Name William Bruce Children David K. E. Bruce Role American Politician | ||
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Born March 12, 1860Charlotte County, Virginia ( 1860-03-12 ) Books Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed, Below the James: A Plantation Sketch, John Randolph of Roanoke, 1773-1833 Awards Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography | ||
William Cabell Bruce (March 12, 1860 – May 9, 1946) was an American politician and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who represented the State of Maryland in the United States Senate from 1923 to 1929.
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Background
Bruce was born in Charlotte County, Virginia, and received an academic education at Norwood High School and College in Nelson County, Virginia. He later attended the University of Virginia where he bested a young law student named Woodrow Wilson in both a highly contested formal debate and an essay competition. In 1882, he graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law.
Career
Bruce was admitted to the Maryland bar the same year and commenced law practice in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition to his career in law, Bruce was also writer, and received the distinguished Pulitzer Prize in 1918 for his book Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed.
Bruce began his political career in the Maryland Senate, serving from 1894 to 1896, and was appointed as president of the Senate in 1896. He served as head of the city law department of Baltimore from 1903 to 1908; as a member of the Baltimore Charter Commission in 1910; and as general counsel to the Maryland Public Service Commission from 1910 to 1922, at which time he resigned.
Bruce was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for United States Senator in 1916, but achieved election six years later in the election of 1922. Bruce was defeated in the next election in 1928 by Republican Phillips Lee Goldsborough, and resumed the practice of law in Baltimore until 1937, when he retired.
Personal and death
Bruce had at least two sons, James Cabell Bruce and David K. E. Bruce.
He died in Ruxton, Maryland, on May 9, 1946. He is buried at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church Cemetery in Garrison, Maryland.