Category: 1930’s

Frances Payne Bolton Biography

from the Western Reserve Historical Society

Frances Payne Bolton’s life was marked not only by her philanthropic contributions, but also by her remarkable career serving in the U.S. House of Representatives for Ohio’s 22nd district. Elected in 1939 to succeed her late husband, Chester C. Bolton, Mrs. Bolton made significant contributions to her country, especially in the areas of foreign affairs and nursing. Mrs. Bolton served as a member of the House until 1968, and she became the first woman in Congress to head an official mission abroad, become a Congressional delegate to the United Nations, and become a ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She also became half of the first mother-son team in Congress.

It is no surprise that Mrs. Bolton would end up representing her country in some way. Although her father was not involved in politics, both of her grandfathers, William Bingham and Henry B. Payne were state legislators, and her maternal grandfather later served as a U.S. senator. She was born on March 29, 1885 to Charles W. Bingham and Mary Perry Payne Bingham in Cleveland, Ohio. While she would not become independently wealthy until some years after her marriage, she grew up on a section of Euclid Avenue referred to as Millionaires’ Row. Although she did not attend college, she received a more than ample education (and later many honorary degrees) through her attendance at Hathaway Brown School in Cleveland, Miss Spence’s School in New York, her travels abroad, and through her family library.

After her marriage to Chester Bolton in 1907, Mrs. Bolton received a large inheritance from her uncle, Oliver Hazard Payne, the treasurer of Standard Oil as well as one of the richest men in the country. The inheritance allowed her to further pursue her interest in nursing. She used this interest and her own influence during World War I to help establish the Army School of Nursing. The Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Western Reserve University was also established through her generosity to provide nursing students an education as opposed to on-the-job training. The gift from her uncle also allowed her to establish the Payne Study & Experiment Fund (later called the Payne Fund) in 1927. The Payne Fund distributed money to help fund projects on topics such as juvenile reading and drug trafficking. The Payne Fund also supported psychic research & parapsychology at the Ohio State University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Utrecht. Mrs. Bolton also joined forces with her siblings, Elizabeth Blossom and Messrs William and H.P. Bingham in donating $1 million to Yale University as an endowment for a dormitory in their father’s name.

After her terms in Congress, Mrs. Bolton stayed active in politics and humanitarian efforts, serving on the board of governors of the Middle East Institute. Additionally, she served as a trustee for numerous organizations including the National Trust of Historic Preservation, Tuskegee Institute, the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. In 1973, the School of Advanced International Studies established a chair in her name for African studies, and in 1976 she received the Human Relations Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

 

Eliot Ness Biography from the Ohio Historical Society

from the Ohio Historical Society

Eliot Ness was born on April 19, 1903, in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1927 with dual degrees in business and law. He briefly worked for the Retail Credit Company, before returning to the University of Chicago to earn a Masters degree in criminology.

In 1927, Ness accepted a position with the United States Department of the Treasury. Ness was assigned to Chicago, where he was to enforce Prohibition. Ness created an elite team of Treasury officers, nicknamed the Untouchables, to shutdown the alcohol operations of gangster Al Capone. After operating for six months, Ness claimed that he had either seized or shutdown more than one million dollars in breweries. While Ness’s actions complicated Capone’s operations, they did not end his bootlegging activities. Rather, another group of Treasury officers arrested Capone for income tax evasion. Capone was convicted of this crime in 1931.

In 1934, Ness became the chief investigator of the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of Prohibition for Ohio. The next year, Prohibition ended, causing Ness to seek new employment. This same year, he became the Director of Public Safety for Cleveland, Ohio. Ness took over a police force in Cleveland that was known for its corruption. Under his leadership, the Cleveland Police Department dramatically improved and gained the respect of other departments across the United States. Ness also helped curtail illegal gambling and prostitution in the city, although his department failed to solve several prominent crimes, including finding a serial killer known as the “Cleveland Torso Murderer.”

In 1942, Ness resigned. He worked briefly in Washington, DC, before becoming the chairman of the Diebold Incorporated, a safe manufacturer in Canton, Ohio, in 1944. In 1947, he unsuccessfully ran for the Cleveland mayoral seat. This same year, the Diebold Corporation released Ness from the company. He then took a position with North Ridge Industrial, in Pennsylvania. Ness died from a heart attack on May 16, 1957.

 

Harold Burton from the Ohio Historical Society

From the Ohio Historical Society

Harold Hitz Burton was born on June 22, 1888, in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. In 1909, he received his undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College, where he had quarterbacked the football team. He then pursued a doctorate in law from Harvard University, graduating in 1912. He began to practice law in Cleveland, Ohio, that same year.

Burton remained in Cleveland for only a brief time, becoming an attorney for a power company in Utah in 1914 and then for another one in Idaho in 1916. With World War I’s outbreak, Burton enlisted in the military. Upon being discharged, he returned to Cleveland and resumed his legal career. He also taught classes at Western Reserve University from 1923 to 1925.

Following World War I, Burton embarked upon a career in politics, serving on the East Cleveland Board of Education in 1928 and 1929. In 1929, he became a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. He held this position for less than a year, because he became the law director of Cleveland in 1929. He remained in this position until 1932. After a brief respite from public life, Burton won election as Cleveland’s mayor, an office he held from 1935 to 1940. As mayor, Burton battled against organized crime and sought to improve employment opportunities for the city’s residents. Known for his piety and honesty, Burton became known as the “Boy Scout Mayor.” In 1940, Ohio voters elected Burton to the United States Senate. His greatest accomplishment as senator was his sponsorship of the “B2H2 Resolution,” which called for the United States to join an international peace organization following World War II. Burton served in the Senate from 1941 until 1945, when he resigned this office to become an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court. Although Burton was a member of the Republican Party, President Harry Truman, a member of the Democratic Party, still appointed him to the United States Supreme Court.

In comparison to some other justices, Burton’s career on the court was a short one. He became a justice on September 30, 1945, and remained on the Supreme Court until his retirement on October 13, 1958. During his tenure, Burton became well known for his support of desegregation and also for limiting government influence over businesses. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1957, Burton retired the next year.

Upon retiring from the Supreme Court, Burton returned to Cleveland. He accepted an appointment to the District of Columbia Circuit Court in 1960, a position he held until his death on October 28, 1964.

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