Claude R. Porter was a member of the Iowa General Assembly

Iowa General Assembly

The Iowa General Assembly is the legislative branch of the state government of Iowa. Like the federal United States Congress, the General Assembly is a bicameral body, composed of the upper house Iowa Senate and the lower Iowa House of Representatives respectively...

, United States Attorney

United States Attorney

United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...

, and perennial Democratic runner-up to Republican victors in three races for Iowa governor and six races for U.S. senator. In an era in which Republicans in Iowa won so often that Senator Jonathan P. Dolliver

Jonathan P. Dolliver

Jonathan Prentiss Dolliver was a Republican orator, U.S. Representative, then U.S. Senator from Iowa at the turn of the 20th century...

 remarked that "Iowa will go Democratic when Hell goes Methodist," Porter twice came closer to winning the governorship than all but one other Democratic candidate of that era. He later served as a member of the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission

Interstate Commerce Commission

The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including...

 for eighteen years.

Background

Porter was born to attorney George D. Porter and Hannah (Rodman) Porter in the city of Moulton, Iowa

Moulton, Iowa

Moulton is a city in Appanoose County, Iowa, United States. The population was 658 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Moulton is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....

 in Appanoose County

Appanoose County, Iowa

-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 12,884 in the county, with a population density of . There were 6,633 housing units, of which 5,627 were occupied.-2000 census:...

. He was educated at Parsons College

Parsons College

Parsons College was a private liberal arts college in Fairfield, Iowa. The school, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, was founded in 1875 and closed in 1973....

 in Fairfield, Iowa

Fairfield, Iowa

Fairfield is a city and the county seat of Jefferson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 9,464 in the 2010 census, a decline from 9,509 in the 2000 census. - History :...

 and St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 Law School (now known as Washington University School of Law

Washington University School of Law

Washington University School of Law , is a private American law school located in St. Louis, Missouri. The law school is one of the seven graduate and undergraduate schools at Washington University in St. Louis....

).

Service in the legislature and military

After becoming admitted to the bar in 1893 and beginning to serve as a lawyer in Centerville, Iowa

Centerville, Iowa

Centerville is a city in and the county seat of Appanoose County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,528 in the 2010 census, a decline from 5,924 in the 2000 census. After the turn of the 20th century Centerville had a booming coal mining industry that attracted many European immigrants...

, he was elected in 1895, at age twenty-three, to the Iowa House of Representatives

Iowa House of Representatives

The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 100 members of the House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 29,750 for each constituency...

 as a "fusion candidate" with Democratic Party

Iowa Democratic Party

The Iowa Democratic Party is the local branch of the Democratic Party in the state of Iowa.-Current elected officials:Iowa Democrats are in control of the Iowa Senate, one of the state's United States Senate seats, and three out of the state's five United States House of Representatives seats. ...

 and Populist Party

Populist Party (United States)

The People's Party, also known as the "Populists", was a short-lived political party in the United States established in 1891. It was most important in 1892-96, then rapidly faded away...

 support. The youngest member of the House, Porter served two terms (from 1896 to 1900).

In 1898, while a state representative, he served in the U.S. Army with the 51st Iowa Volunteers

51st Iowa Volunteers

51st Iowa Volunteers was raised in Iowa in 1898 for service in the Philippines Theater of the Spanish-American War. The volunteers trained in Iowa and San Francisco at Camp Merritt near the Presidio, where a monument to the regiment still stands. While in California nearly 27 men died from...

 during the Spanish-American War

Spanish-American War

The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

 and early stages of the Philippine–American War. While in the service, he also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House in Iowa's 8th congressional district

Iowa's 8th congressional district

Iowa's 8th congressional district existed from 1873 to 1963. The district was configured five times. Although the district encompassed four different areas of Iowa in its ninety-year existence, it was always predominantly rural, and elected a Republican lawyer to the United States House of...

, and for Iowa Secretary of State

Iowa Secretary of State

The Iowa Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the U.S. state of Iowa and is elected every four years. The Office of the Secretary of State is divided into four divisions: Elections and Voter Registration, Business Services, Administrative Services, and Communications and Publications...

. In 1899 he married Maude Boutin, and was elected to the Iowa State Senate, where he served from 1900 to 1904. In 1900, 1902, 1904, and 1906, he refused requests to run again for Congress in the 8th district, concluding each time that incumbent Republican Congressman William P. Hepburn could not be defeated.

Statewide elections 1906-1911

In 1906, Porter ran for Governor of Iowa, winning the Democratic nomination, but losing to incumbent Republican Albert B. Cummins

Albert B. Cummins

Albert Baird Cummins was the 18th Governor of Iowa, U.S. Senator and two-time presidential candidate. Cummins was perhaps the most influential leader in Iowa politics in the first quarter of the 20th century...

.

