Perry BELMONT, Congress, NY (1851-1947)

BELMONT Perry , a Representative from New York; born in New York City December 28, 1851; attended Everest Military Academy, Hamden, Conn., and was graduated from Harvard University in 1872; studied civil law at the University of Berlin; was graduated from the Columbia Law School, New York City, in 1876; was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in New York City; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-seventh and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1881, to December 1, 1888, when he resigned to accept a diplomatic position; chairman, Committee on Expenditures on Public Buildings (Forty-eighth Congress), Committee on Foreign Affairs (Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses); declined to be a candidate for renomination to Congress in 1888; United States Minister to Spain in 1888 and 1889; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1892, 1896, 1904, and 1912; during the Spanish-American War served as major and inspector general of the First Division, Second Army Corps, United States Volunteers; in 1905 successfully initiated and organized the movement for the Federal and State campaign-publicity legislation, which was enacted into law in 1911, and was elected president of the National Association for Campaign Publicity Law; during the First World War was commissioned a captain in the remount service; resumed the practice of law in New York City in 1920; author of a number of books pertaining to national and political affairs; went abroad in 1932 for three years, residing mostly at Paris, France; returned, and made Newport, R.I., his permanent residence; died at Newport, R.I., May 25, 1947; interment in Island Cemetery.

Bibliography

Belmont, Perry. An American Democrat; The Recollections of Perry Belmont. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940. Reprint, New York: AMS Press, 1967.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present