Raymond E. Willis
# Raymond E. Willis

Raymond Eugene Willis (August 11, 1875 – March 21, 1956) was a United States senator from Indiana. Born in Waterloo, Indiana, he attended the public schools and graduated from Wabash College in 1896. He learned the printer's trade in Waterloo and moved to Angola, Indiana, and engaged in the newspaper publishing business in 1898. He was postmaster of Angola from 1910 to 1914 and during the First World War he served as chairman of Steuben County Council of Defense, 1917-1918.

From 1918 to 1922, Willis was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the U.S. Senate in 1938, losing to moderate incumbent Democrat Frederick Van Nuys by about 5,100 votes; he was elected as a Republican to the Senate in 1940, narrowly unseating Democratic Sherman Minton, and served from January 3, 1941, to January 3, 1947. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1946 and resumed the publishing business as president of the Steuben Printing Co., and was also trustee of Tri-State University at Angola. He died in Angola in 1956; interment was in Circle Hill Cemetery.

