William L. Dawson (politician)
William Dawson | |
---|---|
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 1st district | |
In office January 3, 1943 – November 9, 1970 | |
Preceded by | Arthur Mitchell |
Succeeded by | Ralph Metcalfe |
Member of the Chicago City Council | |
In office 1933 – April 12, 1939 | |
Preceded by | Louis B. Anderson |
Succeeded by | Earl B. Dickerson |
Constituency | 2nd Ward |
Personal details | |
Born | William Levi Dawson April 26, 1886 Albany, Georgia, U.S. |
Died | November 9, 1970 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | (aged 84)
Political party | Republican (Before 1939) Democratic (1939–1970) |
Spouse | Nelle Brown |
Children | 2 |
Education | Albany State University Fisk University (BA) Northwestern University (LLB) |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Branch/service | United States Army |
Years of service | 1917–1919 |
Rank | First Lieutenant |
Unit | 366th Infantry Regiment |
Battles/wars | World War I |
William Levi Dawson (April 26, 1886 – November 9, 1970) was an American politician and lawyer who represented a
Born in
Like his two predecessors representing Illinois' 1st District, when Dawson was first elected in 1942, he was the only African American in Congress. He was active in the civil rights movement and sponsored registration drives. In the late 1940s he successfully opposed efforts to re-segregate the military.
Dawson was the first African American to chair a standing committee in the United States Congress, when he chaired the
Early life and education
Dawson was born in
He moved to the
Career
With the entry of the U.S. into World War I, Dawson served in France as a first lieutenant with the 366th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army from 1917 until 1919. After returning home, he was admitted to the bar in 1920 and started a private practice in Chicago.
Dawson entered politics, becoming a member of the
Dawson was elected in 1942 as a Democratic Representative from Illinois to the
During his tenure in the House, Dawson was a vocal opponent of the
Dawson is credited with defeating the Winstead Amendment. Proposed by Representative
In 1952, Dawson was the featured speaker at the first annual conference of the
Dawson, a member of the
Dawson was the first African American to serve as the chairman of a regular congressional committee beginning in 1949, leading the
Dawson was also leader of the African-American "submachine" within the
Dawson advised 1960 presidential candidate John F. Kennedy not to "use the phrase 'civil rights' in his speeches, because it might hurt the feelings of Dawson's Southern friends in Congress -- friends who had given Dawson control over many jobs in federal agencies."[5] President Kennedy offered Dawson the position of United States Postmaster General as a reward for his work on Kennedy's 1960 election campaign. Dawson declined, as he believed that he could accomplish more in the House.
Dawson died of pneumonia in Chicago on November 9, 1970.[6] He was cremated, and his ashes were placed in the columbarium in the Griffin Funeral Home in Chicago.
Electoral history
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Martin B. Madden (incumbent) | 22,427 | 68.15 | |
Republican | William L. Dawson | 9,424 | 28.64 | |
Republican | George J. Witt | 541 | 1.64 | |
Republican | Chandler Owen | 315 | 0.96 | |
Republican | T. W. Shavers | 200 | 0.61 | |
Total votes | 32,907 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | William L. Dawson | 4,577 | 30.65 | |
Republican | Louis B. Anderson | 4,340 | 29.07 | |
Republican | Oscar DePriest | 4,059 | 27.18 | |
Republican | Roscoe Conkling Simmons | 1,703 | 11.41 | |
Republican | Benjamin W. Clayton | 253 | 1.69 | |
Total votes | 14,932 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Arthur W. Mitchell (incumbent) | 30,207 | 53.37 | |
Republican | William L. Dawson | 26,396 | 46.63 | |
Total votes | 56,603 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson | 14,628 | 69.89 | |
Democratic | Earl B. Dickerson | 4,521 | 21.60 | |
Democratic | William S. McNamara | 1,782 | 8.51 | |
Total votes | 20,931 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson | 26,280 | 52.75 | |
Republican | William E. King | 23,537 | 47.25 | |
Total votes | 49,817 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 13,428 | 100.0 | |
Total votes | 13,428 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 42,713 | 61.98 | |
Republican | William E. King | 26,204 | 38.02 | |
Total votes | 68,917 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 19,539 | 100.0 | |
Total votes | 19,539 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 38,040 | 56.79 | |
Republican | William E. King | 28,945 | 43.21 | |
Total votes | 66,985 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 29,963 | 90.28 | |
Democratic | Richard A. Harewood | 3,225 | 9.72 | |
