Hitchcock was born in
Maquoketa, Iowa, the son of Harriet M. Lumley and Milando Lansing Hitchcock. He attended public schools in Iowa and
San Jose, California, a business college at
Davenport, Iowa,
Iowa State College at
Ames, and the
University of Chicago Law School. He moved to
Mitchell, South Dakota, in 1884, where he attended school and worked as a
stenographer; he was admitted to the South Dakota
bar in 1896 and commenced practice in Mitchell. He also engaged in banking, and was
clerk of the
South Dakota State Senate in 1896. He was elected as a State's attorney in 1904 and 1906, and was elected to the State Senate in 1909, 1911, and 1929. Hitchcock was a trustee of
Yankton College in 1936 and was president of Mitchell
school board from 1924 to 1934. During the
1932 Democratic National Convention he was a delegate and one of fifty five people who wrote the party's national platform and from 1932 to 1936 he served as the chairman of the
South Dakota Democratic Party. On December 29, 1936, Hitchcock was appointed to the
United States Senate as a
Democrat to fill the vacancy caused by the death of
Peter Norbeck. He served until January 3, 1939. He campaigned in
1938 as the incumbent for the Democratic nomination to fill the seat for a full term, but was defeated by former Governor
Tom Berry in the primary election who went on to be defeated by Republican
Chan Gurney in the general election. In
1940 he was selected as one of South Dakota's Democratic presidential electors, but the state was won by Republican
Wendell Willkie. He resumed the practice of law until his death in
Mitchell, South Dakota, on February 17, 1958, and was interred at
Graceland Cemetery. In his will he left $112,000 various institutions including colleges and charities. ==References==