Israel Moore Foster (January 12, 1873 – June 10, 1950) was 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 again ...

Representative in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washi ...

from the state of

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, serving three terms from 1919 to 1925.

Biography

Born in

Athens, Ohio Athens is a city and the county seat of Athens County, Ohio. The population was 23,849 at the 2020 census. Located along the Hocking River within Appalachian Ohio about southeast of Columbus, Athens is best known as the home of Ohio Universit ...

, Foster attended the public schools, and graduated from the

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subsequ ...

at Athens in 1895. He studied law at the Harvard Law School in 1895 and 1896, and graduated from the Ohio State Law School in 1898, commencing practice the same year in Athens, Ohio. He served as prosecuting attorney of

Athens County Athens County is a county in southeastern Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 62,431. Its county seat is Athens. The county was formed in 1805 from Washington County. Because the original state university (Ohio University) was fo ...

from 1902 to 1910. He served as member and secretary of the board of trustees of the

for twenty-four years, and was Secretary of the Republican State central committee in 1912. After graduating from the

in 1895, he studied law at the

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1895 and 1896 before graduating from the Ohio State University College of Law in 1898. He practiced law in Athens and became the prosecuting attorney of

from 1902 to 1910. He also served as a member and secretary of the board of trustees of

for 24 years and was secretary of the Republican State Central Committee in 1912.

Congress

Foster was elected as a

to the Sixty-sixth, Sixty-seventh, and Sixty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1919 – March 4, 1925). He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1924. While in Congress, he is best known for proposing the

Child Labor Amendment The Child Labor Amendment is a proposed and still-pending amendment to the United States Constitution that would specifically authorize Congress to regulate "labor of persons under eighteen years of age". The amendment was proposed on June 2, 1 ...

to the United States Constitution.

Later career

After serving in Congress, he was appointed a commissioner of the court of claims on April 1, 1925, and served until April 1, 1942, when he retired. He died 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 is buried in Washington's

Rock Creek Cemetery Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. It is across the stre ...

. He has a residence hall at Ohio University named after him, located on South Green. Ohio University administration planned to demolish it in 2014. Calvin Coolidge and Israel Moore Foster

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Israel Moore 1873 births 1950 deaths Child labor in the United States Ohio Bobcats baseball coaches Ohio University trustees Ohio State University Moritz College of Law alumni County district attorneys in Ohio Ohio University alumni Harvard Law School alumni People from Athens, Ohio Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio