Information Sheet

 

 

R         Elvins, Politte, 1878-1943.

1179                Campaign cards, 1908, 1920.

                                    One folder.

 

 

 

These are small campaign cards for Politte Elvins of Saint Francois County, Missouri, who was a successful candidate for United States Representative in 1908 and an unsuccessful candidate in the Republican primary election for Lieutenant Governor in 1920.

 

Politte Elvins was born at French Village in Saint Francois County, Missouri, on 16 March 1878.  A graduate of Carleton College (Farmington, Mo.) and the University of Missouri law school, he practiced law in Saint Francois County.

 

 In November 1908 Elvins was elected the young­est member of the 61st Congress from the 13th District of Missouri, and it is supposed that this campaign card is from that election.  Included are a photographic portrait, promises to support high tariffs and restrict immigration, and a pledge to extend military pensions and rural free postal delivery.  He was described as “the Roosevelt electoral messenger from Missouri.”  He served one term and was defeated for re-election in 1910.  In 1912-1914 he served as chairman of the Missouri State Re­publican Committee.  In 1917 he moved to Bonne Terre, Missouri, where he resumed the practice of law.

 

Although undated, the second card appears to be from 1920, when Elvins was an unsuc­cessful candidate for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor.  One side includes a photographic portrait of Elvins with the message “Politte Elvins Republican Candidate for Lieu­tenant-Governor,” while the reverse side has biographical “Data Excerpted from ‘Who’s Who in America.’”

 

In the late 1930s Elvins moved to Texas, where he died in 1943.

 

 

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