Nix, Robert N. C., Sr. (Robert Nelson Cornelius, Sr.), 1898-1987

<p>Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix Sr. (August 9, 1898 – June 22, 1987) was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1958 until 1979. He was the first African American to represent Pennsylvania in the House of Representatives. The Robert N. C. Nix Federal Building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is named in his honor.</p>

<p>Born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, he attended Townsend Harris High School in New York City and graduated from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) in 1921. He received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and began practicing in Philadelphia. After entering private practice, Nix became active in the Democratic Party as a committeeman from the fourth ward in 1932. He became a special assistant deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania in 1934 and delegate to the 1956 Democratic National Convention.</p>

<p>In 1958, he defeated two opponents in a special election to fill a congressional vacancy left by Earl Chudoff in the House of Representatives. An elected official who rarely wanted or attracted widespread publicity, he supported mostly liberal legislation. He was reelected 10 times. He worked for the passage of the landmark legislation promoting the American Civil Rights Movement and privately sought to prevent the House from denying Rep. Adam Clayton Powell his seat in 1967. In 1962, he became the first member of congress to knowingly meet with gay activists, when he invited Frank Kameny to his office. In 1975, he introduced an amendment to the Foreign Military Sales Act requiring the Defense Department to provide the U.S. Congress with information on identities of agents who negotiate arms sales for American firms.</p>

<p>After gaining experience in Philadelphia politics, Robert N. C. Nix earned a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election in 1958. Nix served in Congress for more than two decades. As the first African American to represent the state of Pennsylvania and only the third black Member to chair a standing committee in the House, he dedicated himself “to ending the oppression of black people.” However, critics claimed Nix fell short of this goal, placing party politics before the national black agenda. Loyal to the local Democratic machine that helped begin his career on the Hill, Nix was disinclined to demand radical change for minorities, an approach that conflicted with many of his African–American colleagues’ more militant politics during the 1960s and 1970s.</p>

<p>Robert Nelson Cornelius (N. C.) Nix, Sr. was born on August 9, 1898, in Orangeburg, South Carolina. The third of four children of Nelson Nix—a former slave and future dean of South Carolina State College—and Sylvia Nix, Robert Nix later moved to New York City to live with relatives. Nix graduated from Townsend Harris High School in New York City (also attended by Nix’s future African–American House colleague Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., of New York), before enrolling in Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania. After earning a B.A. in 1921, Nix continued his education at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, from which he graduated three years later. In 1925, Nix began practicing law in Philadelphia. He first became active in politics when he was elected a Democratic committeeman from the 44th Ward in 1932. He retained this position for 26 years, serving as chairman for the final eight.5 From 1934 to 1938, Nix worked for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a special deputy attorney general in the revenue department and as a special assistant deputy attorney general. Nix and his wife, the former Ethel Lanier, had one son, Robert N. C. Nix, Jr.</p>

<p>When five–term Democratic Representative Earl Chudoff resigned in 1958 to become a Philadelphia judge, Nix entered the special election to fill the vacant congressional seat encompassing sections of Philadelphia on both sides of the Schuylkill River. With solid backing from the local Democratic machine, Nix won the unexpired term, defeating Republican Cecil B. Moore, an African–American attorney, with 64 percent of the vote. House colleagues applauded as Nix was sworn in as a Member of the 85th Congress (1957–1959) on May 20, 1958, joining black Representatives William Dawson of Illinois; Adam Clayton Powell; and Charles Diggs, Jr., of Michigan. That same year, Nix was chosen unanimously as chairman of Philadelphia’s 32nd Ward, a position he held until his death in 1987.</p>

NIX, Robert Nelson Cornelius, Sr., a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Orangeburg, S.C., August 9, 1898; graduated from Townsend Harris Hall High School, New York, N.Y.; B.A., Lincoln University, Oxford, Pa., 1921; graduated from University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, Pa., 1924; lawyer, private practice; special deputy attorney general of the Pennsylvania State Department of Revenue and special assistant deputy attorney general of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1934-1938; delegate to the Democratic National Convention, 1956; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-fifth Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of United States Representative Earl Chudoff; and reelected to the ten succeeding Congresses (May 20, 1958-January 3, 1979); chairman, Committee on the Post Office and Civil Service (Ninety-fifth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for renomination to the Ninety-sixth Congress in 1978; died on June 22, 1987, in Philadelphia, Pa.