About Henry F. Ashurst
Henry Fountain Ashurst (September 13, 1874 – May 31, 1962) was an American Democratic politician and one of the first two senators from Arizona. Largely self-educated, he served as a district attorney and member of the Arizona Territorial legislature before fulfilling his childhood ambition of joining the United States Senate. During his time in the Senate, Ashurst was chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs and the Judiciary Committee. Called "the longest U.S. theatrical engagement on record" by Time, Ashurst's political career was noted for a self-contradictory voting record, for the use of a sesquipedalian vocabulary, and for a love of public speaking that earned him a reputation as one of the Senate's greatest orators. Among the sobriquets assigned to him were "the Dean of Inconsistency", "Five-Syllable Henry", and the "Silver-Tongued Sunbeam of the Painted Desert". == Background == Ashurst was born on September 13, 1874, in an uncovered wagon near Winnemucca, Humboldt County, Nevada, to William and Sarah Ashurst, the second of ten children. His family moved to a ranch near Williams, Arizona, when he was two, and he attended school in Flagstaff. At the age of ten he showed his ambition to be a senator by writing "Henry Fountain Ashurst, U.S. Senator from Arizona" into a speller. After dropping out of school at the age of thirteen, he worked as a cowboy on his father's ranch. At the age of nineteen, Ashurst was made the turnkey at the county jail in Flagstaff.
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