| Birth Name: | Washington Elias Hudson |
| Birth Place: | Neeley's Bend, Davidson County, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Birth Date: | 8 October 1868 |
| Death Date: | 1964 |
| Office: | Grand River Dam Authority board member |
| Term Start: | 1955 |
| Term End: | 1964 |
| State Senate2: | Oklahoma |
| District2: | 31st |
| Term Start2: | November 16, 1922 |
| Term End2: | November 16, 1926 |
| Predecessor2: | R. L. Davidson |
| Successor2: | C. H. Terwilleger |
| State House3: | Oklahoma |
| District3: | Tulsa County |
| Term Start3: | November 16, 1914 |
| Term End3: | November 16, 1916 |
| Education: | South Kentucky College Vanderbilt University |
Washington Elias Hudson was an American politician, Ku Klux Klansman, and lawyer who served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, the Oklahoma Senate, and on the board of the Grand River Dam Authority.
Washington Elias Hudson was born on October 8, 1868, in Neeley's Bend (Davidson County), Tennessee, to Horatio Hudson and Nannie Hudson.[1] His father died in 1882. He attended the Woolwine Training School in Nashville and graduated from South Kentucky College in 1890. He studied law at Vanderbilt University graduating in 1892. He married Annie Dade on May 8, 1894. He served as an assistant district attorney between 1895 and 1902, when he moved to Lawton in Oklahoma Territory. He briefly moved to Frederick, Oklahoma in 1907 and Tulsa in 1912.[2]
In 1914, Hudson was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives representing Tulsa County as a member of the Democratic Party. He was a supporter of Governor Robert L. Williams and chaired the oil and gas committee in the house. Hudson helped draw up the impeachment articles for A. P. Watson and served as a prosecutor during his impeachment trial.[3] He helped secure funding for Langston University in 1915.
He served in the Oklahoma Senate between 1923 and 1927. He helped prepare and present the impeachment of Oklahoma Governor Jack C. Walton.
Hudson served as Dick Rowland's attorney after the Tulsa Race Massacre. On January 5, 1922, the Oklahoma Ku Klux Klan was officially incorporated as the Tulsa Benevolent Association with Hudson as its chairman. Other incorporators included: John Rogers, C. W. Benedict, William “Shelly” Rogers, and Alf G. Heggem. He left the Klan in 1924, but later rejoined.
In 1923, Hudson helped found Tulsa Law School and he served as the law school's first dean until 1943.[4] In 1943, William Rogers incorporated Hudson's school into the University of Tulsa College of Law.
See main article: Lake Hudson (Oklahoma). Lake Hudson is named after Hudson. He served on the board of the Grand River Dam Authority from 1955 until his death in 1964.[5]