Representative Charles Russell Clason

Charles Russell Clason (September 3, 1890 – July 7, 1985) was an American attorney, educator, and Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts who served six consecutive terms in Congress from 1937 to 1949. He was born in Gardiner, Kennebec County, Maine, where he attended the public schools before pursuing higher education. His early years in Maine preceded a long professional life centered in Massachusetts, where he would become a prominent figure in law, public service, and legal education.

Clason attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, graduating in 1911. He then studied law at Georgetown University Law School in Washington, D.C., receiving his law degree and gaining early exposure to the workings of the federal government. Distinguished for his academic ability, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and pursued further studies at Oxford University in England. This combination of American legal training and British academic experience helped shape his later career as both a practitioner and teacher of law.

Before and during World War I, Clason held several positions in federal service and international relief. In 1913 and 1914 he worked in Washington, D.C., for the Interstate Commerce Commission and the United States Department of Education, gaining experience in federal regulatory and administrative matters. With the outbreak of World War I, he served overseas as a sergeant major in the Coast Artillery of the United States Army. In 1914 and 1915 he was a member of the Commission for the Relief of Belgium, the large-scale humanitarian effort organized to alleviate civilian suffering in German-occupied Belgium, and for his work he was decorated with the King Albert Medal by the Belgian government.

After the war, Clason settled in Massachusetts and embarked on a dual career in legal practice and teaching. Beginning in 1920, he served as a law instructor at Northeastern University’s Springfield, Massachusetts, campus, a position he held until 1937. At the same time, he entered public service in the state’s criminal justice system. He was appointed assistant district attorney of the western district of Massachusetts, serving from 1922 to 1926, and then was elected district attorney for the same district, holding that office from 1927 to 1930. These roles established his reputation as a capable prosecutor and legal professional in western Massachusetts.

Clason’s experience in law and public service led to his election to the United States House of Representatives in 1936 as a Republican from Massachusetts. He took his seat in the Seventy-fifth Congress on January 3, 1937, and was reelected to five succeeding Congresses, serving continuously until January 3, 1949. His tenure in the House spanned the New Deal era, World War II, and the immediate postwar period, a significant and transformative time in American history. As a member of the House of Representatives, Charles Russell Clason participated in the legislative process, contributed to debates on domestic and foreign policy, and represented the interests of his Massachusetts constituents within the broader framework of national decision-making. A member of the Republican Party, he worked within the minority and majority dynamics of the House during a period dominated for much of the time by Democratic administrations.

In the 1948 election, Clason was defeated for reelection by Democrat Foster Furcolo, bringing his congressional service to a close after six terms. Following his departure from Congress, he returned to Springfield and turned his attention fully to legal education. He became dean of the Western New England College School of Law (now Western New England University School of Law), located in Springfield, Massachusetts. In that capacity he helped guide the development of the institution, drawing on his combined experience as a practitioner, prosecutor, legislator, and teacher to shape the training of future lawyers.

Clason lived to an advanced age, remaining a respected figure in Massachusetts legal and civic circles. He died on July 7, 1985. His contributions to legal education were recognized posthumously when, in 1988, the Western New England College School of Law honored him by establishing the Clason Speaker Series. This series provided a venue for four to five legal experts each year to present works-in-progress on contemporary legal topics through public lectures, reflecting Clason’s enduring legacy as a scholar, educator, and public servant.