David John Lewis

David John Lewis

David John Lewis (born May 1, 1869 in Osceola Mills , Center County , Pennsylvania , †  August 12, 1952 in Cumberland , Maryland ) was an American politician . Between 1911 and 1917 and again from 1931 to 1939 he represented the state of Maryland in the US House of Representatives .

Career

After finishing school, David Lewis worked as a miner in the coal mines between 1878 and 1892. He also studied law and Latin. After his admission to the bar in 1892, he began practicing this profession in Cumberland. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . From 1902 to 1906 he was a member of the Maryland Senate . In 1916, 1922 and 1938 he unsuccessfully sought his party's nomination for the respective elections to the US Senate . In 1908 a first candidacy for the US House of Representatives failed.

In the 1910 congressional election , Lewis was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the sixth electoral district of Maryland , where he succeeded George Alexander Pearre on March 4, 1911 . After two re-elections, he was able to complete three legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1917 . From 1913 he was chairman of the Committee on Labor . The 16th and 17th amendments to the Constitution were also ratified that year . In 1916, he decided not to run again because of his intended election to the US Senate.

Lewis was a member of the Federal Customs Commission between 1917 and 1925 . Otherwise he worked as a lawyer again. In the elections of 1930 he was re-elected to Congress in the sixth district of his state, where he replaced Frederick Nicholas Zihlman on March 4, 1931 , who had succeeded him there in 1917. After three re-elections, he was able to spend four more terms in Congress until January 3, 1939. Since 1933, most of the federal government's New Deal laws have been passed there under President Franklin D. Roosevelt . Also in 1933, the 20th and 21st amendments were ratified. In 1938 Lewis again waived a possible re-election because of a planned Senate candidacy.

From 1939 to 1943 he was a member of the National Mediation Board , an independent government organization that deals with labor market and industrial relations issues. Then he withdrew from politics. David Lewis died on August 12, 1952 in Cumberland, where he was also buried.

Web links

• David John Lewis in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• David John Lewis in the database of Find a Grave (English)