Robert J. Bulkley to Charles W. Chesnutt, 8 April 1914
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY,
WASHINGTON.1
April 8, 1914
Chas. W. Chestnutt, Esq.
1105 Williamson Building
Cleveland, Ohio
Dear Mr. Chestnutt:
Your favor of the 6th is at hand. I am in sympathy with your views and expect to oppose H. R. 1710.2
Yours very truly, Robert J. BulkleyCorrespondent: Robert Johns Bulkley (1880–1965) was a White banker, lawyer, and Democratic politician from Ohio, and like Chesnutt a member of the Rowfant Club. He was the leading partner in a prominent law firm (under various names, initially Bulkley, Hauxhurst, Inglis and Saeger), for whom Chesnutt's stenography business sometimes worked. A two-term U.S. Representative for Chesnutt's district (1911–1915), Bulkley won a special election to the U.S. Senate in 1930 after the death of Theodore Burton (1851–1929), where he served for nine years.
1. For readability, the left-margin box included in the letterhead for the Committee on Banking and Currency of the Sixty-Third U.S. Congress is not transcribed at the top of the letter but included in this footnote as unformatted text. The letterhead can be seen in its entirety in the accompanying image of the letter. The text of the remainder of the letterhead is as follows: "SIXTY-THIRD CONGRESS. CARTER GLASS, VA., CHAIRMAN. CHARLES A. KORBLY, IND. EMMETT WILSON, FLA. WILLIAM G. BROWN, W.VA. CLAUDE WEAVER, OKLA. ROBERT J. BULKLEY, OHIO. J. WILLARD RAGSDALE, S.C. GEORGE A. NEELEY, KANS. EVERIS A. HAYES, CAL. THOMAS G. PATTEN, N.Y. FRANK E. GUERNSEY, ME. CLAUDIUS U. STONE, ILL. JAMES F. BURKE, PA MICHAEL F. PHELAN, MASS. FRANK P. WOODS, IOWA. JOE H. EAGLE, TEX. EDMUND PLATT, N.Y. OTIS T. WINGO, ARK. GEORGE R. SMITH, MINN. HARRY H. SELDOMRIDGE, COLO. CHARLES A. LINDBERGH, MINN. CHAS. D. HAMNER, CLERK." [back]
2. H.R. 1710 was an anti-miscegenation bill for the District of Columbia, introduced by Democratic Congressman Frank Clark (Florida), which made it to the House calendar on March 21, 1914. Black activists put pressure on politicians to oppose it with editorials and letter-writing campaigns, presumably including Chesnutt's unlocated letter from April 6, 1914 to his representative, Robert J. Bulkley (1880-1965). When the bill was passed by the House on January 11, 1915, 238 to 60, Bulkley voted against it, one of only 7 Democrats to do so. The bill was not taken up by the Senate before the end of the session and so did not become law. [back]
