Champ Clark (2) (1850–1921)

2181 My Quarter Century of American Politics, by Champ Clark (read 25 Jan 1989) This book was published in 1920 and constitutes Clark's memoirs, written before he was defeated for re-election in 1920. He was born Mar, 7, 1850--the date of Webster's infamous speech (Clark prints the Whittier poem "Ichabob" in this book)--and died March 2, 1921--two days before he would have had to leave Congress. He was first elected to Congress in 1892, was defeated in 1894, then elected again in 1896 and show more each two years thereafter till 1920. He was Speaker from 1911 to 1919. This is quite a book. It is not well-edited--he repeats himself several times, but he talks a lot about his youth--he was a very bright boy and worked very hard as a boy--and his time in Congress. He tells many, many anecdotes. and is very haphazard in the way he has the book organized (actually two volumes bound in one book in the edition I read). His bitterness in not being nominated for president at Baltimore in 1912 is vivid. He blames Bryan for his loss. He had a majority on eight ballots but never got 2/3rds. I really enjoyed this book. A most enjoyable though disjointed book. show less