 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(March 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Frank Clark | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | Frank A. Clark (1860-03-28)March 28, 1860 Eufaula, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | April 14, 1936(1936-04-14) (aged 76) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Frank Clark (March 28, 1860 – April 14, 1936) was anAmericanlawyer andpolitician who served in public and private practice for some 50 years, including 20 years in theUnited States Congress.
Born inEufaula, Alabama, Clark attended law school inGeorgia and wasadmitted to the bar there in 1881, beginning in private practice inNewnan.[1]
In 1884 he moved toFlorida, where he spent most of his life as a politician and lawyer in public and private practice. One year later, Clark was electedcity attorney ofBartow,Polk County, Florida, for 1885-86. He returned to private practicing for three years until winning the first of two two-year terms - ten years apart - in theFlorida House of Representatives.
Between the end of his first term in 1891 and his re-election in 1899, Clark worked at his law practice in-between his 1893 appointed to a four-year term asassistant U.S. attorney forSouthern Florida. He then moved toJacksonville, Florida and resumed his law practice until being re-elected to the State House. In 1900, he was elected chair of theFlorida Democratic Party.
When his second term ended in 1901, Clark spent four years in private practice before being elected to theU.S. House of Representatives. The highlight of his 20-yeartenure was chairing the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds from 1913 through 1919.
In 1908, Clark gave a speech voicing his strong support for a bill to segregate the streetcars in Washington, D.C., during which he praised segregation and espoused numerous racial stereotypes of African Americans which he believed made them inferior to whites, including that God had created them with "low brow, low order of intelligence, and repulsive features", that "The average negro is perfectly happy when he finds himself eating a watermelon or going on a railroad excursion.", and that while "the [railroad] cars furnished for negro passengers are just as good as those furnished for white passengers" they do not remain that way because "Imagine a nice, new passenger coach, packed with dirty, greasy, filthy negroes, down South, in midsummer, and you can readily understand why that car does not long remain as good, as clean, and as desirable as a similar car occupied exclusively by white travelers."
Clark ended his speech by saying that:
"This is our country, as it was the country of our fathers. The country of the white man, not the home of the mongrel. It will always be the white man's country. If the black man and the yellow man each desire to remain with us, occupying the sphere in life for which God Almighty intended each, let them do so. If not content with that, then let them go elsewhere."[2]
In 1911, Clark proposed H.R. 2582, which read: "To prohibit theintermarriage of persons of the white and Negro races within theDistrict of Columbia; to declare such contracts of marriage null and void; to prescribe punishments for violations and attempts to violate its provisions."[3]
His congressional career ended in 1925 when, despite his history as state chairman, he failed to win his party's nomination to run.
Once again Clark resumed his law practice, this time inMiami. Three years later, in 1928, PresidentCalvin Coolidge appointed him to theU.S. Tariff Commission, where he served for two years.
In 1930, at the age of 70, Clark remained in the nation's capital and returned to practicing law, but in 1933 he became attorney for theBureau of Internal Revenue (predecessor to theInternal Revenue Service), serving until his death at age 76.
He was returned and interred inBartow, Florida.
Media related toFrank Clark (politician) at Wikimedia Commons| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | U.S. Representative Florida's 2nd congressional district 1905–1925 | Succeeded by |
| Public Buildings and Grounds (1837–1947) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Rivers and Harbors (1883–1947) | ||
| Roads (1913–1947) | ||
| Flood Control (1916–1947) | ||
| Transportation and Infrastructure* (1947–) | ||
| Note | * Alternately namedPublic Works in 80th through 93rd Congresses andPublic Works and Transportation in 94th through 103rd Congresses. | |
