Representative Edgar Allan Jonas

Edgar Allan Jonas (October 14, 1885 – November 14, 1965) was an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as a Republican U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1949 to 1955. Over the course of three terms in the United States House of Representatives, he contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his Illinois constituents.

Jonas was born in Mishicot, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, on October 14, 1885. He attended the public schools of the area and completed his early formal training at the Manitowoc County Normal School, an institution designed to prepare teachers for service in local schools. Following his graduation, he began his professional life in education, teaching in the rural schools of Manitowoc County from 1903 to 1907. This early experience in public education provided him with firsthand knowledge of rural communities and their needs, an understanding that would later inform his public service.

Seeking further education and a career in law, Jonas moved to Illinois and enrolled in the University of Chicago Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1909, before the completion of his formal legal studies, and graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in June 1910. Upon admission to the bar, he commenced the practice of law in Chicago, Illinois, establishing himself in a city that would remain the center of his professional and political life. His early legal career in Chicago laid the groundwork for his later roles in municipal and county government.

Jonas entered public legal service in Chicago when he was appointed assistant corporation counsel of the city in 1919, a position he held through 1920. In this capacity, he was involved in the legal affairs of the municipal government during a period of post–World War I growth and adjustment. He then advanced to the role of first assistant State’s attorney of Cook County, Illinois, serving from 1921 to 1923, where he took part in the prosecution of criminal matters in one of the nation’s largest counties. In 1921, he also ran successfully as a Republican nominee for the Circuit Court of Cook County, reflecting the growing confidence placed in him by his party and the electorate.

Jonas’s judicial career became the central focus of his public life for many years. He served as a judge of the Municipal Court of Chicago from 1923 to 1937, presiding over a wide range of cases in a busy urban court system during a period that spanned the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression. After a brief return to other legal pursuits, he continued his judicial service as a judge of the Superior Court of Cook County in 1941 and 1942. Later, he broadened his involvement in the administration of justice at the state level by serving as an associate member of the Illinois Board of Pardons and Paroles from 1945 to 1947, participating in decisions affecting clemency and parole for state prisoners.

By the late 1940s, Jonas had become an established figure in Illinois Republican politics. He served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1948, taking part in the party’s national deliberations at the outset of the postwar era. He then successfully sought federal office and was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-first, Eighty-second, and Eighty-third Congresses, serving from January 3, 1949, to January 3, 1955. As a member of the House of Representatives during a significant period in American history, which included the early Cold War and the Korean War, Jonas participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his Illinois district. During this time, he remained aligned with the Republican Party’s positions on national policy and governance. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1954 to the Eighty-fourth Congress and again for election in 1956 to the Eighty-fifth Congress, bringing his congressional career to a close after three consecutive terms.

Following his departure from Congress, Jonas resumed the practice of law and continued to reside in Chicago, Illinois. He remained a respected member of the legal and political community, drawing on decades of experience as a teacher, attorney, judge, and legislator. In his later years, he lived in the Chicago area until his death in nearby Evanston, Illinois, on November 14, 1965. Edgar Allan Jonas was interred in Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago, concluding a long career of public service at the local, state, and national levels.