Background
Frank Lever was born near Springhill, Lexington County, South Carolina on January 5, 1875. He was the son of a farmer, Asbury Francis Washington Lever, and Mary Elvira Derrick.
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Franci Asbury
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Education
He attended the county schools and graduated from Newberry College with honors in 1895. He graduated from the Law Department of Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, in 1899 and was admitted to the bar in South Carolina the same year but did not practice.
Career
He taught school for two years. He moved to Washington, District of Columbia as the private secretary to Representative J. William Stokes from 1897 to 1901. They had two children.
He was a delegate to the Democratic State conventions in 1896 and 1900.
He was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of J. William Stokes was reelected to the Fifty-eighth and to the eight succeeding Congresses and served from November 5, 1901, until August 1, 1919. Lever was the chairman of the House Committee on Education from 1911 to 1913 (Sixty-second Congress) and Committee on Agriculture (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses).
Major bills were the Smith-Lever Acting of 1914 that established the Cooperative Extension Service, the Cotton Futures Acting of 1914, the Cotton Warehouse Acting of 1916, Federal Farm Loan Acting of 1916 that created the Farm Cr Administration, and the Food and Fuel Control Acting of 1917 that created a Food Administration and a Fuel Administration for World War I.
He briefly ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor of South Carolina in 1930, but sickness ended his campaign. He was a Chair of the Board of Trustees of Newberry College and Life Trustee of Clemson College from 1913 to 1940.
He was elected president of the First Carolinas Joint Stock Land Bank at Columbia, South Carolina, in 1922 and was a field representative of Federal Farm Board.
He was a director of the public relations administration of the Farm Cr Administration until his death. He died on April 28, 1940, at “Seven Oaks,” in Lexington County, South Carolina. He is interred at College Hill (Woodlawn) Cemetery, on campus of Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina, Clemson, South Carolina.
The Cooperative Extension Service is a legacy to Lever.
This helped transform rural America. The Liberty Ship Steamship A. Frank Lever was named after Lever.
Lever Hall, a high-rise dormitory on the Clemson University campus, is named after Asbury Lever. The Clemson University Library has the papers of Frank Lever.
Achievements
Membership
He was elected a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1901. He resigned from Congress to become a member of the Federal Farm Loan Board, in which capacity he served until 1922.
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Born
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Died
April 28, 1940 (aged 65) -
Nationality
United States -
Political Party
Democratic party