Harry B. Hawes

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Harry Bartow Hawes
George H. Williams
Succeeded byJoel B. Clark
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 11th district
In office
March 4, 1921 – October 15, 1926
Preceded byWilliam L. Igoe
Succeeded byJohn J. Cochran
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives
In office
1916–1917
Personal details
Born(1869-11-15)November 15, 1869
Covington, Kentucky
DiedJuly 31, 1947(1947-07-31) (aged 77)
Washington, D.C.
Political partyDemocratic
Alma materWashington University in St. Louis
Signature

Harry Bartow Hawes (November 15, 1869 – July 31, 1947) was an American

Democratic member of the U.S. House and Senate from Missouri. Hawes is best known for the Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act, the first U.S. law granting independence to the Philippines, and for earlier work assisting the Republic of Hawaii
become a U.S. territory.

Early life

Harry B. Hawes was born in

overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 and establishment of the Republic of Hawaii.[3] A non-binding resolution in support of making Hawaii a U.S. territory was passed in no small part due to Hawes outspoken debate in favor. As a reward of sorts Thurston and the Republic of Hawaii offered Harry Hawes a diplomatic position and made him legal consul to guide their lobbying efforts, a position he held until Hawaii officially became a territory in 1898.[3][5]

His Hawaiian goals achieved, Hawes returned to St. Louis, where on November 13, 1899, he married Eppes Osborne Robinson,

posse comitatus to help stop the unrest.[6]
In the period between May and September 1900, fourteen people were killed and two hundred wounded before the strike ended. Reappointed to the board again in 1901 by Governor
Alexander M. Dockery, Hawes continued to serve in that position until 1904.[2]

Hawes c. 1903

Political and military service

Hawes entry into Missouri politics came in 1904, when he sought the Democratic nomination for

governor. At the 1904 state Democratic convention Hawes was tapped as one of three candidates to possibly represent the party in the general election. Considering that the Democrats had held the governorship every term since 1873, it was likely that the convention winner would be the next Missouri Governor. However, it was not to be for Harry Hawes as he lost out to fellow Democrat and future Governor Joseph W. Folk by a wide margin.[7]

Hawes' next foray into elective politics was more successful, as in 1916 was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives.[1] While brief, his career in the House was eventful. Hawes authored bills that created the Missouri Highway Department and revised state traffic laws. He also served as chairman of the Good Roads committee and led the effort to pass a $60 million bond issue for creation of the states first highway system.[4] Pertaining to river transportation and its importance to Missouri, Hawes was one of the chief organizers of the "Lakes to the Gulf Waterway Association",[2] whose goal was creating a series of locks & dams along the Mississippi, Illinois and Missouri rivers that would enable easier shipment of grain and other goods.

Along with politics, military service was a long tradition in the Hawes family going back to the Revolutionary War. Harry's own father had been a Confederate Army Captain, badly wounded at the Battle of Shiloh.[3] With America's entry into World War I in April, 1917 Hawes resigned from the Missouri House to serve in the military. Commissioned a Captain in the U.S. Army, Hawes served in the Psychological section of Military Intelligence.[4] Working in France and Spain during the war, he was eventually assigned as military attaché to the U.S. Embassy in Madrid. Promoted to Major, Hawes was discharged in 1919.[4]

Returning home to Missouri, Harry B. Hawes was elected to the

election of 1920, edging out Republican Bernard P. Bogy by a little over 2,000 votes.[8] Alleged voting irregularities, including destroyed ballots, led Bogy to mount a legal challenge to the election outcome. Hawes counter claimed that Bogy was not a legal resident of the 11th Congressional district thus ineligible to serve. Several weeks of legal maneuvers followed before Hawes was again certified as the election victor.[9]
He would subsequently be reelected in 1922 and 1924, serving in the Sixty-seventh, Sixty-eighth, and Sixty-ninth Congresses.
George H. Williams
.

As Senator, Hawes worked for better flood control. This tied in with his earlier involvement with the Lakes to the Gulf Waterway Association when his "Missouri Plan" for levees along the Mississippi River was passed by Congress in 1929.

Philippine Senate, which failed to happen. The next year, 1934, a second effort very similar to the Hare-Hawes-Cutting act, the Tydings–McDuffie Act was finally agreed upon by the US and Philippine governments. By this time however Senator Hawes had become private citizen Harry Hawes. He did not seek reelection to the Senate in 1932, and resigned from his Senate seat on February 3, 1933.[4]

Later life

Hawes resumed his private practice, specializing mostly in international law, after leaving the U.S. Senate. In that capacity he served as legal counsel for the Philippine Commonwealth

Current River near Doniphan, Missouri.[4]

Family

Hawes' parents and younger brother Richard Simrall Hawes moved to St. Louis not long after Harry did in 1887. His father was in failing health due to lingering wounds from his Civil War service, but worked for a time as manager of a wholesale lumber business before dying in 1889.[10] Like his older brother before, a position with Third National Bank of St. Louis was secured for Richard S. Hawes and he would later become a prominent Missouri financier.[10] Hawes married Elizabeth Eppes Osborne Robinson on November 13, 1899.[1] They had two daughters, Eppes and Payton.[11] Elizabeth Hawes had studied art early in life, and exhibited with the Society of Washington Artists prior to their marriage.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Hawes, Harry Bartow bio". The Political Graveyard website. 1996. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d "Biographical Directory of the American Congress". Ancestry.com. 1997. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri...". The Southern History Company. 1901. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Christensen, Lawrence O.; Foley, William E.; Kremer, Gary R. (1999). Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. pp. 385–386.
  5. ^ a b c "Hawes, Harry Bartow biography". US Congress biographical guide. 2013. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
  6. ^ "Ridin' in the Street Cars". St. Louis American Local History Network. 1999. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  7. ^ "Missouri Governor Democratic Nomination". Our Campaigns.com. March 10, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  8. ^ "Missouri 11th District U.S. House". Our Campaigns.com. January 21, 2007. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  9. ^ "Contested-election case of Bernard P. Bogy v. Harry B. Hawes". United States House of Representatives. 1921. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
  10. ^ a b "St. Louis County biographies". Missouri Genealogy Trails. 2013. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
  11. ^ "Lloyd Moore weds Mrs. E. H. Preston". The New York Times. December 8, 1935. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  12. ISBN 978-0-9649101-0-2
    .

External links
Party political offices
Preceded by
Class 3)
1926
 Succeeded by
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
William Leo Igoe
 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 11th congressional district
1921–1926 		Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by
George H. Williams
 U.S. senator (Class 3) from Missouri
1926–1933
Served alongside: James A. Reed, Roscoe C. Patterson 		Succeeded by
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