Misplaced Pages

Otha Wearin
Wearin c. 1929
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 7th district
In office March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1939
Preceded by	Cassius C. Dowell
Succeeded by	Ben F. Jensen
Personal details
Born	(1903-01-10)January 10, 1903 Hastings, Iowa, U.S.
Died	April 3, 1990(1990-04-03) (aged 87) Glenwood, Iowa, U.S.
Resting place	Malvern, Iowa, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Grinnell College
Occupation	Writer, cattleman

Otha Donner Wearin (January 10, 1903 – April 3, 1990) was an American writer and politician. Elected as the youngest member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first "New Deal" Congress, his political career stalled in 1938 when he gave up his seat in the United States House of Representatives at Roosevelt's urging to run for a U.S. Senate seat held by another Democrat, Guy Gillette, but primary voters rallied behind Gillette. He became a prolific writer, which led to his election to the Cowboy Hall of Fame.

Personal background

Wearin was born on a farm near Hastings, Iowa, in Mills County, and graduated from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. While returning to Mills County to farm, the reputation he developed as a writer helped to jump-start his political career. He travelled to Europe to inspect their farming methods, which he described in articles printed in rural Iowa newspapers and published in his first book, "An Iowa Farmer Abroad." By age 25, a newspaper reported that he had already "gained prominence as a farm bureau speaker and writer in the past few years." Later that year he was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives as a Democrat, even though his home county was a traditional Republican stronghold and the influence of native-son presidential candidate Herbert Hoover at the top of the Republican ticket led to Republican gains throughout Iowa. He served two terms in the Iowa House, winning re-election in 1930.

Congress

In 1932, he became the first Democrat ever to win election to the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 7th congressional district. As a twenty-nine-year-old, he was Congress's youngest member. Congressman Wearin was known for his progressive ideals. He was re-elected in 1934 and in 1936, but by increasingly narrow margins in the general elections. In 1938, he sought the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, having the support of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was trying to purge Senator Guy M. Gillette, but he lost in the primary.

Later election bids

In 1950, he made a second unsuccessful attempt to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. He finished a distant third in the primary, behind Al Loveland and Nelson Kraschel. In 1952 he sought unsuccessfully the Democratic nomination for Governor of Iowa, losing in the primary to Herschel C. Loveless.

In 1969, after Charles Vernon Lisle resigned one year before his Iowa Senate term ended, Wearin was nominated by his party as the Democratic candidate in the special election to succeed Lisle. However, Wearin's Republican opponent, Earl Bass, won the election.

After politics

After the end of his active political career, Wearin raised purebred Angus cattle on the 1,000-acre (4.0 km) family estate, "Nishna Vale," near Hastings. Despite deterioration of his eyesight, he wrote books and articles, studied Iowa history, and worked in conservation.

As a writer of westerns, his books include Before the Colors Fade, (1971), Along Our Country Road, (1985), I Remember Yesteryear (1974), Heinhold's First and Last Chance Saloon: Jack London's Rendezvous (1974) and Grass Grown Trails (1981). His writings were cited in his 1985 induction into the Cowboy Hall of Fame. Outside of that genre, he wrote many other books, including Century on an Iowa Farm (1959), I Remember Hastings (1965), Political Americana (1967), Clarence Arthur Ellsworth,: Artist of the Old West, 1885-1964, (1967) Country Roads to Washington (1976), and Rhymes of a Plain Countryman (1980).

He died at Glenwood, Iowa and is buried at Malvern, Iowa.

References

1. Edward W. Pickard, "Otha Wearin Beaten," Boyden Reporter, 1938-06-16, at 2.
2. ^ Obituary, Otha D. Wearin; Politician and Writer, 87, New York Times, 1990-04-05.
3. "English Ford Owners Pay High for Luxury," Mason City Globe-Gazette, 1928-03-21, at 17.
4. "Three Congress Candidates Have No Rivals; Several Contests for Iowa Legislature Attract Attention," Waterloo Evening Courier, 1928-06-18, at 15.
5. ^ Robert Hogan, "Wearin, Seeking Democratic Nod, Youngest Man in Race," Waterloo Daily Courier, 1950-05-21, at 3.
6. "Victory in Primary for Hickenlooper, Loveland," Oelwein Daily Register, 1950-06-06, at 1.
7. "Earl Bass is Winner," The Hamburg Reporter, 1969-11-20, at 1.
8. Guest Opinion, Des Moines Register, 1972-05-07, at 18-O.

v t e Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum Finkenauer Hinson Miller-Meeks
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack Miller-Meeks Hinson
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young Axne Nunn
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle LeCompte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King Feenstra
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston LeCompte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

• 1903 births
• 1990 deaths
• Grinnell College alumni
• Democratic Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives
• Writers from Iowa
• People from Mills County, Iowa
• American cattlemen
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa
• 20th-century American businesspeople
• 20th-century American male writers
• Western (genre) writers
• 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives
• 20th-century members of the Iowa General Assembly