Preceded by none Appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt Succeeded by Ray McNichols Name Chase Clark Spouse Jean Burnett (m. 1906) Grandchildren Forrest Church | Succeeded by Fred Taylor Preceded by Charles Cavanah Lieutenant Charles C. Gossett Role Former Governor of Idaho Siblings Barzilla W. Clark | |
Died December 30, 1966, Boise, Idaho, United States Children Bethine Clark Church, Frank Church Education University of Michigan, University of Michigan Law School Similar Barzilla W Clark, Bethine Clark Church, Frank Church | ||
Chase Addison Clark (August 21, 1883 - December 30, 1966) was an attorney, politician, and federal judge in Idaho. He served as the 18th Governor of Idaho from 1941 to 1943, and was a member of the Idaho Democratic Party.
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Biography
Born in Amo in Hendricks County, Indiana, Clark arrived in eastern Idaho in 1884 at age one. His father Joseph engineered an early canal on the Snake River and later became the first mayor of Idaho Falls in 1900. He attended the public schools and left Idaho Falls High School at age 15 and then attended school in Terre Haute, Indiana.
He returned to Idaho Falls and was a mercantile clerk, then moved to Mackay shortly after its founding and saved money to attend the University of Michigan Law School. He read law but did not graduate, and left after admission to the bar in 1904 at age 21. He married Jean Elizabeth Burnett, the 18-year-old daughter of a Mackay merchant, on January 10, 1906.
Career
Clark entered private practice of law in Idaho at Mackay in 1904. He was elected to the legislature in 1912, and was a judge advocate general of the State of Idaho from 1914 to 1915, but left to fight in 1916 in the Border War and then World War I. He served in a machine gun unit and achieved the rank of lieutenant in the U.S. Army. After his return, Clark resumed his private practice in Mackay, and moved back to Idaho Falls in 1930.
Clark returned to politics in the 1930s, serving in the state senate (1933–36) and as mayor of Idaho Falls (1937–38). He was elected governor in 1940, defeating the Republican incumbent, C. A. Bottolfsen. Then a two-year term, Bottolfsen defeated Clark to regain the governorship in 1942; both elections were very close.
Federal judge
After leaving office in January 1943, Clark was nominated that February by President Franklin Roosevelt to a seat on the U.S. District Court in Idaho, vacated by Charles Cavanah. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 5 and received his commission on March 10. With a second seat added in 1954 (Fred Taylor), Clark became chief judge of the court for the next decade. At age 80, he assumed senior status on April 30, 1964, and served in that capacity for over two years, until his death in late 1966.
Death and legacy
Clark was a member of a prominent Idaho political family. He was the younger brother of Barzilla Clark (1880–1943), who preceded him as governor (1937–39), and was the father-in-law of Frank Church (1924–84), a four-term U.S. Senator (1957–81) and presidential candidate in 1976. A nephew, D. Worth Clark (1902–55), also represented Idaho in both houses of Congress. Clark's daughter, Bethine Clark Church (1923–2013), remained active in Idaho Democratic politics until her death.
Clark died at age 83 at St. Luke's Hospital in Boise on December 30, 1966, and is interred at Rose Hill Cemetery in Idaho Falls.