Longworth, Nicholas

Nicholas Longworth was an American political leader, elected official and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

Longworth was born on November 5, 1869, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the great-grandson of Nicholas Longworth, one of the wealthiest men in the United States by 1850 and a leading horticulturalist.

He grew up in Cincinnati and attended the Franklin School. Longworth graduated from Franklin in 1891 and immediately enrolled in the Harvard Law School. He left Harvard in 1892 and enrolled in the Cincinnati Law School, graduating with his law degree in 1894.

Longworth began to practice law in Cincinnati after graduation, but he also went into politics as well. Cincinnati voters elected Longworth to the board of education. At the urging of George Cox, the political boss of Cincinnati, Longworth successfully won election to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1898. He served in the House from 1899 to 1901. In 1900, voters elected Longworth to the Ohio Senate. He was a state senator from 1901 to 1903.

In 1902, Longworth was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. He served from 1903 to 1913. On February 17, 1906, he married Alice Lee Roosevelt, the daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt. The couple was married in the White House. In 1912, Longworth failed to win reelection to the House of Representatives. In 1914, he was elected to the House once again. Longworth remained in the House for the next sixteen years. From 1925 to 1931, he served as the Speaker of the House.

Longworth died on April 9, 1931, while on a trip to South Carolina. [[Category:{$topic}]]