Preceded by Alfred Adams Wheat Political party Democratic Occupation Attorney Role U.S. congressman Party Democratic Party | Preceded by William F. Kopp Alma mater University of Chicago Name Edward Eicher Education University of Chicago Succeeded by Thomas E. Martin | |
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Full Name Edward C. Eicher Born December 16, 1878
Noble, Iowa ( 1878-12-16 ) Died November 29, 1944, Alexandria, Virginia, United States | ||
Edward C. Eicher (December 16, 1878 – November 29, 1944) was a three-term congressman, federal securities regulator, and U.S. District Court judge during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was considered a consummate New Deal liberal.
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Personal background
Eicher was born near the unincorporated town of Noble in Washington County, Iowa. His father Benjamin Eicher was a Mennonite bishop. His older brother, H.M. Eicher, was an assistant district attorney during the administration of President Grover Cleveland.
Edward Eicher attended public schools, Washington Academy in Washington, Iowa, and Morgan Park Academy in Morgan Park, Chicago. In 1904 he graduated from the University of Chicago. He studied law was admitted to the bar in 1906 and briefly practiced in Washington, Iowa. He returned to the University of Chicago to serve as its assistant registrar. In 1909, he returned to Burlington, Iowa and served as an assistant attorney for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad until 1918. In 1918, he resumed private practice as a partner in Livingston and Eicher in Washington, Iowa.
Congress
In 1932 Eicher was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives from Iowa's 1st congressional district. Twice re-elected, he served from March 4, 1933, until December 2, 1938.
He had withdrawn from the 1938 race for the Democratic nomination for his own seat. When his congressional career ended, Time magazine described him as "a wheelhorse in a pasture of mavericks," explaining that "he worked on the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, defended the Court Plan, was the most ardent New Dealer among the Monopoly Investigation Committee's Congressmen."
The Securities and Exchange Commission
As his final congressional term ended, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He was a member of the SEC from 1938 to 1942, serving as its chairman between 1941 and 1942.
The Federal bench
New Dealers inside the Roosevelt Administration supported Eicher's wish to be chosen to fill one of two new seats on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, but Iowa Senator Guy M. Gillette, who resented Eicher and Roosevelt for their unsuccessful efforts to purge him from Congress in 1938, stood in the way. Instead, no Iowan received either judgeship. Eicher was eventually nominated on December 30, 1941, to be Chief Justice of the District Court of the District of Columbia. He was confirmed on January 20, 1942. Eicher filled a seat vacated by Alfred A. Wheat.
He died of a heart attack in Alexandria, Virginia, at age 65. At the time of his death, Eicher had presided for over seven months at the trial of 30 suspected Axis conspirators and sympathizers. Time magazine characterized the trial as "biggest and noisiest sedition trial in U.S. history," and reported that "no one in Washington doubted that a ludicrously undignified trial had hastened the death of a scrupulously dignified judge." Eicher's death caused a mistrial. After the war ended, the government chose not to prosecute again, and Judge Bolitha Laws dismissed the charges against the defendants.