John C. Schafer

John Charles Schafer (May 7, 1893 –June 9, 1962) was an American railroad operator and progressive Republican politician from Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. He served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Wisconsin's 4th congressional district from 1923 to 1933, and from 1939 to 1941. He previously served one term in the Wisconsin State Assembly (1921).

Early life
John C. Schafer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1893. He attended West Allis High School until his junior year, when he dropped out to go to work as an office boy at the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, and eventually went to work on the assembly line.

When the United States entered World War I, Schafer enlisted in the United States Army with the 13th Engineer Regiment. He was deployed to France for 22 months; the 13th Engineer Regiment worked on railway engineering, and was initially attached to the French 4th Army at Champagne. Later they attached to the French 2nd Army at Verdun, Saint-Mihiel, and the Meuse–Argonne offensive.

After returning from the war, he was employed as a railroad fireman and engineman for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad.

Political career
In 1920, he was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly before running for Congress two years later. Schafer was first elected to Congress as a Republican to the 68th Congress representing Wisconsin's 4th congressional district. He was then reelected to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1933).

He lost his reelection bids in 1932, and failed in 1934 and 1936 to regain his old seat. In 1938, with the Democrats divided, he regained his old seat for the Seventy-sixth Congress. In 1940 he was again ousted by Democrat Thaddeus Wasielewski (whom he'd narrowly beaten in 1938), coming in third behind Wasielewski and Progressive former state senator Leonard C. Fons (Wasielewski polled 57,381 votes [35.62%]; Fons 52,907 [32.84%] and Schafer 50,796 [31.53%]). Schafer unsuccessfully contested the election results.

Schafer ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for the Senate in 1957 to fill the vacancy left by the death of Joseph McCarthy.

Personal life
On November 2, 1923, Schafer secretly married Mrs. Elsie Fay ( Webster) in Waukegan, Illinois.

Later in life, Schafer resided at his brother's home in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. He died there of a heart attack on June 9, 1962.