republican]] [[Wendell Willkie]]. After losing the presidential nod, he obtained two delegates for the Republican vice-presidential nomination, which eventually went to another Moderate Republican, [[Charles McNary]] of [[Oregon]], who ran opposite Senator [[Harry Truman]]. Bridges broke his hip on December 31, 1941, and missed several months of the next Senate session.

Bridges was reelected in 1942, 1948, 1954, and 1960, but he served less than a year of his final term because of his death from a heart attack. He became the highest-ranking Republican senator, serving as chairman of the Joint Committee on Foreign Economic Cooperation when the Republicans had control of the upper chamber.  For a year, he was the Senate Minority Leader. In 1954, he was one of twenty-senators, all Republicans, who voted against the [[censure]] of Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] of [[Wisconsin]], who exposed [[communist]] infiltration of the U.S. government.<ref>U.S. Senate ''Congressional Record'', roll call vote on Senate Resolution 301, December 2, 1954.</ref>

Bridges was reelected in 1942,<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=124749 NH US Senate]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved April 18, 2021.</ref> 1948,<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=124748 NH US Senate]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved April 18, 2021.</ref> 1954,<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=91486 NH US Senate]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved April 18, 2021.</ref> and 1960,<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=60053 NH US Senate]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved April 18, 2021.</ref> but he served less than a year of his final term because of his death from a heart attack. He became the highest-ranking Republican senator, serving as chairman of the Joint Committee on Foreign Economic Cooperation when the Republicans had control of the upper chamber.  For a year, he was the Senate Minority Leader. In 1954, he was one of twenty-senators, all Republicans, who voted against the [[censure]] of Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] of [[Wisconsin]], who exposed [[communist]] infiltration of the U.S. government.<ref>U.S. Senate ''Congressional Record'', roll call vote on Senate Resolution 301, December 2, 1954.</ref>

Along with [[Bourke Hickenlooper]] of [[Iowa]], Bridges sought to bar Democrat [[segregation]]ist demagogue [[Theodore Bilbo]] from taking office in the wake of racist [[voter suppression]] during the 1946 Senate election in Mississippi.<ref>[https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/electing-appointing-senators/contested-senate-elections/126Theodore_Bilbo.htm The Election Case of Theodore G. Bilbo of Mississippi (1947)]. ''senate.gov''. Retrieved March 3, 2021.</ref> Bilbo, running for a third Senate term, openly threatened blacks in the [[Deep South]] state during the campaign and faced calls to be blocked from taking office. Ensuing gridlock was soon broken by [[Minority Leader]] [[Alben Barkley]], who announced that Bilbo would return to Mississippi to be treated for surgery. The virulent racist never returned, dying in August 1947.

Along with [[Bourke Hickenlooper]] of [[Iowa]], Bridges sought to bar Democrat [[segregation]]ist demagogue [[Theodore Bilbo]] from taking office in the wake of racist [[voter suppression]] during the 1946 Senate election in Mississippi.<ref>[https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/electing-appointing-senators/contested-senate-elections/126Theodore_Bilbo.htm The Election Case of Theodore G. Bilbo of Mississippi (1947)]. ''senate.gov''. Retrieved March 3, 2021.</ref> Bilbo, running for a third Senate term, openly threatened blacks in the [[Deep South]] state during the campaign and faced calls to be blocked from taking office. Ensuing gridlock was soon broken by [[Minority Leader]] [[Alben Barkley]], who announced that Bilbo would return to Mississippi to be treated for surgery. The virulent racist never returned, dying in August 1947.