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John D. Fredericks

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John D. Fredericks
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 10th district
In office
May 1, 1923 – March 3, 1927
Preceded byHenry Z. Osborne
Succeeded byJoe Crail
26th Los Angeles County District Attorney
In office
1903–1915
Preceded byJames C. Rives
Succeeded byThomas L. Woolwine
Personal details
Born
John D. Fredericks

(1869-09-10)September 10, 1869
Burgettstown, Pennsylvania
DiedAugust 26, 1945(1945-08-26) (aged 75)
Los Angeles, California
Political partyRepublican

John Donnan Fredericks (September 10, 1869 – August 26, 1945) was an American lawyer and politician from Los Angeles, California, who served two terms as a U.S. Representative from 1923 to 1927. As District Attorney of Los Angeles County (1903-1915) he successfully prosecuted the McNamara brothers for their 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times building.

Biography

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Born in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, Fredericks attended the public schools and Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pennsylvania.[1] He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1896, and commenced practice in Los Angeles. Fredericks served as an adjutant in the Seventh Regiment, California Volunteer Infantry, during the Spanish–American War in 1898.[1]

He was elected district attorney of Los Angeles County in 1902 and re-elected in 1906 and 1910, serving from 1903 to 1915. During his tenure as district attorney, he gained national attention for the successful prosecution of the McNamara brothers for their bombing of the Los Angeles Times building on October 1, 1910.[2] Clarence Darrow was the chief attorney for the defense.

Fredericks was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Governor of California in 1914 against popular incumbent Hiram W. Johnson, who had been elected under the Republican Party banner four years earlier but now ran under the short-lived Progressive Party of Theodore Roosevelt.[1] In 1922, Fredericks was elected president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and served a one-year term.

Congress

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Fredericks was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-eighth Congress on May 1, 1923, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry Z. Osborne. He was elected in 1924 to a full term in the Sixty-ninth Congress, but did not seek renomination in 1926. His congressional career ended March 3, 1927.

Later career and death

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In 1915, after leaving office as Los Angeles County district attorney, Fredericks founded the law firm of Fredericks and Hanna. The firm is still in existence and is now known as Hanna and Morton LLP.[3] Fredericks died of a heart attack on August 26, 1945. He was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Spitzzeri, Paul R. (June 3, 2019). "Portrait Gallery: District Attorney John D. Fredericks, 3 June 1912". The Homestead Blog.
  2. ^ Cowan, Geoffrey (1993). The People V. Clarence Darrow (1st ed.). New York, NY: Times Books, a division of Random House, Inc. pp. 113, 152–53, 155, 158–59, 190, 219, 223, 240, 256. ISBN 0-8129-2179-8.
  3. ^ "www.HanMor.com". Hanna and Morton LLP.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to John D. Fredericks.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 10th congressional district
1923–1927 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for
Governor of California
1914 		Succeeded by

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

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