Frank L. Greene
Frank Lester Greene (February 10, 1870 – December 17, 1930) was a Vermont newspaper editor, militia officer, and Republican politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Born in St. Albans, Vermont, Greene left school at 13 to help his family after his father fell ill. He worked as a messenger for the Central Vermont Railway, learned shorthand, and eventually became a journalist and editor of the St. Albans Messenger. He also led the Vermont Press Association. Greene served in the Vermont National Guard from 1888 to 1900, and during the Spanish–American War he rose from private to captain. He later held a staff position with Governor Edward Curtis Smith and reached the rank of colonel.
A Republican, Greene won a July 1912 special election to fill the U.S. House seat left by the death of David J. Foster and was reelected several times, serving in the House until March 1923. In 1922 he was elected to the U.S. Senate and was reelected in 1928, serving until his death in 1930. While in the Senate, he chaired the Committee on Enrolled Bills for part of his tenure.
In 1924, Greene was wounded when Prohibition agents accidentally shot him in the head during a moonshine case in Washington, D.C. He never fully recovered, with his right arm paralyzed and his legs weakened. He died in St. Albans in 1930 from complications after surgery for a hernia and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
Greene was married to Jessie Emma Richardson in 1895, and they had three children: Richardson Lester Greene, Dorothy Greene Alexander, and Stuart Hoadley Greene.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 19:01 (CET).