Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg

Muhlenberg was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, in Berks County on September 25, 1887. He was the son of Dr. William Frederick and Henrietta Augusta (Muhlenberg) Muhlenberg, a grandson of Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, and a great-great-grandson of Rev. John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg.

A 1904 graduate of Reading Boys' High School, Muhlenberg attended Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1908. Muhlenberg earned his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1912, followed by his Master of Science from Gettysburg College in 1915, while serving as an officer of the T-Square Club. He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1942 from Muhlenberg College of Allentown.

Muhlenberg served on the Reading City Council from 1932–1936, and he was a councilman for the Borough of Wernersville during the 1920s, where he returned to live in his later years. He became the Republican Party chairman for Berks County from 1935–1940.

In 1946, Muhlenberg was elected to the 80th Congress from Pennsylvania, defeating the 80-year old incumbent Democrat. The 13th District was ostensibly Democratic and one paper claimed Muhlenberg's victory was "the most glaring upset of the election." The Muhlenberg name helped; he became the seventh member of his family to be elected to the U.S. Congress, beginning with the first Speaker of the House of Representatives, though none had served since 1854. This Muhlenberg served in the House from January 3, 1947, until January 3, 1949; but he lost his re-election bid in 1948, defeated by Democrat George M. Rhodes. Muhlenberg was active in the House in opposing, as an architect, President Harry Truman's new balcony on the White House, but also in supporting appropriations to address cerebral palsy, having a daughter afflicted.