Charles Pope Caldwell (June 18, 1875 – July 31, 1940) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served three terms as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1915 to 1921. His congressional service occurred during a significant period in American history, encompassing the years of World War I and the early postwar era, during which he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his constituents in the House of Representatives.
Caldwell was born on June 18, 1875, near Bastrop, Bastrop County, Texas. He attended the public schools in Texas before pursuing higher education in law. He enrolled at the University of Texas Law School, from which he graduated in 1898. Seeking further legal training and broader professional opportunities, he continued his studies at Yale Law School, earning a degree there in 1899. That same year, he was admitted to the bar in Austin, Texas, in 1898, and shortly thereafter gained admission to the bar in New York City.
By 1900, Caldwell had moved to New York City, where he commenced the practice of law. Establishing himself in his profession, he became active in public affairs and Democratic Party politics. His growing prominence was reflected in his appointment by New York Governor John Alden Dix as a delegate to the Atlantic Deeper Water Ways Convention in 1910, an assembly concerned with improving inland and coastal water transportation. He further solidified his standing in the party as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1912, participating in the national deliberations that shaped the party’s platform and leadership in the Progressive Era.
Caldwell was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-fourth, Sixty-fifth, and Sixty-sixth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1915, to March 3, 1921. Representing a New York district in the U.S. House of Representatives, he contributed to the legislative process over three consecutive terms. During his tenure, he took part in the democratic process at the federal level, addressing the needs and concerns of his New York constituents while the nation confronted issues of war, economic adjustment, and social change. A member of the Democratic Party, he declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1920, thereby concluding his congressional career at the end of his third term.
After leaving Congress, Caldwell resumed the practice of law in New York City, returning to the profession in which he had first made his reputation. His legal experience and public service record led to a judicial appointment in the city’s court system. On January 1, 1926, he was appointed associate justice of the Court of Special Sessions of New York City, a tribunal that handled a wide range of criminal and quasi-criminal matters. He served on that court for nearly a decade, remaining in the position until December 1935, when his term concluded.
In his later years, Caldwell continued his legal career on Long Island, where he resumed private practice after stepping down from the bench. He died in Sunnyside, Queens, New York, on July 31, 1940. In accordance with arrangements reflecting his enduring ties to his native state, his remains were cremated and the ashes scattered over his ancestral estate in Bastrop County, Texas, thus symbolically uniting his long public career in New York with his Texas origins.
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