Bernhard M. Jacobsen

Bernhard M. Jacobsen

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	(1862-03-26)March 26, 1862 Tönder, Schleswig, Germany
Died	June 30, 1936(1936-06-30) (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 Tönder, (which was then a part of Schleswig, Germany but is now in Denmark), 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.

Bernhard M. Jacobsen at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

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

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

3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young

4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King

5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thruston Le Compte 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 and Leffler

Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

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