Paul Cunningham

Paul Cunningham, 1953

Paul Harvey Cunningham (born June 15, 1890 in Kent , Indiana County , Pennsylvania , †  July 16, 1961 in Brainerd , Minnesota ) was an American politician . Between 1941 and 1959 he represented the state of Iowa in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Paul Cunningham attended the public schools of his home country and then until 1911 the State Teacher's College in Indiana (Pennsylvania). Until 1914 he studied literature at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor . After a subsequent law degree at the same university and his admission as a lawyer in 1915, he began to practice in Grand Rapids ( Michigan ) in his new profession. During the First World War he was a first lieutenant in an infantry unit between 1917 and 1919 . In 1919 he moved to Des Moines , Iowa, where he worked as a lawyer. He was also a member of the Iowa National Guard between 1920 and 1923.

Politically, Cunningham was a member of the Republican Party . Between 1933 and 1937 he was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives . In 1940 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the sixth constituency of Iowa , where he succeeded Robert K. Goodwin on January 3, 1941 . In 1942 he ran successfully in the fifth district. On January 3, 1943, he replaced Karl M. Le Compte , who had represented him in the House of Representatives until then. After he was confirmed in the following elections, he could remain in Congress until January 3, 1959 . During this time, the Second World War , the Korean War and the beginning of the Cold War and the civil rights movement fell. In 1951 the 22nd amendment to the constitution was discussed and passed.

In the 1958 elections, Cunningham was defeated by Democrat Neal Edward Smith . After that he worked as a lawyer again. He died in his summer home in Minnesota in July 1961 and was buried in Des Moines.

Web links

• Paul Cunningham in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)