Caleb Powers

Caleb Powers

Caleb Powers (born February 1, 1869 in Williamsburg , Whitley County , Kentucky , †  July 25, 1932 in Baltimore , Maryland ) was an American politician . Between 1911 and 1919 he represented the state of Kentucky in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Caleb Powers attended his home public schools as well as Union College in Barbourville . He then studied at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and at Center College in Danville . He was also a student at Valparaiso University in Indiana and the US Military Academy at West Point . After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer in 1894, he began to work in Barbourville in this profession. Between 1894 and 1899 he was a school councilor in Knox County .

Powers was a member of the Republican Party . In 1899 he was elected Secretary of State of Kentucky to succeed Charles Finley . After an election he had to give up this office again. Political unrest broke out in Kentucky in 1900. The sad climax of the violent clashes was the assassination of Governor William Goebel . Powers was arrested as a mastermind in connection with this assassination attempt. He was initially sentenced to life imprisonment in several trials. He spent the next eight years in prison. There he wrote his book "My Own Story". In 1908 he was pardoned by Governor Augustus E. Willson .

In the 1912 congressional election Powers was elected to the Eleventh constituency of Kentucky in the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , where he succeeded Don C. Edwards on March 4, 1913 . After three re-elections, he was able to complete four legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1919 . The First World War and the ratification of the 16th and 17th amendments to the Constitution took place during this period . In June 1912 Powers was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago , where President William Howard Taft was nominated for re-election.

In 1918 Powers declined to run again. But he stayed in Washington and worked from 1921 until his death on July 25, 1932 as an advisor to the United States Shipping Board . He was buried in Barbourville.

Web links

Commons : Caleb Powers  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Caleb Powers in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Caleb Powers in the database of Find a Grave (English)