US Congressman. Elected as a Republican to represent Minnesota's 10th District (now defunct) in the Sixty-ninth and three succeeding Congresses, he served from 1925 until his death in office. Goodwin was raised by a single mother in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1896 he graduated with a law degree from the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and became a practicing attorney in Cambridge, where he later served as President of the Board of Education. He was Prosecuting Attorney for Isanti County from 1898 to 1907 and again from 1913 to 1925, when he resigned to take his seat in the US House of Representatives. Goodwin was a staunch supporter of Prohibition, which became increasingly unpopular during his time on Capitol Hill. After the 1930 census his Congressional district was abolished, and he failed to win his party's nomination as an At-Large candidate in 1932. That same year, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt promised to repeal federal prohibition laws. On February 16, 1933, two weeks before the end of his final term, Goodwin plunged to his death from a fifth floor window of the Hotel Driscoll in Washington DC. He had recently been hospitalized for a heart ailment. A coroner's inquest ruled his death accidental. Prohibition was officially repealed in December 1933.
US Congressman. Elected as a Republican to represent Minnesota's 10th District (now defunct) in the Sixty-ninth and three succeeding Congresses, he served from 1925 until his death in office. Goodwin was raised by a single mother in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1896 he graduated with a law degree from the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and became a practicing attorney in Cambridge, where he later served as President of the Board of Education. He was Prosecuting Attorney for Isanti County from 1898 to 1907 and again from 1913 to 1925, when he resigned to take his seat in the US House of Representatives. Goodwin was a staunch supporter of Prohibition, which became increasingly unpopular during his time on Capitol Hill. After the 1930 census his Congressional district was abolished, and he failed to win his party's nomination as an At-Large candidate in 1932. That same year, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt promised to repeal federal prohibition laws. On February 16, 1933, two weeks before the end of his final term, Goodwin plunged to his death from a fifth floor window of the Hotel Driscoll in Washington DC. He had recently been hospitalized for a heart ailment. A coroner's inquest ruled his death accidental. Prohibition was officially repealed in December 1933.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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