Bernhard M. Jacobsen

Bernhard M. Jacobsen
Bernhard M. Jacobsen
	Frontispiece of 1937's Bernhard Martin Jacobsen, Late a Representative from Iowa.
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives; from Iowa's 2nd district
	In office; March 4, 1931 – June 30, 1936
Preceded by	F. Dickinson Letts
Succeeded by	William S. Jacobsen
Personal details
Born	March 26, 1862; Tønder, Slesvig, Denmark
Died	June 30, 1936 (aged 74); Rochester, Minnesota, United States
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Businessman

Bernhard Martin Jacobsen (March 26, 1862 – June 30, 1936) was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa who served nearly three full terms during the Great Depression. He was the father of William S. Jacobsen, who succeeded him in Congress following his death.

Born in Tønder, (which was then a part of the Danish fief Schleswig, but is now in Denmark proper), Jacobsen attended the public schools. He immigrated in 1876 to the United States with his parents, who settled in Clinton, Iowa. He learned to speak English while serving as a helper in a Clinton sawmill.^[1] He was employed as a clerk in a dry goods store until 1886, when he engaged in the mercantile business. He served as postmaster of Clinton 1914–1923. He retired from the mercantile business in 1927 and engaged in the industrial finance business.

In 1930, Jacobsen was elected as a Democrat to represent Iowa's 2nd congressional district, unseating incumbent Republican Congressman F. Dickinson Letts. He was the first Democrat elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa since 1916. Jacobsen's defeat of Letts was particularly embarrassing for President Hoover, as the district included the President's home in West Branch, Cedar County. In the next two elections (in which Iowa Democrats established, then retained, a clear majority of U.S. House seats), Jacobsen won by large margins.

On June 1, 1936, Jacobsen won the Democratic primary for a fourth term, this time to the Seventy-fifth Congress.^[2] However, he died on June 30, 1936, in Rochester, Minnesota, after ten days of hospitalization.^[3] A special nominating convention selected his son, William S. Jacobsen, to fill his place on the ballot. His son then held the seat in the general election, defeating Charles Penningroth of Cedar Rapids.

He was interred in Springdale Cemetery, Clinton, Iowa.

References

^ Editorial, "An Immigrant Boy Who Climbed the Ladder," Waterloo Daily Courier, 1936-07-01, at 4.
^ "Successful at the Primaries Held Monday," Oelwein Daily Register, 1936-06-03, at 1.
^ "Congressman Jacobsen Dies," Mason City Globe-Gazette, 1936-06-30, at 1.

United States Congress. "Bernhard M. Jacobsen (id: J000038)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by F. Dickinson Letts	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 2nd congressional district 1931–1936	Succeeded by William S. Jacobsen

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

[1] Editorial, "An Immigrant Boy Who Climbed the Ladder," Waterloo Daily Courier, 1936-07-01, at 4.

[2] "Successful at the Primaries Held Monday," Oelwein Daily Register, 1936-06-03, at 1.

[3] "Congressman Jacobsen Dies," Mason City Globe-Gazette, 1936-06-30, at 1.

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v t e Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum Finkenauer Hinson Miller-Meeks
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack Miller-Meeks Hinson
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young Axne Nunn
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle LeCompte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King Feenstra
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston LeCompte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

See also

References