First elected to fill the vacancy caused by Edmund Platt's resignation, Fish was a member of the US House of Representatives from November 2, 1920 to January 3, 1945, having been defeated for re-election in 1944.
In nearly 25 years as a US Representative, Fish would become known as a strong anticommunist and an acerbic critic of Franklin Roosevelt, which raised his profile and made him an ally of the anti-Roosevelt members of Congress.

He was opposed to Roosevelt's New Deal.
A non-interventionist until after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Fish was also responsible for a number of legislative and diplomatic moves aimed at helping Jews out of Adolf Hitler's Germany.
His unapologetic opposition to the New Deal provoked Roosevelt into including him with two other Capitol Hill opponents in a rollicking taunt that became a staple of Roosevelt's 1940 re-election campaign: "Martin, Barton and Fish."
Finally, in part under the influence of New York Governor Thomas Dewey, Fish's congressional career ended when he won the Republican Party primary in his district but lost the general election in 1944.

Upon his 1944 defeat, after 26 years in Congress, Fish stated, "I particularly wanted to be elected to serve as chairman of the rules committee to stop the march toward communism and totalitarianism in America.
I have no regrets whatever, as I waged the strongest possible fight that I knew how."
First elected to fill the vacancy caused by Edmund Platt's resignation, Fish was a member of the US House of Representatives from November 2, 1920 to January 3, 1945, having been defeated for re-election in 1944. In nearly 25 years as a US Representative, Fish would become known as a strong anticommunist and an acerbic critic of Franklin Roosevelt, which raised his profile and made him an ally of the anti-Roosevelt members of Congress.
He was opposed to Roosevelt's New Deal. A non-interventionist until after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Fish was also responsible for a number of legislative and diplomatic moves aimed at helping Jews out of Adolf Hitler's Germany. His unapologetic opposition to the New Deal provoked Roosevelt into including him with two other Capitol Hill opponents in a rollicking taunt that became a staple of Roosevelt's 1940 re-election campaign: "Martin, Barton and Fish." Finally, in part under the influence of New York Governor Thomas Dewey, Fish's congressional career ended when he won the Republican Party primary in his district but lost the general election in 1944.
Upon his 1944 defeat, after 26 years in Congress, Fish stated, "I particularly wanted to be elected to serve as chairman of the rules committee to stop the march toward communism and totalitarianism in America. I have no regrets whatever, as I waged the strongest possible fight that I knew how."
Hamilton Fish III