Carl West Rich (September 12, 1898 – June 26, 1972) was an American politician who served as

Mayor of Cincinnati The mayor of Cincinnati is recognized as the official head and representative of the city for all purposes. There have been seventy-six mayors of Cincinnati. The first mayor was David Ziegler, who took office in 1802. The current mayor is Aftab ...

, three times from 1947 to 1948, 1951 to 1953, and 1955 to 1957 and Republican member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

for one term from 1963 to 1965. He is the only Mayor of Cincinnati to go back to office two times.

Life and career

Rich was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. He attended

Walnut Hills High School Walnut Hills High School is a public college-preparatory high school in Cincinnati, Ohio. Operated by Cincinnati Public Schools, it houses grades seven through twelve. The school was established in 1895 and has occupied its current building s ...

, the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

College of Liberal Arts, A.B., in 1922, and from the college of law of the same university,

LL.B. A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

, in 1924. He was admitted to the bar in 1924 and commenced the practice of law in Cincinnati. He was an instructor on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati, and an assistant city solicitor and assistant prosecutor of Cincinnati from 1925 to 1929. He served three terms as prosecuting attorney of

Hamilton County, Ohio Hamilton County is located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 830,639, making it the List of counties in Ohio, third-most populous county in Ohio. The coun ...

, from 1938 to 1947. He served nine years in the city council of Cincinnati and served as mayor for three terms, from 1947 to 1956. He was judge of the Common Pleas Court of Hamilton County, and president and chairman of the board of the

Cincinnati Royals The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The Kings are the ...

Professional Basketball In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger a ...

Team.

Congress

Rich was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-eighth Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

to the Eighty-ninth Congress. He resumed the practice of law and died in Cincinnati on June 26, 1972. He is interred in

Spring Grove Cemetery Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum is a nonprofit rural cemetery and arboretum located at 4521 Spring Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. At a size of 733 acres (2.97 km2), it is the third largest cemetery in the United States, after the Calverto ...

Sources

The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rich, Carl West 1898 births 1972 deaths Ohio lawyers Ohio state court judges Cincinnati City Council members Mayors of Cincinnati University of Cincinnati faculty University of Cincinnati College of Law alumni Burials at Spring Grove Cemetery Cincinnati Royals County district attorneys in Ohio 20th-century Ohio state court judges 20th-century American lawyers Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio Walnut Hills High School alumni 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives