Frank L. Smith
Frank Leslie Smith (November 24, 1867 – August 30, 1950) was an Illinois politician.
Frank L. Smith | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 17th district | |
| In office March 4, 1919 – March 3, 1921 | |
| Preceded by | John Allen Sterling |
| Succeeded by | Frank H. Funk |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 24, 1867 Dwight, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | August 30, 1950 (aged 82) Dwight, Illinois, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
Biography
Smith was born in Dwight, Illinois, in Livingston County He served as a United States Congressman from 1919 to 1921.
Career
Smith first ran for the Republican primary nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1920. In that first year of suffrage, women's votes were counted separately from men's in Illinois. He was beating William B. McKinley by 27,000 votes after the male votes were counted, but once the female votes were counted, McKinley had won by 11,000 votes. McKinley went on to win the general election as well.
In 1921, Smith became the chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, which oversaw utilities in the state. He prepared to run again for the Senate in 1926. At the time, Illinois had no campaign finance laws an Smith collected the unprecedented amount of $400,000 from several wealthy executives who ran public utilities, including $125,000 from Samuel Insull.[1]
In 1926 he defeated McKinley in the Republican primary for the Senate. Smith went on to win the general election held in November of that year, although Julius Rosenwald of Sears, Roebuck & Company had offered him $550,000 stock to withdraw.[2][3]
McKinley, whose lame duck term would normally have extended until March 1927, died in December 1926, so Illinois Governor Len Small (R) appointed Smith to fulfill the rest of McKinley's term, a fairly common practice when the incumbent senator has died or otherwise ceased to serve. But when Smith presented his credentials as the newly appointed Senator, the U.S. Senate voted to not allow him to qualify as a senator, based upon alleged fraud and corruption in his campaign for the full term. In a new special election he tried again to qualify as the elected Senator in March 1927, but was again denied. He finally resigned his seat on February 9, 1928.[4][5][6]
References
- "The (Other) Man Who Tried to Buy a Senate Seat". nbcchicago.com. June 3, 2011.
- Ascoli, P. M. (2016). Julius Rosenwald the man who built Sears, Roebuck and advanced the cause of black education in the American South. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- "Gov. Lennington Small". nga.org.
- Frank Lloyd Wright Library, Frank L. Smith photographs, US Senate campaign brochure, accessed September 16, 2017
- Senate Historical Office, United States Senate. "The Election Case of Frank L. Smith of Illinois (1928)". senate.gov.
- "Frank L. Smith, 82, Lost Senate Seat," New York Times, August 31, 1950, p 22.
- Carroll Hill Wooddy, The Case of Frank L. Smith: A Study in Representative Government, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1931.
External links
- United States Congress. "Frank L. Smith (id: S000534)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William B. McKinley |
Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Illinois (Class 3) 1926 |
Succeeded by Otis F. Glenn |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by William B. McKinley |
Class 3 U.S. Senator from Illinois not allowed to take his seat |
Succeeded by Otis F. Glenn |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by John A. Sterling |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 17th congressional district 1919-1921 |
Succeeded by Frank H. Funk |
Authority control  |
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