Coleman Livingston BLEASE, Congress, SC (1868-1942)

BLEASE, Coleman Livingston, a Senator from South Carolina; born near Newberry, Newberry County, S.C., October 8, 1868; attended the common schools; graduated from the law department of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 1889; admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Newberry, S.C.; member, State house of representatives 1890-1894, 1899, and 1900, serving as speaker pro tempore 1892-1894; mayor of Helena, S.C., in 1897; city attorney of Newberry in 1901 and 1902; member, State senate 1905-1909, serving as president pro tempore in 1906 and 1907; mayor of Newberry in 1910; Governor of South Carolina 1911-1915; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1925, to March 3, 1931; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1930; unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1934 and 1938; elected a member of the State unemployment compensation commission for a four-year term beginning in 1941; died in Columbia, S.C., January 19, 1942; interment in Rosemont Cemetery, Newberry, S.C.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Burnside, Ronald D. “The Governorship of Coleman Livingston Blease of S.C.” Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 1963; Hollis, Daniel W. “Cole Blease and the Senatorial Campaign of 1924.” Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association 48 (1978): 53-68.

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