James M. Clarke

James McClure Clarke ( born June 12, 1917 in Manchester, Bennington County, Vermont; † 13 April 1999 in Fairview, North Carolina ) was an American politician. Between 1983 and 1991 he represented two times the state of North Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

James Clarke attended the public schools of his home and in Buncombe County, North Carolina. In 1935 he graduated from the Asheville School. Then he studied until 1939 at Princeton University. During the Second World War, Clarke was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. After the war he worked as a dairy farmer and fruit cultivation. At the same time he began a political career as a member of the Democratic Party. From 1969 to 1976 Clarke headed the Education Committee in Buncombe County; 1977 to 1980 he sat as an MP in the House of Representatives from North Carolina. In the years 1981 and 1982 he was a member of the State Senate.

In the 1980s, attracted his close congressional election fights with his Republican opponent Bill Hendon nationwide sensation. In 1982 he became the eleventh constituency of North Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he took over from Hendon on January 3, 1983 he had narrowly beaten. Since he lost in 1984, again very scarce, against Hendon, he could prefer to take only one term in Congress until January 3, 1985. In the elections of 1986 it came to the third encounter with Hendon, the time Clarke, again with small margin, could decide for themselves. After a re-election in 1988, he could remain until January 3, 1991 at the Congress. In 1990 he was defeated again very close to the Republican Charles H. Taylor.

After his retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives, James Clarke withdrew from politics. He died on 13 April 1999 in Fairview.

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