Cleveland Dear

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Cleveland Dear (August 22, 1888 – December 30, 1950) was a United States Representative from the state of Louisiana and a one-time gubernatorial candidate. He served two terms in Congress as a Democrat from central Louisiana. He was a staunch member of the anti-Long political faction.

Dear was born in Sugartown in Beauregard Parish in western Louisiana. He attended Louisiana State University, both undergraduate and law school, in Baton Rouge and was admitted to the bar in 1914. He served in the artillery in World War I and achieved the rank of first lieutenant. He was then elected district attorney for the Ninth District in Louisiana until his election to Congress in 1932. While in Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on Elections No. 1.

Dear ran for governor in the election of 1936 but was defeated by the pro-Long Democrat Richard Webster Leche of New Orleans. He resumed the practice of law and was appointed judge in the Ninth Judicial District of Louisiana, a position in which he served, with subsequent successful elections, until his death. He died in Alexandria and is interred in Greenwood Memorial Park in Pineville.

[edit] References

• Cleveland Dear at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Political Graveyard

Preceded by John H. Overton

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 8th congressional district 1933–1937

Succeeded by A. Leonard Allen