John McDowell (politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Ralph McDowell (November 6, 1902December 11, 1957) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

McDowell was born in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Randolph-Macon Military Academy in Front Royal, Virginia, in 1923. He was employed as a reporter on the Pitcairn Express in 1923 and worked on various newspapers until 1929. He was magistrate of Pitcairn from 1925 to 1928. He became editor of the Wilkinsburg Gazette in 1929 and president of the Wilkinsburg Gazette Publishing Co., in 1933.

McDowell was elected as a Republican to the Seventy-sixth Congress, but was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1940 and 1942. He was again elected in 1946 to the Eightieth Congress. Smeared by the Communists for being a member of HUAC, he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1948. He committed suicide in 1957.

[edit] Sources

Preceded by
James L. Quinn
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 31st congressional district

1939 – 1941
Succeeded by
Samuel A. Weiss
Preceded by
Howard E. Campbell
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 29th congressional district

1947 – 1949
Succeeded by
Harry J. Davenport