Cowles to Cannon

Description

Perhaps hoping to run into Speaker Joseph Cannon, who was said to frequent the stately hotel bar of the Raleigh Hotel in Washington, D.C., newly elected Representative Charles Cowles stayed at the ritzy hotel for the inauguration of President Taft. Having delivered a victory for Republicans in North Carolina, which was solidly Democratic in the 60th Congress, Cowles requested special consideration, and he took the opportunity to solicit favors from the Speaker. Cannon partially agreed, assigning him to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, which Cowles requested, but also to the Committee on Claims. Cowles did not have a chance to renegotiate his committee assignments in the 62nd Congress, as he was defeated by Democrat Robert Doughton, who held the seat from 1911 until 1952.