Total votes | 33,188 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 98,690 | 66.96 | |
Republican | William E. King | 43,034 | 29.20 | |
Progressive
|
Earl B. Dickerson | 5,669 | 3.85 | |
Total votes | 147,393 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 38,026 | 100.0 | |
Total votes | 38,026 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 69,506 | 61.74 | |
Republican | Archibald James Carey, Jr. | 41,944 | 37.26 | |
Progressive
|
Samuel J. Parks | 1,135 | 1.01 | |
Total votes | 112,585 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 34,573 | 100.0 | |
Total votes | 34,573 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 95,899 | 73.50 | |
Republican | Edgar G. Brown | 34,571 | 26.50 | |
Total votes | 130,470 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 29,879 | 100.0 | |
Total votes | 29,879 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 71,472 | 75.28 | |
Republican | Genoa S. Washington
|
23,470 | 24.72 | |
Total votes | 94,942 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 32,827 | 100.0 | |
Total votes | 32,827 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 66,704 | 64.42 | |
Republican | George W. Lawrence | 36,847 | 35.58 | |
Total votes | 103,551 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 31,706 | 100.0 | |
Total votes | 31,706 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 60,778 | 72.22 | |
Republican | Dr. Theodore R. M. Howard | 23,384 | 27.78 | |
Total votes | 84,162 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 41,343 | 100.0 | |
Total votes | 41,343 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 75,938 | 77.81 | |
Republican | Genoa S. Washington
|
21,660 | 22.19 | |
Total votes | 97,598 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 45,075 | 79.22 | |
Democratic | Warren De Johnette | 11,823 | 20.78 | |
Total votes | 56,898 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 98,305 | 74.09 | |
Republican | Benjamin C. Duster | 34,379 | 25.91 | |
Total votes | 132,684 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 46,259 | 58.36 | |
Democratic | A. A. Rayner, Jr. | 24,498 | 30.91 | |
Democratic | Charles M. Skyles | 4,673 | 5.90 | |
Democratic | Ronald L. Williams | 3,343 | 4.22 | |
Democratic | Herman A. Meeks | 495 | 0.62 | |
Total votes | 79,268 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 150,953 | 84.91 | |
Republican | Wilbur N. Daniel | 26,823 | 15.09 | |
Total votes | 177,776 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 41,063 | 59.66 | |
Democratic | Fred D. Hubbard | 24,256 | 35.24 | |
Democratic | Ronald L. Williams | 3,515 | 5.11 | |
Total votes | 68,834 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 91,119 | 72.58 | |
Republican | David R. Reed | 34,421 | 27.42 | |
Total votes | 125,540 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 30,252 | 58.29 | |
Democratic | A. A. Rayner, Jr. | 20,102 | 38.73 | |
Democratic | Rudolph Thompson | 1,544 | 2.98 | |
Total votes | 51,898 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William L. Dawson (incumbent) | 119,207 | 84.56 | |
Republican | Janet Roberts Jennings | 21,758 | 15.44 | |
Total votes | 140,965 | 100.0 |
See also
- List of African-American United States representatives
- List of African American activists
- List of United States Congress members who died in office (1950–99)
Notes
- ^ "DAWSON, William Levi - US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ^ a b Christopher Manning, William L. Dawson and the Limits of Black Electoral Leadership (2009)
- ^ a b Richard H. Pildes, "Democracy, Anti-Democracy, and the Canon", Constitutional Commentary, Vol.17, 2000, pp. 12-13 Accessed 10 Mar 2008
- ^ David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, Black Maverick: T.R.M. Howard's Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 54-57, 78, 80, 174-88.
- ^ OCLC 22240548.
- ^ "U. S. House Vet Dawson Dies at 84". Chicago Tribune. November 10, 1970.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae "Downloadable Vote Totals". Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved 2022-10-11.[permanent dead link]
References
- United States Congress. "William L. Dawson (id: D000158)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- African American Registry: William L. Dawson, "Windy City" congressman". Note: This source contains some minor factual discrepancies with the Congressional Bioguide; the Bioguide has been treated as authoritative when in conflict.
Further reading
- Manning, Christopher. William L. Dawson and the Limits of Black Electoral Leadership. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2009
- "William Levi Dawson", in Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007, Office of History & Preservation, U. S. House of Representatives. Washington: Government Printing Office, 2008.
- Vaz, Matthew Running the Numbers: Race, Police, and the History of Urban Gambling University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 2020