Edgar W. Hiestand

Edgar Willard Hiestand was an American businessman and politician. A staunch anti-communist, he served ten years in the United States Congress.

Early life and education

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Hiestand was a 1910 graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Prior to being elected to Congress, Hiestand engaged in a career of retailing, concluding with Sears, Roebuck and Co. in Glendale, California.

A Republican and member of the John Birch Society, he represented California's 21st congressional district from 1953 until 1963, when he was defeated by Everett G. Burkhalter, a Los Angeles city councilman.
The 21st district covered the northern 2/3 of Los Angeles County, including the cities of Pasadena and Sierra Madre on the east to Burbank and the San Fernando Valley on the west and the Antelope Valley on the north. In 1962, the Democratic-majority California Legislature re-districted Hiestand into the western section of the old 21st district, which was more heavily Democratic; this led to his defeat by Democrat Everett G. Burkhalter.

Hiestand voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, but voted against the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Hiestand served on the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor where he sponsored and supported revisions to the business-labor statutes.
He was an advisor to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower on labor and management issues.

Hiestand died, age 81, in Pasadena, California; his ashes were interred at San Gabriel Cemetery in San Gabriel, California.