Portrait of congressional freshman class of 1947

Donald Lester Jackson (January 23, 1910 – May 27, 1981) was a U.S. Representative from

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

from 1947 to 1961. Born in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, Edmunds County,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

, Jackson attended the public schools of South Dakota and California.

Biography

He served as a private in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through c ...

from 1927 to 1931 and again from 1940 until discharged as a colonel in 1945 with two years' combat service overseas. He engaged in public relations, and worked as a reporter and editor in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

, from 1938 to 1940. He served as director of publicity for the city of Santa Monica, in 1939 and 1940. Jackson was a congressional adviser at the ninth conference of American States at Bogotá, Colombia in 1948 and was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to the Eightieth and to the six succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1961). His congressional service included the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, create ...

, and a notable role in accusing Methodist Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam of engaging in

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

activities. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1960. Jackson voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, but did not vote on the

Civil Rights Act of 1960 The Civil Rights Act of 1960 () is a United States federal law that established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote. It dealt primarily ...

. Jackson was appointed to the

to replace future president

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

, who had just been elected to the United States Senate. He worked as a radio and television commentator from 1960 to 1968, and was appointed by President Nixon as a commissioner on Interstate Commerce Commission in 1969. Jackson resided in Sosua,

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

, until his death in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which ...

, May 27, 1981. He was interred in

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Donald Lester 1910 births 1981 deaths American anti-communists American Congregationalists United States Marine Corps officers Burials at Arlington National Cemetery People from Ipswich, South Dakota Military personnel from South Dakota People from Santa Monica, California United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California United States Marine Corps colonels 20th-century American politicians Military personnel from California

Biography

See also

References