United States House of Representatives: History, Art, & Archives
Search the website

DOUGHTON, Robert Lee

DOUGHTON, Robert Lee
Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
About this object
DOUGHTON, Robert Lee
1863–1954

Office

Representative

State/Territory

North Carolina

Party

Democrat

Congress(es)

62nd (1911–1913), 63rd (1913–1915), 64th (1915–1917), 65th (1917–1919), 66th (1919–1921), 67th (1921–1923), 68th (1923–1925), 69th (1925–1927), 70th (1927–1929), 71st (1929–1931), 72nd (1931–1933), 73rd (1933–1935), 74th (1935–1937), 75th (1937–1939), 76th (1939–1941), 77th (1941–1943), 78th (1943–1945), 79th (1945–1947), 80th (1947–1949), 81st (1949–1951), 82nd (1951–1953)

Leadership Positions

Democratic Caucus Chair - 75th

Jump To

Concise Biography

DOUGHTON, Robert Lee, a Representative from North Carolina; born at Laurel Springs, Alleghany County, N.C., on November 7, 1863; was educated in the public schools at Laurel Springs and Sparta; engaged in agricultural pursuits and the raising of livestock at Laurel Springs; also interested in banking; member of the State board of agriculture 1903-1909; served in the State senate in 1908 and 1909; director of the State prison board 1909-1911; president of the Deposit & Savings Bank, North Wilkesboro, N.C., since 1911; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-second and to the twenty succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1911-January 3, 1953); chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses), Committee on Ways and Means (Seventy-third through Seventy-ninth Congresses and Eighty-first and Eighty-second Congresses), Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation (Eighty-first and Eighty-second Congresses); was not a candidate for renomination in 1952; returned to Laurel Springs, N.C., where he died October 1, 1954; interment in Laurel Springs Baptist Church Cemetery.

View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

[ Top ]

External Research Collections

University of North Carolina
Southern Historical Collection

Chapel Hill, NC
Papers: 1913-1954, 81 linear feet. The congressional office files of Robert Lee Doughton consist of requests from constituents for appointments and services, correspondence with district and state leaders, and letters regarding public questions and pending legislation, especially concerning finance and taxation. Other topics addressed extensively include Democratic Party politics and the Blue Ridge Parkway. There are a few scattered personal, financial and business, and legal items, and copies of speeches. The bulk of the papers date between 1928 and 1952. A finding aid is available in the repository and online: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/d/Doughton,Robert_Lee.html

Wisconsin Historical Society
Archives Division

Madison, WI
Papers: In the Wilbur J. Cohen Papers, 1930-1987, 109.8 cubic feet. Correspondents include Robert Lee Doughton.
[ Top ]

Bibliography / Further Reading

Bickett, Thomas Walter. Contested election case of James I. Campbell v. Robert L. Doughton from the Eighth Congressional District of North Carolina. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1921.

Rankin, Robert S. "Robert L. Doughton." In Public Men In and Out of Office, edited by John Thomas Salter, pp. 167-80. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1946.

[ Top ]

Committee Assignments & Leadership

Committee Assignments

Committee Name & Date Congresses Congresses
Ways and Means
[1795-Present]
4th Congress-Present
73rd (1933–1935) – 79th (1945–1947);
81st (1949–1951) – 82nd (1951–1953)
73rd (1933–1935) –
79th (1945–1947);
81st (1949–1951) –
82nd (1951–1953)

Committee & Subcommittee Chair

Committee Subcommittee Congresses Congresses
Ways and Means Full Committee Chair
73rd (1933–1935) – 79th (1945–1947);
81st (1949–1951) – 82nd (1951–1953)
73rd (1933–1935) –
79th (1945–1947);
81st (1949–1951) –
82nd (1951–1953)
[ Top ]
Office of the Historian: history@mail.house.gov
Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov