Jonathan Bourne, Jr.

Jonathan Bourne Jr. ( born February 23, 1855 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, † September 1, 1940 in Washington DC ) was an American politician ( Republican), who represented the state of Oregon in the U.S. Senate.

Early years

A native of Massachusetts Jonathan Bourne was initially taught at private schools before enrolling at Harvard University, where he remained from 1875 to 1877. He took a trip to Asia in 1877, which ended with a shipwreck off the island of Formosa. After his recovery, he returned to the United States, settling in 1878 in Portland, Oregon's capital, down. There he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1881, after which he practiced until 1886 as a lawyer in Portland. He also worked as a businessman in mining, cotton production and trade.

Political career

Bourne's political career began with membership of the House of Representatives from Oregon, where until 1886 he represented the interests of the Multnomah County until 1885. In 1897, he moved for a one-year term of office again in the state parliament. On November 6, 1906, he went to the Republicans in the election for the U.S. Senate. He applied for the mandate for the period beginning on March 4, 1907 legislative session; at the same time also the successor of the deceased in December 1905 Senator John H. Mitchell was selected whose place since then had taken the Democrat John M. Gearin interim basis. Neither Bourne nor Gearin stood as a candidate in this election for the remaining short term Mitchells; this decided Frederick W. Mulkey for himself, then who spent only a little more than five weeks in Congress. He took his seat then on Bournemouth from which Gearin had defeated with 46.2 percent of the vote. These two were the first elections after parliament of Oregon had adopted a direct dial Act ( Direct Primary Law ). Accordingly, it was incumbent on the citizens now to determine the candidate who had to be then only officially elected to the office of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. In all other states the Senator choice at that time was still the sole responsibility of the state parliaments; This did not change until 1914 when the 17th Amendment to the Constitution came into force.

Bourne completed a full six -year term in the Senate. During this period he was also Chairman of the Fisheries Committee and a member of the Committee on Post. In his party he was a member of the progressive wing and served among other things as president of the National Republican Progressive League. Accordingly, he was a leading member of a group that wanted President Theodore Roosevelt persuaded in 1908 to run for a second term of office of its own. However, this renounced in favor of the conservative William Howard Taft.

In 1912, Bourne lost his party's primary against Ben Selling. But he still stood as an independent candidate for the Senate election and finished with 19.4 percent of the vote for third place. The resultant in this way split in the Republican electorate meant that the Democrat Harry Lane with a 30 percent share of the victory submitted Selling ( 28.8 percent) and Bourne could replace as a senator on March 3, 1913.

After retiring from Congress Jonathan Bourne went back to his business activities in Oregon and Massachusetts. He also got into the newspaper business in the federal capital, Washington, where he died in September 1940. The community Cracker City in northeastern Oregon was renamed in his honor in Bourne.