businessman, politician, b. Oshkosh. He attended the state normal school at Oshkosh, and Lawrence College. After leaving college he entered the lumber brokerage business and eventually became president of the W. J. Campbell Lumber Company, Ltd., and the Campbell Lumber Company. A Republican, Campbell was a leading opponent of the Progressive party in Wisconsin. He was instrumental in founding the Republican Voluntary Committee in an effort to combat the Progressives and to provide for a more efficient party organization extending to the precinct level. As a member of the Republican National Committee, Campbell actively supported the candidacy for president of such men as Senator William Borah in 1936 and General Douglas MacArthur in 1948 and was a strong proponent of the Bricker Amendment limiting the president's treaty-making powers. He was a regent of the Univ. of Wisconsin (1943-1952). Milwaukee Journal, Feb. 29, 1956; Who's Who in the Midwest (1954); Oshkosh North-western, Feb. 29, 1956; W. A. Titus, Hist. of the Fox River Valley .. . (3 vols., Chicago, 1930); W. J. Campbell Papers.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

Learn More

Dictionary of Wisconsin History

Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.

[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]