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James Hamilton Lewis (18 May 1863-9 April 1939) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-WA) from 4 March 1897 to 3 March 1899 (succeeding William H. Doolittle and preceding Francis W. Cushman) and a Democratic US Senator from Illinois from 26 March 1913 to 3 March 1919 (succeeding Shelby Cullom and preceding Medill McCormick) and from 4 March 1931 to 9 April 1939 (succeeding Charles S. Deneen and preceding James M. Slattery).

Biography[]

James Hamilton Lewis was born in Danville, Virginia in 1863, and he was raised in Augusta, Georgia before being admitted to the bar in 1882 and moving to Seattle, Washington in 1885. He served in the territorial legislature from 1887 to 1888, and he went on to serve in the US House of Representatives from 1897 to 1899. Lewis later served as a US Army colonel in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, and he relocated to Chicago in 1903 and served as the city's corporation counsel from 1905 to 1907. He unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Illinois in 1908 and went on to serve in the US Senate form 1913 to 1919, helping to pass President Woodrow Wilson's "New Freedom" programs. After failed attempts to seek other offices, he returned to the US Senate from 1931 to 1939 and befriended Harry S. Truman. He died in office in 1939.

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