US Congressman, Publisher. He was born one of five children as John Ralph McDowell Sr. in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, to John Ralph McDowell and his wife Margaret Eleanor Allison McDowell on November 2, 1902. He was educated locally in the public school system and in high school. He later attended and graduated from the prestigious Randolph-Macon Military Academy in Front Royal, Virginia. He then became interested in newspaper work and he found a job as a reporter and editor on the Pitcairn Express in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, in 1923, and worked in several other newspapers until 1929. He also worked as a Magistrate in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, became an editor of the Wilkinsburg Gazette in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1929, and President of the Wilkinsburg Gazette Publishing Company in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1944. He also entered politics and served as a Delegate to the Republican National Convention from Pennsylvania as an Alternate in 1936. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and defeated the outgoing incumbent United States Representative James Leland Quinn (1875-1960), to represent the Seventy-Sixth Congress in 1938. He took office on January 3, 1939. A Member of the Republican Party, he then served Pennsylvania's 29th District (Seventy-Sixth Congress), in the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 1939, to January 3, 1941. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to represent the Seventy-Seventh Congress in 1940 and he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to represent the Seventy-Eighth Congress in 1942. After his time in the United States Congress expired, he was succeeded in office by the incoming United States Representative Samuel Arthur Weiss (1902-1977), on January 3, 1941. He then decided to run again for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected yet again to succeed the outgoing United States Representative Howard Edmond Campbell (1890-1971), and represent the Eightieth Congress on January 3, 1947, having beaten United States Representative Harry James Davenport (1902-1977), for a seat in the Eightieth Congress by just over 1,100 votes the previous year. A Member of the Republican Party, he then served Pennsylvania's 31st District (Eightieth Congress), in the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 1947, to January 3, 1949. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to represent the Eighty-First Congress in 1948, after being beaten by United States Representative Harry James Davenport (1902-1977), who had previously lost in 1946. After his time in the United States Congress expired, he was succeeded in office by the incoming United States Representative Harry James Davenport (1902-1977), on January 3, 1949. During his second and final term in the United States Congress, he served on the House Un-American Activities Committee (or HUAC) in 1947 and 1948 and was acting chairman when United States Representative John Parnell Thomas (1895-1970), was not presiding. He also initially investigated suspected fascists on the House Un-American Activities Committee (or HUAC). In early 1948, he also argued against granting a visa to the German boxer Max Schmeling (1905-2005), who wanted to stage a comeback in the United States. The State Department later denied German boxer Max Schmeling (1905-2005), the visa in that he did not meet any of the categories for granting visas to German citizens. He also played a role in the Alger Hiss case. The key witness, the journalist, writer, editor, Communist Party member, and Soviet spy, Whittaker Chambers (1901-1961), was asked to provide details about the Government Official Alger Hiss (1904-1996), that few people would know. He mentioned that Alger Hiss (1904-1996), was a birdwatcher and had bragged about seeing a prothonotary warbler. In the hearing future United States President Richard Nixon (1913-1994), asked Government Official Alger Hiss (1904-1996), about his hobbies, to which he replied tennis and amateur ornithology. United States Representative John Ralph McDowell (1902-1957), interjected with a question as to whether Government Official Alger Hiss (1904-1996), had ever seen a prothonotary warbler, to which Government Official Alger Hiss (1904-1996), gushed in the hearing that he had indeed, seen one, and described it to the House Un-American Activities Committee (or HUAC). This helped persuade the House Un-American Activities Committee (or HUAC) that journalist, writer, editor, Communist Party member, and Soviet spy, Whittaker Chambers (1901-1961), was being truthful. He also introduced a bill to grant the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives or the President of the United States Senate the power to obtain secret documents from any government agency, he stated: "The President, in an election year, is pulling down an iron curtain between Congress and information on the Government ... There would be protection in two ways–against some official who might attempt to suppress for political or personal reasons information Congress should have, and against some weird committee chairman who might go haywire and demand and make public all kinds of secret documents." The previous day, the United States President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), issued an executive directive, which barred the United States Congress from just that. The Washington Post newspaper praised United States President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), in an editorial, arguing "Every consideration of common sense backs it up as well, of course. The loyalty program would be meaningless if suspect employees were to be tried in newspapers and before congressional committees." In October 1948, after indictments against twelve suspected communists in what would become the Foley Square Trials, the then United States Attorney John F. X. McGohey (1894-1972), called on the United States Representative John Ralph McDowell (1902-1957), to appear before a grand jury in the case after United States Representative John Ralph McDowell (1902-1957), charged that prosecutors deliberately drew up the indictments in such a way that the charges would not result in a conviction. United States Representative John Ralph McDowell (1902-1957), later called United States Attorney John F. X. McGohey (1894-1972), and Attorney General Ramsey Clark (1927-2021), "inept" in producing the indictments. Following his time in the United States Congress, he resumed his interests in the newspaper publishing business. He lastly served as a Delegate to the Republican National Convention from Pennsylvania in 1956, before once again returning to his newspaper publishing interests shortly before his death. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. He was married to Virginia C. McDowell (1904-1997), with whom he had one child, a daughter named Patricia.