An October 17, 1958 California US Senator William Knowland, Majority Leader, getting on a Elephant press photo.  Senator Knowland ran for Governor of California in 1958 and lost to Pat Brown.  Senator Knowland was known as “Mr. Republican”.  Senator Knowland was a US Senator from 1945 to 1959 and twice was the Senate Majority Leader. 

The press photo is 7 ½ x 7 ½ inches in size and is in nice condition.  Please see the other vintage items that I have listed on eBay.  Payment is by PayPal.  Thanks for looking.

William Fife Knowland (June 26, 1908 – February 23, 1974) was an American politician and newspaper publisher. A member of the, he served as a United States Senator from California from 1945 to 1959. He was Senate Majority Leader from August 1953 to January 1955 after the death of Robert A. Taft, a position he briefly regained from November 1956 to January 1957.

As one of the most powerful members of the Senate and with his strong interest in foreign policy, Knowland helped set national foreign policy priorities and funding for the Cold War, the policy regarding Vietnam, Formosa, China, Korea and NATO, as well as other foreign policy objectives. He opposed sending American forces to French Indochina and was a sharp critic of Communist China under Mao Zedong. Knowland represented the right-wing of the party and considered some of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's policies too liberal.^[1]

After the Republicans lost their majority in the 1954 election, he served as Minority Leader from January 1955 to November 1956 and again from January 1957 until January 1959. Knowland voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.^[2] He was defeated in his 1958 run for Governor of California. He succeeded his father, Joseph R. Knowland, as the editor-in-chief and publisher of the Oakland Tribune.