Harold Himmel Velde was born in Tazewell County, Illinois, on 1st April, 1910. He graduated from North-Western University in 1931. An athletic coach at Hillsdale Community High School (1931-35,) he studied law at the University of Illinois before being admitted to the bar in 1937.

During the Second World War Velde was a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A member of the Republican Party, Velde was elected to the Senate in 1949 where he served as chairman of the Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

Velde retired from politics in 1956 and returned to the practice of law in Urbana and Washington. Harold Himmel Velde died in Sun City, Arizona on 1st September, 1985.