Champ Clark

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James Beauchamp Clark (March 7, 1850 – March 2, 1921) was a leading American politician from the 1890s to his death.

He represented Missouri in the United States House of Representatives and served as Speaker of the House from 1911 to 1919. He was born in Kentucky and began a law in Bowling Green, Missouri.

In 1892, he was elected to the House of Representatives, but he resigned in 1894, winning the seat in 1896.

In 1908, he became the House Minorities Leader and was promoted to Speaker after Democrats took over the House in the 1910 elections.

He inadvertently helped defeat the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty of 1911 by arguing that the treaty's ratification would result in Canada's incorporation into the United States. Clark had won the support of a majority of the delegates at the 1912 Democratic National Convention, but not enough to win the presidential nomination.

Woodrow Wilson emerged as the Democratic presidential nominee after hundreds of ballots and went on to win the 1912 presidential election.

Clark supported Wilson's liberal platform but opposed the United States' entry into World War II. Several Democrats, including Clark, were defeated in the 1920 House of Commons, including Clark.

He died in march, two days before he would have left office.

Early life and education

Clark was born in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, to John Hampton Clark and Aletha Beauchamp. He was the first cousin twice removed of Jereboam O. Beauchamp, the famous lawyer-turned-murderer. He is also descended from the legendary John Beauchamp (Plymouth Company) directly from his mother. He graduated from Bethany College in 1873 and then from Cincinnati Law School in 1875.

Personal life

Clark married Genevieve Bennett Clark on December 14, 1881. Joel Bennett Clark and Genevieve Clark Thomson Thomson were married together, and they had two children, Joel Bennett Clark and Genevieve Clark Thomson. Bennet served as a Missouri senator from 1933 to 1945. Genevieve was a suffragette and a candidate for the House of Representatives for Louisiana.

He was a follower of the Disciples of Christ.

In 1928, a bridge in Louisiana, Missouri, connecting Missouri and neighboring Illinois, was constructed. Champ Clark is a fictional character in the movie. In late 2019, a new bridge of the same name was installed to replace the deficient original bridge.

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Career

Clark served as president of Marshall College (now Marshall University) from 1873 to 1874. He was admitted to the bar in 1875, and the following year, he moved to Bowling Green, Missouri, the county seat of Pike County, where he practiced law. He served as a city attorney from 1878 to 1881, as well as a prosecuting attorney of Pike County from 1885 to 1889.

Clark served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 1889 to 1891. Clark was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1892. After a surprise loss in 1894 to William M. Treloar, he recovered the position in 1896 and served in the House until his death, the day before he was supposed to step down.

Clark ran for House Minority Leader in 1903 but was defeated by Mississippi's John Sharp Williams. Clark ran for the Senate in 1908 after Williams ran for the presidency in 1908. He was a winner. Clark became Speaker when the Democrats took over the House of Commons in 1911.

Clark delivered a speech in 1911 that helped to determine the government's election. Clark argued for the recent Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty of 1911, saying, "I look forward to the day when the American flag will fly over every square foot of British North America up to the North Pole."

Clark continued to argue in his address that the treaty was the first step toward the end of Canada, a statement that was greeted with "prolonged applause" in its Congressional transcript. "However, then, the Democrats generally accepted Mr. Clark's annexation sentiments and voted for the reciprocity bill because, among other things, it increases the chance of annexation." The Washington Post announced, "According to Mr. Clark's "annexation sentiments and strengthened the likelihood of annexation." Clark was condemned by the Chicago Tribunal in an editorial, predicting that Clark's appearance would have fatally damaged the treaty in Canada; "He lets his imagination run wild like a Missouri mule on a rampage." Remarks on the absorbing of one country by another grate were harshly on the ears of the young." In large part, Clark's speech won the Canadian election, as the Conservative Party of Canada, which opposed the treaty, gained the nomination.

Clark, the front runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1912, led by a majority of delegates, but he failed to gain the necessary two-thirds of the vote on the first several ballots. Wilson received the nomination after lengthy talks and clever leadership by supporters of New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson, despite widespread allegations of power by special interests.

Clark's speakership was renowned from 1910 to 1914 in maintaining party unity while also opposing William Howard Taft's law and then passing Wilson's. Clark split the party in 1917 and 1918, when he opposed Wilson's call to bring the US into World War I.

Clark also opposed the Federal Reserve Act, which concentrated financial control in the hands of eastern banks (mostly concentrated in New York City). Missouri is the only state to have two Federal Reserve Banks (one in St. Louis and one in Kansas City), according to Clark's opposition to the Federal Reserve Act.

Clark was defeated in the Republican landslide of 1920 and died in Washington, D.C., shortly thereafter.

Champ Clark is the name of a small community of Champ, Audrain County, Missouri. The former Clark National Forest was also named after him.

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