Thomas John Bright Robinson (August 12, 1868 – January 27, 1958) was a 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

Iowa's 3rd congressional district Iowa's 3rd congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa that covers its southwestern quadrant, which roughly consists of an area stretching from Des Moines, Iowa, Des ...

. Elected in an era in which Republicans held every Iowa U.S. House seat, Robinson served five terms before losing in the 1932 general election. Born in New Diggings, Wisconsin, Robinson moved with his parents to

Hampton, Iowa Hampton is a city in and the county seat of Franklin County, Iowa, United States. The population was 4,337 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a tota ...

, in 1870. He attended the public schools and the Hampton High School. A farmer, Robinson also served as president of the Citizens National Bank of Hampton from 1907 to 1923, as a member of the Hampton Board of Education, and on the board of trustees of

Cornell College Cornell College is a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Originally the Iowa Conference Seminary (Methodist), the school was founded in 1853 by George Bryant Bowman. Four years later, in 1857, the name was changed to Cornell Co ...

Mount Vernon, Iowa Mount Vernon is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, adjacent to the city of Lisbon. The population was 4,527 at the time of the 2020 census. Mount Vernon is part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Mount Verno ...

. Robinson was elected to one four-year term in 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 ...

in 1912, and served as delegate to many Republican State conventions. In 1922, Robinson was elected as a Republican to represent Iowa's 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House. During the 1920s, no Democrat was elected to any of Iowa's U.S. House seats, and every incumbent Republican congressman from Iowa who was renominated by their party was elected in the November general election. However, in 1932, the Roosevelt landslide carried many Democrats into the House, and the former Republican majority lost 101 seats. Running for a sixth consecutive term, Robinson lost a close race to Albert C. Willford. Robinson had served in the Sixty-eighth and the four succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1923 to March 3, 1933. Returning to Iowa, Robinson engaged in the real estate and investment business. He died in Hampton on January 27, 1958, and was interred in Hampton Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Thomas J B 1868 births 1958 deaths People from New Diggings, Wisconsin People from Hampton, Iowa Republican Party Iowa state senators American bankers American businesspeople in real estate American chief executives Businesspeople from Iowa Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 20th-century members of the Iowa General Assembly