1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Clark, Champ

CLARK, CHAMP (1850-1921), American politician, was born in Anderson co., Ky., March 7 1850. He first entered Kentucky University but finished his course at Bethany College in 1873. The following year he was elected president of Marshall College, West Virginia, and one year later was admitted to the bar. After 1880 his law office was in Bowling Green, Missouri. He was city attorney for Louisiana (Mo.) and Bowling Green from 1878 to 1881, was prosecuting attorney for Pike co. 1885-9, and then for three years was a member of the Missouri House of Representatives. He was a member of Congress from 1893 to 1895, and from 1919 to 1921, being Speaker from 1911 to 1919 and minority leader thereafter; he was defeated in the election of 1920. At the Democratic Convention for the nomination of a presidential candidate held at Baltimore in 1912, he led on 27 ballots, and had a clear majority on eight, but he was finally defeated by Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey. He died in Washington, D.C., March 2 1921.