Richard Olney (politician, 1871)

Richard Olney

Richard Olney (born January 5, 1871 in Milton , Strafford County , New Hampshire , †  January 15, 1939 in Boston , Massachusetts ) was an American politician . Between 1915 and 1921 he represented the state of Massachusetts in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Richard Olney was the nephew of the same name Richard Olney (1835-1917), both foreign and justice ministers of the United States was. He attended public schools in his home country and the Leicester Academy . He then studied until 1892 at Brown University in Providence ( Rhode Island ). In the following years he traded in wool. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . In 1902 he became a member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts ; in 1902 and 1903 he was chairman of the Leicester Borough Council . In 1903 he ran unsuccessfully for the office of lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. In 1911, Olney was a member of the state commission on minimum wages; In 1912 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore , where Woodrow Wilson was nominated as a presidential candidate.

In the 1914 congressional election , Olney was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the 14th  constituency of Massachusetts , where he succeeded Edward Gilmore on March 4, 1915 . After two re-elections, he was able to complete three legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1921 . During this time the First World War fell . In addition, the 18th and 19th amendments to the Constitution were ratified in 1919 and 1920 . In 1920, Olney was not re-elected.

In 1923 he was appointed to the War Debt Commission; this appointment was renewed in 1925. Between 1932 and 1937, Olney headed his state's pardon committee. Since 1938 he was chairman of the State Commission of the Necessaries of Life . He died in Boston on January 15, 1939 and was buried in Leicester.

Web links

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