Cyrenus Cole (January 13, 1863 – November 14, 1939) was a newspaper editor, newspaper columnist, columnist and historian, then a Republican Party (United States), Republican United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Iowa's 5th congressional district for over eleven years.
Born near Pella, Iowa, Cole graduated from Central College (Iowa), Central College in Pella, Iowa, Pella in 1887. He was an associate editor at ''The Iowa State Register'',
[Editorial, "Does He Recall It!," Waterloo Times-Tribune, 1905-05-12, at 4.] then the editor and (until 1913) co-owner of ''The Cedar Rapids Republican.'' He was also the author of many books, including "A History of the People of Iowa," "Iowa Through the Years," and "The Farmer in Politics and Prosperity." He also owned two farms near Pella.
While serving as editor, Cole was very active in the Standpatter Republican, stand-patters faction of the Iowa Republican Party, a "more" conservative alternative to the party's progressive wing.
In late 1920, James W. Good, the Republican U.S. Representative for Iowa's 5th congressional district (which included Cedar Rapids) indicated he would resign the following year. Cole easily prevailed in the district convention called to nominate a Republican candidate to fill the vacancy, and defeated his Democratic Party (United States), Democratic adversary in the July 1921 race. Cole was sworn into office on August 1, 1921, as a member of the 67th United States Congress, 67th Congress.
Cole won re-election four times, but by increasingly narrow margins in 1928 and 1930. He was considered a "dry" (supporter of Prohibition in the United States, prohibition) in the ongoing legislative controversy over the repeal of prohibition. In 1932, he elected not to seek re-election, following reapportionment that left him and another incumbent ("wet" Democrat Bernhard M. Jacobsen of Clinton, Iowa, Clinton) in a reconstituted Iowa's 2nd congressional district, 2nd congressional district that included several new counties in which Cole's "dry" stance on prohibition was unpopular. Jacobsen, and many other Democrats, won in the U.S. presidential election, 1932, Roosevelt landslide. In all, Cole served in Congress from August 1, 1921 to March 3, 1933.
Cole returned to writing, publishing several more books, including his memoirs.
[Cyrenus Cole, "I remember, I remember; a book of recollections,' (State Historical Society of Iowa, State Hist. Soc. of Ia. 1936)] He died on November 14, 1939, in Washington, D.C., and was interred in the First Dutch Reform Church Cemetery, near Pella.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Cyrenus
1863 births
1939 deaths
People from Pella, Iowa
Central College (Iowa) alumni
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa
American memoirists
Editors of Iowa newspapers
Historians of Iowa