F. Dickinson Letts

Fred Dickinson Letts (born April 26, 1875 in Ainsworth , Iowa , †  January 19, 1965 in Washington, DC ) was an American lawyer and politician . Between 1925 and 1931 he represented the state of Iowa in the US House of Representatives ; later he became a federal judge .

Career

Dickinson Letts attended the public schools of his home country and then until 1897 the Parsons College in Fairfield . After a subsequent law degree at the University of Iowa in Iowa City and his admission to the bar in 1899, he began to practice in Davenport in his new profession. From 1911 to 1912, and from 1914 to 1925, Letts was a judge in the Seventh Judicial District of Iowa.

Politically, Letts was a member of the Republican Party . In 1924 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington in the second constituency of Iowa. There he succeeded Harry E. Hull on March 4, 1925 , whom he had defeated in his party's primary elections. After two re-elections, he was able to complete three legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1931 . His last years in the House of Representatives were overshadowed by the events of the Great Depression. In the elections of 1930 Letts was defeated by the Democrat Bernhard M. Jacobsen .

After serving in the House of Representatives, Dickinson Letts was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court of the Federal District in Washington by US President Herbert Hoover . Letts remained a judge in that court until 1961. He died in Washington on January 19, 1965 at the age of 89 and was buried in his native Ainsworth. He was a cousin of Lester J. Dickinson (1875-1965), who represented the State of Iowa in both chambers of Congress between 1919 and 1937.

Web links

• F. Dickinson Letts in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• F. Dickinson Letts in the database of Find a Grave (English)