Robert J. Bulkley

Robert Johns Bulkley (October 8, 1880 – July 21, 1965) was a United States Democratic Party politician from Ohio. He served in the United States House of Representatives, and in the United States Senate from 1930 until 1939.

Bulkley was born to a wealthy family in Cleveland, Ohio in 1880. He attended the private University School before graduating from Harvard University and law school, and commenced the practice of law in Cleveland, Ohio in 1906. Bulkley served two terms in the House from 1911-1915 from the 21st District on Cleveland's East Side. During World War One he served as chief of the legal section of the War Industries Board. He was later elected to the U.S. Senate in 1930 to fill the vacancy created by the death of Theodore E. Burton. Bulkley was re-elected in 1932, but lost a bid for a second full term in 1938 to Robert A. Taft. After his term in the Senate ended, he resumed his practice of law.

While a member of the House of Representatives, Bulkley became an expert on banking. He helped frame the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and the Federal Farm Loan Act, which would not pass until 1916.

The Bulkley Building located in Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio is named after him.

Bulkley was married February 17, 1909 to Katherine Pope of Helena, Montana.