Robert Crosser was born on June 7, 1874 in Holytown, Bothwell Parish, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was the son of James Crosser, a physician, and Barbara Crosser. In 1881 the Crosser family immigrated to the United States, settling first in Cleveland, Ohio, before moving later that year to Salineville, Ohio, where Crosser practiced as a country physician.
Education
In 1893 Robert Crosser graduated from high school in Salineville. After studying the prerequisite Latin and Greek, he was admitted to the classical course at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he graduated with a B. A. degree in 1897. Crosser then enrolled at the law school of Columbia University. Financial circumstances forced his withdrawal after less than a year's attendance, and in the fall of 1898 he entered the Cincinnati Law School, where William Howard Taft was one of his professors. He received his LL. B. degree in 1901.
Career
Crosser became involved in local politics through his work for Mayor Johnson. In 1910, he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives.
He began private practice in the Cleveland offices of Ford, Snyder, Henry and McGraw the first of three law firms with which he would be associated during his lifetime.
During these early years, Crosser also served as professor of the law of torts at Baldwin - Wallace University Law School (1904 - 1905).
In addition to the law, Crosser also manifested a keen interest in politics.
Crosser was elected to the Ohio legislature, and in 1912 he served as a delegate to the Fourth Constitutional Convention of Ohio. Elected chairman of the initiative and referendum committee, he was largely responsible for the inclusion of these direct-democracy amendments into the Ohio Constitution. With his prestige enhanced, Crosser successfully captured a congressional seat as a Democratic representative-at-large from Ohio in 1912.
In 1914 and 1916 he was reelected representative of the Twenty-first Ohio District, consisting of several wards of the city of Cleveland. He advocated government ownership of railroads, municipal ownership of public utilities, and a comprehensive program of reforestation and flood control.
American participation in World War I temporarily interrupted Crosser's congressional career.
He was defeated for renomination in the 1918 primaries and again in 1920. With wartime hysteria somewhat abated, he was elected in 1922 and resumed his old seat on March 4, 1923, beginning thirty-two years of uninterrupted service.
When the Democratic party regained control of Congress in March 1933, Crosser became the first chairman of the House Democratic Steering Committee a position he would hold again in the Seventy-eighth Congress (1943 - 1944).
Crippling arthritis forced Crosser into a wheelchair in 1937, but he continued to discharge his legislative duties. He served as chairman of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce throughout the Eighty-first and Eighty-second Congresses (1949 - 1952).
In 1952, a "Republican year, " the veteran Ohio congressman scored his most satisfying victory. Despite only token support from the Cuyahoga County Democratic organization, he received a majority of 99, 520 votes to 49, 947 for his opponent. "Today, " declared the New York Times, "he stands as one of the nation's political marvels a man who cannot be beaten. " But two years later, old age and an aggressive young opponent, Charles A. Vanik, combined to defeat him in the primaries.
He resided in Bethesda, Maryland, until his death. He died in Bethesda, Maryland.
Achievements
Politics
He endorsed the "gas and water socialism" of Cleveland's progressive mayor, Tom L. Johnson.
In 1908 he campaigned in the Ohio presidential contest for William Jennings Bryan against his old law professor, Taft.
Crosser enthusiastically supported most of President Woodrow Wilson's domestic reform legislation, especially the Federal Reserve Act.
He was one of twenty-four congressmen to oppose Wilson's conscription bill; he attempted to amend the president's espionage bill to offer greater protection for conscientious objectors and philosophical anarchists; and he proposed the imposition of a national single tax to finance the war.
The GOP administrations of the 1920's were not receptive to Crosser's incessant pleas for reform legislation in the areas of labor, agriculture, and transportation. Nevertheless, according to Crosser's friend, Representative Charles A. Wolverton of New Jersey, he "blazed the trail for much of the social-welfare legislation during Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. "
He was an ardent supporter of most New Deal measures; his work for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Act and the Society Security Act was especially important.
During World War II and thereafter, Crosser's commitment to New Deal liberalism continued undiminished. He was also a consistent proponent of the Cold War policy of containment.
Membership
He was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Ohio's At Large district, a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 21st district and a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the Cuyahoga County district.
Crosser was also a member of Phi Delta Phi.
Connections
On April 18, 1906, he married Isabelle Dargavel Hogg. They had four children.