Simeon D. Fess
Files
Date
May 27, 1908
Keywords
Cedarville, college, university, history, commencement
Recommended Citation
"Simeon D. Fess" (1908). Commencement Speakers. 20.
https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/commencement_speakers/20
Biographical Sketch
Simeon Davison Fess was born on a farm near Harrod, Allen County, Ohio, December 11, 1861. He attended the country schools and graduated from the Ohio Northern University at Ada in 1889 He taught American history at Ohio Northern University from 1889-1896, graduated from its law department in 1894, and served as dean of the law department from 1896-1900. He then served as vice president of the university from 1900-1902. Fess was a graduate student and lecturer at the University of Chicago, 1902-1907; president of Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, 1907-1917; editor and author; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1912, and; Republican Congressman in the Sixty-third and the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1913-March 3, 1923), where he served as chairman, Committee on Education (Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh Congresses). He did not seek renomination, having become a candidate for Senator. He also served as chairman of the Republican National Congressional Committee, 1918-1922; was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1922; reelected in 1928 and served from March 4, 1923, to January 3, 1935. He was defeated for reelection in 1934. He served on the Committee on the Library (Sixty-ninth through Seventy-second Congresses) and as chairman of the Republican National Committee, 1930-1932. He died in Washington, D.C., December 23, 1936, and was buried at Glen Forest Cemetery, Yellow Springs, Ohio.