Washington Jay Mccormick, Jr. (January 4, 1884 – March 7, 1949) was 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

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. Born in

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...

, Mccormick attended the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

and the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. He is named after his father, Washington J. McCormick, a prominent Missoula citizen. He graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1906 and from the law department of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, in 1910. He was admitted to the New York bar the same year. He returned to

and admitted to the Montana bar in 1911, engaging in the practice of law. He served as member of the

Montana House of Representatives The Montana House of Representatives is, with the Montana Senate, one of the two houses of the Montana Legislature. Composed of 100 members, the House elects its leadership every two years. Composition of the House :''67th Legislature – 2021� ...

from 1918 to 1920. Mccormick 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 Sixty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1921 - March 3, 1923), but was unsuccessful in his reelection bid in 1922 to the Sixty-eighth Congress. He continued the practice of law until his retirement, when he devoted his time to writing. In 1923, a bill drafted by McCormick became the first proposed legislation regarding the United States' national language that would have made "American" the national language in order to differentiate the United States's language from that of England. This bill did not pass in Congress despite significant support—especially from Irish immigrants who were resentful of British influence. McCormick allowed his family ranch at Fort Owen to become a state park. He resided in the Bitter Root Valley, near

Stevensville, Montana Stevensville ( Salish: ɫq̓éɫmlš) is a town in Ravalli County, Montana, United States. The population was 2,002 at the 2020 census. Stevensville is officially recognized as the first permanent settlement of non-indigenous peoples in the sta ...

, until his death in

, March 7, 1949. He was interred in Missoula Cemetery.Political Graveyard
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCormick, Washington J. 1884 births 1949 deaths Republican Party members of the Montana House of Representatives Politicians from Missoula, Montana Montana State University alumni Harvard University alumni Columbia Law School alumni University of Notre Dame alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Montana 20th-century American politicians People from Stevensville, Montana