James "Champ" Clark (1850-1921) Inducted - Tuesday, June 6, 2000 Sculptor: William J. Williams Where is James "Champ" Clark in the Hall of Famous Missourians? James Beauchamp (Champ) Clark was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-third Congress from 1893 to 1895. After an unsuccessful reelection bid to the Fifty-fourth Congress, Clark won his election bid for the Fifty-fifth Congress and then to 11 succeeding Congresses. Serving as minority leader and Speaker of the House of Representatives, he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to Speaker in 1920 to the Sixty-seventh Congress. During this time in Congress, he was chairman of the Democratic National Convention in 1904 and a presidential nomination candidate in 1912. He served until his death in 1921. Before running for Congress, Clark attended Kentucky University at Lexington and graduated from Bethany College in West Virginia in 1873. He then went on to graduate from Cincinnati Law School in 1875 and was admitted to the bar. In 1876, Clark moved to Bowling Green, Missouri, where he served as city attorney. He was deputy prosecuting attorney and prosecuting attorney of Pike County from 1885 to 1889 and a member of the State House of Representatives in 1889 and 1891. Following his father into public service was Bennett Champ Clark who was a two-term United States Senator for Missouri. He was elected in 1932 and 1938.