Cleveland Dear

Cleveland Dear, Sr.
United States Representative from Louisiana's 8th congressional district (since defunct)
In office March 4, 1933 – March 4, 1937
Preceded by	John H. Overton
Succeeded by	A. Leonard Allen
Personal details
Born	August 22, 1888(1888-08-22) Sugartown Beauregard Parish Louisiana, USA
Died	December 30, 1950(1950-12-30) (aged 62) Alexandria Rapides Parish, Louisiana
Resting place	Greenwood Memorial Park in Pineville, Louisiana
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Marion Suzanne Anderson Dear
Children	Marion Dear Cleveland Dear, Jr.
Alma mater	Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Occupation	Attorney
Religion	Baptist
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Battles/wars	World War I

Cleveland Dear, Sr. (August 22, 1888 – December 30, 1950), was a U.S. representative from the state of Louisiana, a district attorney, a state court judge, and a candidate in 1936 for governor of Louisiana. He served two terms in Congress as a Democrat from the since disbanded Eighth Congressional District in Central Louisiana. He was allied with the anti-Long political faction.

Dear was the youngest of eleven children born to Mississippi natives James Mackburn Dear (1846–1925) and the former Sarah Jane Harper (1849–1932) in Sugartown in Beauregard Parish in western Louisiana. After early education in country schools, Dear graduated from Louisiana State University and its Paul M. Hebert Law Center, both in Baton Rouge, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. In 1914, he received his law degree and was admitted that same year to the bar. At first, he was in partnership in Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish in Central Louisiana, with Frank H. Peterman in the firm Peterman & Dear. When V. H. Peterman, the father of Frank Peterman joined the firm, it became Peterman, Dear & Peterman. The firm handled local interests of the Texas & Pacific Railway and the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company.

On April 8, 1917, Dear entered the officers' training camp at Fort Logan H. Roots in Arkansas, where he achieved the rank of first lieutenant in the field artillery. He was then assigned to Camp Pike in Arkansas and then Fort Meade in Maryland, where he was discharged on December 14, 1918. Thereafter, he was a captain in the Department of the Organized Reserve Corps. After his discharge, he was active in the newly-established American Legion.

In April 1921, Dear married the former Marion Suzanne Anderson (died 1969), a native of Chicago who later resided in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The couple had a daughter, also named Marion (born 1924), and a son, Cleveland Dear, Jr. (born 1928). Dear was a Baptist deacon, but his wife was Episcopalian. He was active in the Masonic lodge, the Shriners, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. One of Dear's nephews, Joseph W. Dear (1917–2004), the son of Cleveland Dear's brother Webb Dear (1870–1936), was the municipal purchasing agent in Alexandria, who with his wife, the former Florine Weathersby, owned a flower shop.

In 1920, Dear was elected district attorney for the Ninth Judicial District based in Alexandria, a position that he held until his election in 1932 to the U.S. House. In Congress, he was the chairman of the House Committee on Elections No. 1.

In 1936, Dear attempted to succeed Governor James A. Noe of Monroe, who had briefly served upon the death of Oscar K. Allen of Winnfield. He was defeated by another Democrat, the pro-Long Richard Webster Leche of New Orleans. Dear then resumed the practice of law and was appointed judge in the Ninth Judicial District, a position which he retained with subsequent successful elections until his death.

He died in Alexandria and is interred at nearby Greenwood Memorial Park in Pineville.

References

• Cleveland Dear at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Political Graveyard

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by John H. Overton	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 8th congressional district 1933–1937	Succeeded by A. Leonard Allen