Paul Fornshell Schenck (April 19, 1899 – November 30, 1968) was an American educator and politician who served seven terms as a

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

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 ...

from 1951 to 1965.

Early life and education

Born in

Miamisburg, Ohio Miamisburg ( ) is a city in southern Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. The population was 19,923 at the 2020 census. A suburb of Dayton, it is part of the Dayton metropolitan area. Named after the Miami people, Miamisburg is known for its ...

, his family moved to

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

in 1908 where he graduated from Steele High School in 1917. He received two years of college training, and was a student teacher at Steele from 1917 to 1919. He then worked in the automotive service business from 1919 to 1923. After that practical training, he became an automotive training teacher and faculty manager of athletics at Roosevelt High School in Dayton from 1923 to 1929.

Political career

He was the director of recreation for the city of Dayton from 1929 to 1935. In September 1935, during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, he established his own real estate, mortgage loan, and insurance business. He began his public service career when he was elected to the Dayton Board of Education, serving from 1941 to 1950 and president for seven years. He was vice chairman of the Dayton Safety Council in 1946 and 1947 and president of the Dayton Real Estate Board from 1947 to 1949..

Congress

He was nominated by the Republican party to run for Congress from Ohio's third congressional district in 1950, but was defeated by incumbent

Edward G. Breen Edward Grimes Breen (June 10, 1908, in Dayton, Ohio – May 8, 1991, in Dayton, Ohio) was an American politician of the Democratic party. Biography Ed Breen was born in the Phillips House, a fine old hotel in Dayton, Ohio. He was the son of Joh ...

. Breen resigned in 1951 due to health concerns, and Schenck was subsequently elected in a special election to the 82nd Congress to fill the vacancy. He was reelected to the 83rd and to the five succeeding Congresses (November 6, 1951 – January 3, 1965) but was defeated in 1964 for reelection to the 89th Congress.

Tenure

Schenck, a member of the

Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce The Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more than ...

, introduced a bill in 1957 that would have prohibited the sale of vehicles discharging

hydrocarbons In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic; their odor is usually faint, and may b ...

in levels found dangerous by the

Surgeon General Surgeon general (: surgeons general) is a title used in several Commonwealth countries and most NATO nations to refer either to a senior military medical officer or to a senior uniformed physician commissioned by the government and entrusted with p ...

. The bill never made it through Congress in that form. Still, it was a prescient statement at the time about the growing national concern over auto

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...

. In 1959,

President Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary ...

signed a modified Schenck Act. That law directed the Surgeon General to study the relationship between auto pollution and

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

. Schenck voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

, and

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 ...

Death

Paul F. Schenck was a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

Knight Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

and member of the

Shriners Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic body, Masonic society. Founded in 1872 in New York City, it is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, and has over ...

(Antioch Temple). He died in Dayton, Ohio in 1968 and is interred in

Woodland Cemetery A woodland cemetery is a cemetery where the original landscape, with existing trees, is given much influence on the landscape architecture of the cemetery. A woodland cemetery is designed so that the landscape is given a more prominent position, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schenck, Paul F. 1899 births 1968 deaths People from Miamisburg, Ohio Politicians from Dayton, Ohio Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio School board members in Ohio 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives