Gearhart was admitted to the California state bar the previous year, and had commenced his
law practice in Fresno. During
World War I, he served overseas as a second lieutenant in the
609th Aero Squadron from 1917 to 1919. Gearhart was one of the founders of the
American Legion, an organization of war veterans, in 1919. He captured all 77,650 votes cast in the election. Gearhart ran unopposed and captured nearly 100% of the vote in
1936,
1938,
1940,
1942 and
1944. In Congress, he was known as being a staunch Republican
conservative, and as
Harry S. Truman said, Gearhart was "one of the worst obstructionists in Congress". Gearhart was one of the few strong supporters of the Merchant Seamen's Bill of Rights. He faced his first Democratic challenger in the
1946 United States House elections when he was put up against Democrat Hubert Phillips. Gearhart defeated Phillips in the election, capturing 53.7% of the votes cast, in comparison to Phillips' 46.3%. In a personal jab at Gearhart,
President Truman said, "You have got a terrible Congressman here. He has done everything he possibly could do to cut the throats of the farmer and the laboring man." Months later, Gearhart was beaten in the
1948 House elections by a political newcomer, 47-year-old Democratic cotton rancher
Cecil F. White,
Later career After losing the election, Gearhart went back to Fresno to resume his law practice until his death. == Electoral results ==