John W. Gwynne

John Williams Gwynne (October 20, 1889 - July 5, 1972) was a seven-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 3rd congressional district, and a Federal Trade Commission member and chairman during the Eisenhower Administration.

Personal background

Born in Victor, Iowa and Iowa County, Iowa, Gwynne attended public schools. He graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law at Iowa City, Iowa, in 1914, and was admitted to the bar the same year. He then commenced practice in Waterloo, Iowa and also engaged in agricultural pursuits.

During the First World War, Gwynne served as a second lieutenant in the 313th Trench Mortar Battery of the United States Army's 88th Infantry Division, from 1917 to 1919.

He later served as a judge of the municipal court of Waterloo from 1920 to 1926, and as County Attorney of Black Hawk County, Iowa from 1929 to 1934.

Congress

In 1934, Gwynne ran for Congress against incumbent Democratic Congressman Albert C. Willford. Willford's election in 1932, as part of the Roosevelt landslide, was only the third time that Iowa's 3rd congressional district had elected a Democrat. Gwynne defeated Willford in the general election, and was then re-elected six times. He served in the 74th United States Congress and in the six succeeding Congresses, from January 3, 1935 to January 3, 1949. In 1948, Gwynne lost his seat when fellow Republican H.R. Gross, a popular radio news commentator, defeated Gwynne's bid for the Republican nomination.

Federal Trade Commission

President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Gwynne to the Federal Trade Commission in 1953, and appointed fellow Waterloo native Edward F. Howrey as its chair.^[1] When Howrey resigned as chair in 1955, Gwynne replaced him, and served as FTC chair until 1959.

He retired to Waterloo, where he died July 5, 1972. He was interred in Memorial Park Cemetery.

References

• John W. Gwynne 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.