Howard Aldridge Coffin (June 11, 1877 – February 28, 1956) was a politician from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Biography

Coffin was born in

Middleborough, Massachusetts Middleborough (frequently written as Middleboro) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,245 at the 2020 census. History The town was first settled by Europeans in 1661 as Nemasket, later changed to M ...

and attended the

Vermont Academy Vermont Academy (VA) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory, boarding and day school in Saxtons River, Vermont, serving students from ninth through twelfth grade, as well as postgraduates. Founded in 1876, the campus was listed on t ...

Saxtons River The Saxtons River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Vermont, a tributary of the Connecticut River. Its watershed covers and ...

. He graduated from Brown University,

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

, in 1901 and was a teacher in the Providence Friends School that same year. He worked as a representative for the book publishers,

Ginn & Company Pearson Education is a British-owned education publishing and assessment service to schools and corporations, as well for students directly. Pearson owns educational media brands including Addison–Wesley, Peachpit, Prentice Hall, eCollege, ...

, 1901-1911; controller, Warren Motor Car Company,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, 1911-1913; manager,

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is a tire company founded by Harvey Firestone (1868–1938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheele ...

, of Michigan, 1913-1918; secretary,

Detroit Pressed Steel Company Disteel brand pressed-steel automobile wheels were manufactured by the Detroit Pressed Steel Company, and were introduced in 1917 as an alternative to wooden artillery wheels with demountable rims. Pressed steel wheels were an alternative to frag ...

, 1918-1921; assistant to president,

Cadillac Motor Company The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

, of Detroit, 1921-1925; vice president and later president, White Star Refining Company, 1925-1933; general manager,

Socony-Vacuum Oil Company ExxonMobil, an American multinational oil and gas corporation presently based out of Texas, has had one of the longest histories of any company in its industry. A direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the company traces its roo ...

, 1933–1946. In 1946, Coffin 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

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Michigan's 13th congressional district Michigan's 13th congressional district is a United States congressional district in Wayne County, Michigan. It is currently represented by Democrat Shri Thanedar. The district includes portions of Detroit and some of its suburbs, and it was t ...

, defeating former Representative

Clarence J. McLeod Clarence John McLeod (July 3, 1895 – May 15, 1959) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. McLeod was born in Detroit, the son of a well-to-do Scottish father who had serve ...

in the Republican primary and going on to defeat incumbent

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

George D. O'Brien in the general election. Coffin served in the

80th Congress The 80th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 194 ...

, from January 3, 1947 to January 3, 1949. In a re-match, Coffin lost to O'Brien in the general election of 1948. Coffin organized the Industrial Service Bureau in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and was a business consultant until his retirement in 1954. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1956 and is interred in Woodlawn Cemetery,

References

Howard A. Coffin
at The Political Graveyard

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coffin, Howard Aldridge 1877 births 1956 deaths Baptists from Michigan People from Middleborough, Massachusetts Brown University alumni ExxonMobil people Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Detroit) Vermont Academy alumni