Robert McDowell McCRACKEN, Congress, ID (1874-1934)

1874-1934

McCRACKEN, Robert McDowell, a Representative from Idaho; born in Vincennes, Knox County, Ind., March 15, 1874; moved to Carmi, Ill., in 1880; attended the public schools; went West in 1891 and settled in Blackfoot, Bingham County, Idaho; taught school in Blackfoot until 1897; employed as a clerk in the United States Surveyor General’s office in Boise, Idaho, 1897-1902; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1902 and commenced practice in Blackfoot; chief clerk of the State house of representatives in 1903; prosecuting attorney of Bingham County 1904-1906; elected a member of the State house of representatives from Bingham County in 1906 for a two-year term; moved to Boise in 1907 and continued the practice of law; elected to the State house of representatives from Ada County in 1908 for a two-year term; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1915-March 3, 1917); unsuccessful candidate for renomination; during the First World War was commissioned a captain in the Chemical Warfare Service; resumed the practice of his profession in Boise, Ada County, Idaho; was seeking the Republican nomination for election to Congress and while campaigning was in an automobile accident, which resulted in his death, in Emmett, Idaho, May 16, 1934; interment in Blackfoot Cemetery, Blackfoot, Idaho.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present