James B. Aswell

James Benjamin Aswell​
U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 8th congressional district, disbanded​ in 1992
In office March 4, 1913 ​ – March 16, 1931​
Preceded by	New 8th district created ​
Succeeded by	John Holmes Overton​
President of Louisiana Tech University​
In office 1900​ – 1904​
Preceded by	[W. C. Robinson​
Succeeded by	W. E. Taylor​
Louisiana Superintendent of Education​
In office 1904​ – 1908​
Succeeded by	T. H. Harris​
President of Northwestern State University​
In office 1908​ – 1911​
Born	December 23, 1869​ Vernon, Jackson Parish, Louisiana​
Died	March 16, 1931 (aged 62)​ Washington, D.C.​
Resting place	Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.​
Political party	Democrat​
Spouse(s)	(1) Mary Lee Wright Aswell ​ (2) Ella Foster Aswell​
Children	Corinne Aswell ___ ​ James B. Aswell, Jr. ​
Alma mater	Peabody College ​ University of Nashville (defunct) ​ University of Arkansas ​ UA School of Law
Occupation	Educator, Attorney, Politician​

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​ James Benjamin Aswell, Sr. (December 23, 1869 – March 16, 1931), was a prominent educator and a Democratic U.S. rRpresentative from Louisiana, who served from 1913 until his death, which occurred twelve days into his tenth term.​

==Background==​ Aswell was born in the Vernon community near Jonesboro in Jackson Parish in north Louisiana to Benjamin W. Aswell and the former Elizabeth A. Lyles. He attended local schools and graduated with teaching credentials in 1892 from Peabody Normal College, a division of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1893, he received the Bachelor of Arts degree from the former University of Nashville. In 1894, he received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville; in 1907, he obtained his law degree from the same institution. He was twice married: (1) to the former Mary Lee Wright by whom he had his daughter Corinne, and (2) to the former Ella Foster of Mineral Wells, Texas, and thereafter Shreveport, by whom he had his son, James B. Aswell, Jr. (1906–1955), an author based in Natchitoches.​

Career

Aswell began his educational career as a teacher in country schools and high schools. He was a state school administrator before he was tapped from 1900 to become the third president of Louisiana Tech University (formerly Louisiana W. E. Taylor, a biology professor, succeeded Aswell as the Louisiana Tech president. Aswell was superintendent for one term until 1908, during which time he worked to reorganize public schools. From 1908 to 1911, Aswell was the president of Northwestern State University, when that institution was known as the Normal School in Natchitoches.​​Aswell resigned as the Northwestern president to run unsuccessfully for governor of Louisiana in the 1912 Democratic primary. He was defeated by Luther E. Hall (1869-1921), who served in the state's highest office from 1912 to 1916.​ ​ Thereafter, Aswell was instead elected to the U.S. House in 1912 from the newly created 8th congressional district, based about Natchitoches and Alexandria. The district was abolished effective with the 1992 congressional elections. Its last representative was Republican Clyde Cecil Holloway (1943-2016) of south Rapides Parish, Aswell was reelected nine times. He served during the administrations of U.S. Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. During the 1920s, he was the ranking minority member of the House Agriculture Committee. He worked with the Louisiana naturalist Caroline Dormon]to establish the Kisatchie National Forest in his district. He was a strong opponent of President Hoover, whom many Democrats blamed for the Great Depression, which had barely begun when Aswell died. Hoover nevertheless signed Aswell's legislation to designate the Kisatchie Forest. Aswell tried to pass various "drought-relief" measures in the House even before the Dust Bowl in the Great Plains states.​

Aswell spoke on W. K. Henderson's KWKH radio in Shreveport against Hoover's support for desegregation of the southern states. The speech was prompted by allegations made by Governor Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi that Hoover in 1927 had danced with Mary Booze, the first African-American member of the Republican National Committee. The questionable rendezvous supposedly occurred when Hoover, as United States Secretary of Commerce, visited Mound Bayou, Mississippi, while touring damage from the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. Bilbo referred to Booze as "a negress." Hoover's southern supporters, most of them business-oriented Democrats, pointed in reply to racial intermarriage which occurred in Smith's New York. ​ ​ At the time of his death, Aswell was the dean of the Louisiana congressional delegation. He left an unfinished novel White Sheep based on the politics of Louisiana Governor and U.S. Senator Huey Pierce Long, Jr.​ ​ He died in Washington, D.C., and is interred there in Rock Creek Cemeter]. Aswell Hall on the Louisiana Tech campus honors his memory. His papers are deposited in the archives of Northwestern State University. Monnie T. Cheves, an NSU professor who served in the Louisiana House of Representatives for Natchitoches Parish from 1952 to 1960, wrote in 1936 The educational and political career of James Benjamin Aswell, a master's thesis through Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.​

References

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Ms. Diamond Sewell, "James Benjamin Aswell: Educator," North Louisiana History, Vol. 5, No. 4 (Summer 1974), pp 118–129.​ ​

• Library Home       NSU Home at www.nsula.edu​
• LSU Libraries -- Long Family Manuscripts at www.lib.lsu.edu​
• James Aswell at Find-A-Grave​

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