Richmond Pearson Hobson (August 17, 1870 – March 16, 1937) was a United States Navy rear admiral who served from 1907 to 1915 as a U.S. Representative from Alabama.

When Hobson was released during a prisoner exchange on July 6, 1898, hundreds of American troops snapped to attention, then burst into cheers as he passed.

After dining with President William McKinley, Hobson traveled west by train en route to San Francisco and the Philippines.

Crowds greeted his train at many stations, and his enthusiasm for kissing admiring young women made him a sex symbol of the Victorian age.

[3] Hobson was advanced ten numbers in grade after the war and was promoted to naval constructor with the rank of lieutenant to date from June 23, 1898.

[citation needed] After resigning from active duty in 1903, Hobson remained a staunch supporter of the navy and during his subsequent career as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Alabama, 1907–1915, was a firm advocate of naval expansion.

He was denied renomination in the 1914 Democratic primary and was notable for being the only congressman from the Deep South to vote for the (failed) women's suffrage bill in the 1915 lame duck session.

In 1934, by special act of the United States Congress, he was advanced to naval constructor with a rank of rear admiral and placed on the retired list.

In 1913, he led a major Anti-Saloon League and Women's Christian Temperance Union demonstration in Washington D.C. for a federal prohibition of alcohol in the United States.

[9] Hobson was a prolific author on this subject, writing the books Narcotic Peril (1925), The Modern Pirates-Exterminate Them (1931) and Drug Addiction: A Malignant Racial Cancer (1933),[10] speaking on radio programs and in front of civic groups, founding the International Narcotic Education Association and lobbying his former Congressional colleagues in favor of anti-drug laws.

In 1905, Hobson married Grizelda Houston Hull, cousin of U.S. Army General Joseph Wheeler, in Tuxedo Park, New York.

Despite persistent fire from the enemy fleet and fortifications on shore, Lt. Hobson distinguished himself by extraordinary courage and carried out this operation at the risk of his own personal safety.