Because the term of U.S. Senator Dolliver would expire in March 1907, Dolliver was up for re-election by the General Assembly in January 1907. All but one of the Democrats in the General Assembly voted for Porter rather than Dolliver, but their numbers were far too few to prevent Dolliver's re-election.

In 1908, Iowa's other U.S. Senate seat was up, and a new state law provided for Senate nominees to be selected in a primary election. Porter won the Democratic nomination. Senator William B. Allison

William B. Allison

William Boyd Allison was an early leader of the Iowa Republican Party, who represented northeastern Iowa for four consecutive terms in the U.S. House before representing his state for six consecutive terms in the U.S. Senate...

 defeated Cummins in the Republican primary but died soon thereafter, and in a special convention Republicans chose Cummins to take Allison's place as Republican nominee. The Iowa General Assembly, which retained the power to choose U.S. senators from among the parties' nominees, twice selected Cummins over Porter, in a November 1908 vote (resolving who would serve the rest of Allison's original March 1903-1909 term) and a January 1909 vote (resolving who would serve the March 1909-1915 term).

In 1910 Porter ran for governor again, this time losing to incumbent Republican Beryl F. Carroll

Beryl F. Carroll

Beryl Franklin Carroll was the 20th Governor of Iowa from 1909 to 1913.-Biography:Carroll was born in Davis County, Iowa; he graduated from the Missouri State Normal School in 1884. He worked as a livestock dealer, teacher, and newspaper publisher...

.

Porter tried again to become a U.S. Senator in 1911, when the entire contest was decided in the Iowa General Assembly without a primary due in part to Dolliver's death. Porter was the choice of the Democrats' minority caucus, and the Republicans' majority caucus divided their votes among multiple candidates, but at the end of the legislative session, on the 67th ballot, Republican William S. Kenyon finally achieved a large enough majority to win. In all, five times in five years, Porter was the Democrats' top choice for either Governor or U.S. Senator, but came away with nothing.

Wartime prosecutor and candidate for governor

After Democrat Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

 was elected president, Porter was nominated and confirmed as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa is the United States Attorney responsible for representing the federal government in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa....

, where he served from 1914 to 1918. While serving as U.S. Attorney, he aggressively enforced the Espionage Act of 1917

Espionage Act of 1917

The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law passed on June 15, 1917, shortly after the U.S. entry into World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code but is now found under Title 18, Crime...

 against persons who spoke out against the draft or "assisted" others who did so, including the defendants in the 1917-18 Davenport

Davenport, Iowa

Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...

 sedition trial. He also served as first assistant special prosecutor in the Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 trial of over one hundred members of the Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...

 on similar charges. After a trial that lasted from April to August 1918, the jury deliberated briefly and returned convictions of all 100 remaining defendants, including I.W.W. general secretary Big Bill Haywood. Soon after the trial was completed, Porter was promoted to Assistant Attorney General of the United States.

Porter continued to prosecute federal charges while running for Iowa governor in 1918. He received the Democratic nomination without opposition, and faced incumbent Republican William L. Harding

William L. Harding

William Lloyd Harding was from Sioux City, Iowa and the 22nd Governor of Iowa from 1917 to 1921.-Biography:Born in 1877 in Sibley, Iowa, Harding opposed extending voting rights for women and road improvements...

 in the general election. Despite Porter's attacks on Harding's patriotism, Harding prevailed, as part of an Iowa Republican sweep.

Porter continued to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney General until July 1919, when he became chief counsel for the Federal Trade Commission

Federal Trade Commission

The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...

, serving in that position until October 1, 1920.

Statewide elections 1920-1926

In November 1920, Porter again ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate. Once again, he was the Democratic nominee against Cummins, who had served as a senator since defeating Porter in 1908.

Porter's chances for a victory in a statewide election were the greatest in 1926, when he again ran for the U.S. Senate, this time against insurgent Republican Smith W. Brookhart

Smith W. Brookhart

Smith Wildman Brookhart , was twice elected as a Republican to represent Iowa in the United States Senate. He was considered an "insurgent" within the Republican Party; his criticisms of the Harding and Coolidge Administrations and of business interests alienated others within the Republican...

. Brookhart was fiercely opposed by many within his own party because of his anti-business, pro-labor views, and Brookhart's opposition to Republican President Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...

, and had officially lost the 1924 race for Iowa's other Senate seat to Democrat Daniel Steck. However, Porter again lost in the general election. Porter never again ran for statewide office.

Porter also served as a delegate from Iowa to Democratic National Conventions in 1908, 1912, and 1924. He also served on the Iowa State Board of Education from 1925 until November 1928.

Interstate Commerce Commission

In 1928, he was appointed by President Coolidge to the Interstate Commerce Commission in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. He served as a member of the Commission until his death on August 17, 1946, of a cerebral hemorrhage. He died the same day that his son, George B. Porter, was buried, following his accidental death five days earlier.

External links

• The Political Graveyard: Politicians: Porter, C to D, (accessed 2009-02-21).