Robert L. Owen

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This article is about the United States Senator from Oklahoma. For the Welsh socialist and social reformer, see Robert Owen.

For the United States Representative from Indiana, see Robert D. Owen.

Robert Latham Owen was a United States Senator from Oklahoma.

He was born in Lynchburg, Virginia on February 2, 1856. He attended private schools in Lynchburg and in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1877. Owen, who was of part-Cherokee descent through his mother, Narcissa Chisholm Owen, moved to Salina, Oklahoma, and taught school among the Cherokee Indians. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1880. He was a federal Indian agent for the Five Civilized Tribes 1885-1889, member of the Democratic National Committee 1892-1896, organized the First National Bank of Muskogee in 1890 and was its president for ten years.

Upon the admission of Oklahoma as a State into the Union in 1907, Owen was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate for the term ending March 3, 1913; reelected in 1912 and 1918 and served from December 11, 1907, to March 3, 1925. Before leaving for Washington, Owen was one of the few people present as Governor of Oklahoma Charles N. Haskell accepted his oath of office in Haskell's hotel room in Oklahoma City.

Reflecting his position as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, Owen was the chief sponsor in the Senate of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, known at the time of its passage as the Glass-Owen Bill, which created the Federal Reserve System. His role in the creation of the Federal Reserve is commemorated by the Robert Latham Owen Park, on the grounds of the Federal Reserve building in Washington DC.

While still a Senator, Owen accompanied his friend Governor Haskell to the 1920 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. There Governor Haskell labored to have Owen named as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. But the Democrats selected Governor of Ohio James M. Cox to face Republican Warren G. Harding in the United States presidential election, 1920. Owen declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1924. He was the chairman of the Senate Committees on Indian Depredations, the Mississippi River and Its Tributaries, Pacific Railroads, Banking and Currency, and the Five Civilized Tribes.

Owen resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C.. He organized and served as chairman of the National Popular Government League from 1913 until his death in Washington, D.C., July 19, 1947. His body was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery, Lynchburg, Virginia.

Preceded by None	United States Senator (Class 2) from Oklahoma December 11, 1907 – March 3, 1925 Served alongside: Thomas P. Gore	Succeeded by William B. Pine
Preceded by Fountain Thompson	Oldest living U.S. Senator February 4, 1942-July 19, 1947	Succeeded by Joseph Ransdell

v • d • e United States Senators from Oklahoma

Class 2: Owen • Pine • Gore • Lee • Moore • Kerr • Edmondson • Harris • Bartlett • Boren • Inhofe Class 3: Gore • Harreld • Thomas • Monroney • Bellmon • Nickles • Coburn

[edit] Sources

Dictionary of American Biography
Brown, Kenny. “A Progressive From Oklahoma: Senator Robert Latham Owen, Jr.” Chronicles of Oklahoma 62 (Fall 1984): 232-65
Keso, Edward. The Senatorial Career of Robert Latham Owen. Gardenvale, Canada: Garden City Press, 1938
Robert L. Owen at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress