Frederick Steiwer

Frederick Steiwer

Frederick Steiwer (born October 13, 1883 in Jefferson , Marion County , Oregon , †  February 3, 1939 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician ( Republican Party ) who represented the state of Oregon in the US Senate .

Early years

Frederick Steiwer was born on a farm near the small town of Jefferson. He attended public schools and subsequently the Oregon State Agricultural College in Corvallis , where he made his Bachelor of Science degree in 1902 . He then enrolled at the University of Oregon in Eugene , where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1906 ; this was followed by a law degree at the Portland- based Law School of the University of Oregon. Upon graduation, he was inducted into the state bar in 1908 and began working for a Portland law firm. In March 1909 he quit there and moved to East Oregon, where he and a partner founded their own law firm in Pendleton .

Also in 1909, Steiwer's public service career began with an appointment as assistant district attorney in Umatilla County , which he remained until 1910. The following year he married; the marriage resulted in two children. In 1912 he was elected district attorney for a four-year term. Steiwer switched to politics in 1916 and represented the 20th constituency of his state in the Oregon Senate . However, he was a member of the Chamber of Parliament only until 1917, when he resigned his mandate to join the US Army and fight in the First World War . He retired from the military in 1919 with the rank of First Lieutenant of the Artillery .

Political career

Steiwer ran for election to the US Senator in 1926. In the Republican Primary , he challenged incumbent Robert N. Stanfield and defeated him. In the actual election he met not only the Democrat Bert E. Haney , but also Stanfield, who ran as an independent. With 39.8% of the vote, Steiwer won ahead of Haney (36.3%) and Stanfield (22.5%) and was then able to take up his mandate in Congress on March 4, 1927.

In the run-up to the 1928 presidential election , Frederick Steiwer was among his party's large circle of candidates to succeed Calvin Coolidge, who was no longer running . Ultimately, he did not have a delegate vote at the Republican National Convention in Kansas City ; Herbert Hoover , who later also won the election, was nominated . At the nomination party conference before the 1936 presidential election in Cleveland , Steiwer gave the keynote address , temporarily chaired the event and was again named as a possible presidential candidate. This time the delegates chose Alf Landon .

In the meantime, Steiwer had been confirmed as a senator. After an operation on the gall bladder in November 1936, however, his health was severely impaired and he was unable to complete his second term of office: he resigned his mandate on January 31, 1938. During his time in the Senate, he chaired the Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments ; he was also a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee . In this capacity he was instrumental in preventing the ratification of the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 , with which President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to restrict the powers of his conservative opponents in the Supreme Court . In general, Steiwer was an opponent of Roosevelt and his New Deal policy .

After leaving the Senate, Steiwer worked as a lawyer in the federal capital Washington. He died there the following year.

Web links

• Frederick Steiwer in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Frederick Steiwer in the database of Find a Grave (English)