Albert F. Dawson

Albert Foster Dawson (January 26, 1872 – March 9, 1949) was a three-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 2nd congressional district.

Born in Spragueville, Iowa, Dawson attended the public schools and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He engaged in newspaper work at Preston, Iowa, in 1891 and 1892, and was the city editor for the Clinton Herald from 1892 to 1894.^[1] He was secretary to Representative George M. Curtis and Senator William B. Allison of Iowa from 1895 to 1905. He studied finance at George Washington University.

In 1904, Dawson challenged incumbent Democratic Congressman Martin J. Wade for the U.S. House seat for Iowa's 2nd congressional district. Riding the coattails of President Theodore Roosevelt's re-election, Dawson, like every other Republican congressional candidate in Iowa, defeated his Democratic opponent.^[2] After serving in the Fifty-ninth Congress, Dawson was re-elected in 1906 (to serve in the Sixtieth Congress), and in 1908 (to serve in the Sixty-first Congress). In 1910 he declined to run for a fourth term, citing business and family reasons.^[1] In all, he served in Congress from March 4, 1905 to March 3, 1911.

In 1911, he also declined an offer to serve as private secretary to President William Howard Taft.^[3] Returning to Iowa at age thirty-eight, he served as president of the First National Bank of Davenport, Iowa from 1911 to 1929. He was executive secretary of the Republican National Senatorial Committee in 1930, and he was a public utility executive from 1931 to 1945.

He retired from business activities and resided in Highland Park, Illinois, until his death on March 9, 1949, on a train as it neared Cincinnati, Ohio. He was interred in Preston Cemetery.

References

External links

• The Albert Foster Dawson Papers are housed at the University of Iowa Special Collections & University Archives.

• Albert F. Dawson at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa 1st W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum 2nd Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack 3rd Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young 4th Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King 5th Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thruston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King 6th A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy 7th Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle 8th McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven 9th Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey 10th Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist 11th Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell AL Hastings and Leffler Terr Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.