Anderson was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-seventh and to the two succeeding Congresses, and served from January 3, 1941, until his resignation on June 30, 1945, having been appointed Secretary of Agriculture; served as Secretary of Agriculture from June 30, 1945, until his resignation May 10, 1948; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1948; reelected in 1954, 1960, and again in 1966, and served from January 3, 1949, to January 3, 1973. He was an active member of the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences (Eighty-eighth through Ninety-second Congresses). Senator Anderson has been recognized as one of the most influential proponents of the space program during the 1950s and 1960s. Anderson was also instrumental in bringing the benefits of space exploration to the classroom.