Library and Information Science Commons^™

Guide To The Congressman Hastings Keith Collection, 1911-2011, Orson Kingsley, Caitlin Gette-King

Archives & Special Collections Finding Aids

Biographical Sketch

Hastings Keith (1915-2005), a native of Brockton, Massachusetts, began his political career, in 1952 when he was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate. In 1958 he was elected to the United States Congress out of Massachusetts as a Republican representing Southeastern Massachusetts, which included all or parts of Plymouth, Bristol, Dukes, Nantucket, and Barnstable (Cape Cod) Counties. He would go on to serve seven terms in Congress, retiring after his term expired in 1972.

Keith was referred to as the “Cranberry Congressman” after he helped the Plymouth County cranberry industry recover from a national rumor in 1959 that …