Today in Indiana History

November 20 , 2008

Claude Bowers, one of our state's most illustrious writers, historians, and diplomats, was born on this day in 1878. A native of Hamilton County, Bowers started a newspaper career in Indianapolis in 1900 and later worked on papers in Terre Haute, Fort Wayne, and New York. Before moving east, Bowers had been active in Democratic politics in Indiana and had run for Congress. In 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him ambassador to Spain and in 1939 to Chile. During his career in journalism and politics, Bowers wrote books on history, including "The Party Battles of the Jackson Period," "Jefferson and Hamilton," and "The Tragic Era." He died in 1958.