Samuel L. Devine

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Samuel Leeper Devine (21 December 1915 – 27 June 1997) was an American politician of the Republican party who served in the United States House of Representatives as Representative of the 12th congressional district of Ohio from 3 January 1959 until 3 January 1981; he left office after being defeated by Democrat Bob Shamansky (who would lose the seat after one (two-year) term to Republican John Kasich).

[edit] Biography

Devine was born in South Bend, Indiana, on 21 December 1915. His family moved to Columbus, Ohio, in 1920. He attended public schools in the Columbus area. Devine attended Colgate University in 1933 and 1934; and then the Ohio State University from 1934 to 1937. After being graduated from the Ohio State University, Devine went to law school at the University of Notre Dame, and received an LL.B. and J.D. in 1940. He was admitted to the bar in 1940 and began private legal practice in Columbus, but in 1940 was appointed a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He resigned from the Bureau in October 1945 and resumed private practice in Columbus.

Devine embarked on a political career in 1950, and was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, in which he served from 1951 to 1955. Thereïn, Devine was chairman of the Ohio Un-American Activities Committee, a joint committee of the Ohio House and the Senate, and modelled on the federal House Un-American Activities Committee. This committee was given extensive powers of interrogation. It declared in 1952 that approximately 1,300 Ohioans were members of the Communist Party. At Devine's urging, the state legislature overrode a gubenatorial veto of a bill to impose prison terms and fines on Communists.

Devine served as Prosecuting Attorney for Franklin County, Ohio, from 1955 until 1958, when he was elected to the United States Congress.

Devine was also a college football official for 27 years.