Representative Earl Thomas Wagner

Earl Thomas Wagner (April 27, 1908 – March 6, 1990) was an American lawyer, local government official, and Democratic politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1949 to 1951. Over the course of his career he combined private legal practice with a series of public legal and educational posts in the Cincinnati area before and after his service in Congress.

Wagner was born on April 27, 1908, in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. He was educated in both parochial and public schools in Cincinnati, reflecting the city’s mixed religious and civic educational traditions. Remaining in his native city for higher education, he enrolled in the Salmon P. Chase College of Law in Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1930. Later that year, in September 1930, he was admitted to the bar and immediately commenced the practice of law in Cincinnati, beginning a professional association with the city that would continue throughout his life.

Early in his legal career, Wagner entered public service during the New Deal era. He served as district counsel of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation in 1933 and 1934, participating in a federal program created to address home foreclosures during the Great Depression. He subsequently served as special counsel to the Ohio Attorney General in 1937 and 1938, providing legal representation to the state in selected matters. At the local level, he was city solicitor of Sharonville, Ohio, in 1938 and 1939, advising that municipality on legal affairs and helping to administer its ordinances and contracts.

Wagner also played a role in public education governance in Cincinnati. He served as a member of the board of education of the Cincinnati School District from 1944 to 1947, a period that encompassed the final years of World War II and the immediate postwar transition. In this capacity he participated in the oversight of the city’s public schools, contributing to policy decisions affecting curriculum, facilities, and administration at a time of demographic and economic change.

Building on his legal and local public service experience, Wagner was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-first Congress, representing Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 3, 1949, to January 3, 1951. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, marked by the early Cold War, the implementation of postwar domestic programs, and debates over foreign aid and national security. As a member of the House of Representatives, Earl Thomas Wagner participated in the legislative process, contributed to deliberations on national policy, and represented the interests of his Ohio constituents during his one term in office. A member of the Democratic Party, he took part in the party’s efforts to shape federal policy in the immediate postwar era.

Wagner was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1950 and later sought to return to Congress as a candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1952 and 1954, but these campaigns were also unsuccessful. After leaving Congress, he resumed the practice of law in Cincinnati, continuing his long-standing professional engagement with the city’s legal community. He also returned to municipal legal work, serving as city solicitor of Addyston, Ohio, in 1952 and 1953, where he again provided counsel on local governmental matters.

In addition to his private practice and municipal roles, Wagner served as general counsel for a savings and loan bank in Cincinnati, extending his legal expertise into the financial sector and contributing to the governance and regulatory compliance of a local financial institution. He remained a resident of Cincinnati for the rest of his life, maintaining his ties to the community in which he had been born, educated, and professionally active. Earl Thomas Wagner died in Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 6, 1990.