Ralph William Roscoe Eltse (September 13, 1885 – March 18, 1971) was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a

U.S. Representative 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 c ...

from

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

from 1933 to 1935.

Biography

Eltse was born in

Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa is a city in, and the county seat of, Mahaska County, Iowa, United States. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Oskaloosa was a national center of bituminous coal mining. The population was 11,558 in the 2020 U.S. Cens ...

. He attended the public schools and graduated from Penn College (now

William Penn University William Penn University is a private university in Oskaloosa, Iowa. It was founded by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1873 as Penn College. In 1933, the name was changed to William Penn College, and finally to William Pe ...

) in Oskaloosa in 1909 and from Haverford (Pennsylvania) College in 1910. He moved to

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

in 1912. He attended the law department of the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

. He was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1915 and commenced practice in Berkeley. He served as a member of the Republican State committee 1932–1935, and was a delegate to the Republican State conventions in 1932, 1934, and 1940.

Congress

Eltse 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 Seventy-third Congress (March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935). He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1934 to the Seventy-fourth Congress and for election in 1940 to the Seventy-seventh Congress.

Later career and death

He resumed the practice of law, and resided in Berkeley until his death on March 18, 1971. He was entombed in Sunset Mausoleum.

References

1885 births 1971 deaths William Penn University alumni Haverford College alumni UC Berkeley School of Law alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California People from Oskaloosa, Iowa 20th-century American politicians {{California-Representative-stub