Lloyd Thurston (March 27, 1880 – May 7, 1970) was a seven-term Republican

U.S. Representative 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 southern

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. First elected in 1924, he served until 1938, when he unsuccessfully sought election to the U.S. Senate. By his final term, he had served on three of the most powerful House committees. Born in

Osceola, Iowa Osceola is a city and the county seat of Clarke County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,415 at the time of the 2020 census. Etymology Osceola was named after a Seminole Indian leader of the same name. Osceola is an anglicised form of ...

, Thurston attended the public schools. During the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

enlisted on June 13, 1898, as a private in Company I of the Iowa Volunteer Infantry's Fifty-first Regiment. He also served with this company during the

Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Philippine Insurrection, Filipino–American War, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in December 1898 when the United States annexed th ...

, and was honorably discharged on November 2, 1899. In 1902, he graduated from the

University of Iowa College of Law The University of Iowa College of Law is the law school of the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. It was founded in 1865. History The law school was founded in 1865 by George Grover Wright and Chester C. Cole as an independent la ...

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's List of cities in Iowa, fifth-most populous c ...

. He was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

the same year and commenced private practice in Osceola. He served as a prosecuting attorney for

Clarke County, Iowa Clarke County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,748. The county seat is Osceola. The county was formed in January 1846, one of twelve counties established by legislative action in a comp ...

from 1906 to 1910. Thurston served as captain in the Iowa National Guard from 1902 to 1906. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

served with the rank of captain in Company C, Twenty-sixth Battalion, of the United States Guards, at Fort Crook, Nebraska. After serving as member of the

Iowa Senate The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the Iowa, state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, . Each Senat ...

from 1920 to 1924, he ran for a seat in the U.S. House for Iowa's 8th congressional district that was open due to the retirement of Hiram Kinsman Evans. He defeated populist Democrat Rev. LeRoy Munyon, by over 16,000 votes. After re-election landslides in 1926 and 1928, he survived a close challenge in 1930, winning by a margin of fewer than 1,600 votes. In 1931 Iowa lost two seats in Congress, requiring redistricting by the

Iowa General Assembly The Iowa General Assembly is the legislative branch of the state government of Iowa. Like the federal United States Congress, the General Assembly is a bicameral body, composed of the upper house Iowa Senate and the lower Iowa House of Repre ...

. Thurston's home county (Clarke County) was included in

Iowa's 5th congressional district Iowa's 5th congressional district is an obsolete congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa. It was last represented by Republican Steve King in 2013, who continued to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives after the district's obsole ...

, where he ran for election in 1932. Unlike a majority of his colleagues in the Iowa house delegation, he survived the Roosevelt landslide, but by fewer than 200 votes out of over 100,000 votes cast. In 1933, Thurston voted in favor of certain key elements of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, including the

National Industrial Recovery Act The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) was a US labor law and consumer law passed by the 73rd US Congress to authorize the president to regulate industry for fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery. It als ...

and the

Agricultural Adjustment Act The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was a United States federal law of the New Deal era designed to boost agricultural prices by reducing surpluses. The government bought livestock for slaughter and paid farmers Subsidy, subsidies not to plant ...

. In the following election, in which Democrats generally retained the seats they had won in the 1932, Thurston widened his victory margin to over 5,000 votes. In 1936 he again won by a similar margin. By 1938, he had served on the House Committee on Rules, the House Appropriations Committee, and the House Ways and Means Committee.Advertisement, Lloyd Thurston, Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate, ''Muscatine Journal'', 1938-05-27, at 8. He was one of the leaders of the Republican opposition to Roosevelt's

Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 The Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, frequently called the "court-packing plan",Epstein, at 451. was a legislative initiative proposed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to add more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court in order ...

, an unsuccessful effort to change the size of the U.S. Supreme Court to remove it as an obstacle to Roosevelt's social and economic legislation. Thurston was not a candidate for renomination to his House seat in 1938, but instead ran against former one-term Republican Senator

L. J. Dickinson Lester Jesse ("L. J." or "Dick") Dickinson (October 29, 1873June 4, 1968) was a Republican United States Representative and United States Senate, Senator from Iowa. He was, in the words of Time (magazine), ''Time'' magazine, "a big, friendly, whi ...

for their party's nomination to challenge incumbent Democratic Senator Guy M. Gillette. Thurston lost to Dickinson, who in turn lost a close contest in the general election to Gillette. Thurston resumed the practice of law in

. He died in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

on May 7, 1970.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thurston, Lloyd 1880 births 1970 deaths University of Iowa College of Law alumni Republican Party Iowa state senators Iowa lawyers People from Clarke County, Iowa American military personnel of the Spanish–American War Iowa National Guard personnel United States Army officers American military personnel of the Philippine–American War American prosecutors National Guard (United States) officers Military personnel from Iowa United States Army personnel of World War I Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa People from Osceola, Iowa 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 20th-century members of the Iowa General Assembly