Frank L. Smith

Frank Leslie Smith ( * November 24, 1867 in Dwight, Livingston County, Illinois; † August 30, 1950 ) was an American politician. Between 1919 and 1921 he represented the state of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Frank Smith attended the public schools of his home. Later he worked in the banking industry, the real estate business, the insurance industry and agriculture. Politically, he joined the Republican Party. In 1894, he worked at his home church as Dwight Village Clerk; In 1904, he competed unsuccessfully for the office of Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. In the years 1905 and 1906 he worked for the tax authority.

In the congressional elections of 1918, Smith was in the 17th electoral district of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he succeeded the meantime deceased John Allen Sterling on March 4, 1919. Since he resigned in 1920 to another candidacy, he was able to complete only one term in Congress until March 3, 1921. In the years 1919 and 1920, the 18th and the 19th Amendment to the Constitution were ratified. It was about the ban on the trade in alcoholic beverages or to the nationwide introduction of women's suffrage.

In 1920, Smith competed unsuccessfully for his party's nomination for election to the U.S. Senate. Then he took his previous activities on again. He also was 1920-1926 chairman of the trade commission of his state (Illinois Commerce Commission ). In 1926, Smith was appointed by Governor Len Small to succeed the late U.S. Senator William B. McKinley. This appointment was not recognized by the Senate because Frank Smith, who was already at the time of his appointment in the election campaign for the regular senatorial elections of 1926, had violated the campaign regulations. This fraud and corruption he was accused of. After winning the regular elections of 1926, he would be able to move in the Congress on March 4, 1927. There, however, he was denied for the same reasons his approval. Thus, the mandate remained vacant for the time being. It was re- occupied until the year 1928 Otis F. Glenn.

In 1930, Frank Smith ran unsuccessfully for his return to the U.S. House of Representatives. Two years later he became a member of the Republican National Committee. Otherwise, he continued his previous activities continued further. He was also Chief Executive Officer of First National Bank of Dwight. He died on August 30, 1950 in Dwight, where he was also buried.