Robert Henry Clancy (March 14, 1882 – April 23, 1962) was a politician from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Clancy was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, where he attended the public schools. He graduated from the literary department of the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

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in 1907 and he later studied law there for one year. He worked as a reporter on Detroit newspapers for four years before serving as secretary to Congressman

Frank E. Doremus Frank Ellsworth Doremus (August 31, 1865 – September 4, 1947) was an American politician who was the 49th Mayor of Detroit and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan. Early life Doremus was born in Venango County, Pennsyl ...

from 1911 to 1913. He then served as secretary to Assistant

United States Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

Edwin F. Sweet from 1913 to 1917. During

World War I 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 ...

, he was manager of the War Trade Board at Detroit, chief inspector of purchases in Michigan for the Medical Corps of the War Department, and recruiting officer of the aviation division in Detroit. He was United States customs appraiser for Michigan from 1917 to 1922. During

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

he was arrested along with the mayor of Detroit and the Wayne County sheriff at the Deutsches Hall while consuming alcohol. In 1922, Clancy was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

from

Michigan's 1st congressional district Michigan's 1st congressional district is a United States congressional district that fully contains the 15 counties of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and 20 counties of Northern Michigan in the Lower Peninsula. The district is currently represen ...

to the

68th Congress The 68th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from March 4, 1923 ...

, serving from March 4, 1923, to March 3, 1925. He was defeated by Republican John B. Sosnowski in the 1924 election. After leaving Congress, he engaged in the real-estate business until the next election. In the 1926 election, he switched parties and ran as a Republican, defeating the incumbent Sosnowski in the primary, and going on to defeat Democratic candidate William M. Donnelly in the general election for a seat in the 70th Congress. In 1928 and 1930, Clancy again defeated Sosnowski in the Republican primary and Donnelly in the general election to be re-elected to the 71st and 72nd Congresses, serving from March 4, 1927, to March 3, 1933. In 1932, Clancy was a candidate in the Fourteenth Congressional District in Michigan, due to redistricting after the

1930 Census The 1930 United States census, conducted by the Census Bureau one month from April 1, 1930, determined the resident population of the United States to be 122,775,046, an increase of 13.7 percent over the 106,021,537 persons enumerated during th ...

. Clancy lost to Democrat Carl M. Weideman, after which he was engaged in an executive capacity with a manufacturing company until his retirement in 1948. He died in Detroit and is interred there in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

References

Robert H. Clancy
at The Political Graveyard {{DEFAULTSORT:Clancy, Robert H. 1882 births 1962 deaths Politicians from Detroit University of Michigan Law School alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan United States Customs Service personnel 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives