RANKIN, John Elliott, (1882 - 1960)

RANKIN, John Elliott, a Representative from Mississippi; born near Bolanda, Itawamba County, Miss., March 29, 1882; attended the common and high schools; was graduated from the law department of the University of Mississippi at Oxford in 1910; was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in West Point, Clay County, Miss.; moved to Tupelo, Miss., the following November and continued the practice of law; prosecuting attorney of Lee County 1911-1915; also engaged as a lecturer and newspaper writer; served in the United States Army during the First World War; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1932, 1936, and 1940; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-seventh and to the fifteen succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1921-January 3, 1953); chairman, Committee on World War Veterans’ Legislation (Seventy-second through Seventy-ninth Congresses), Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (Eighty-first and Eighty-second Congresses); coauthor of bill to create the Tennessee Valley Authority; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1952; was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for United States Senator in 1947; resumed the practice of law; also interested in farming and real estate; died in Tupelo, Miss., November 26, 1960; interment in Greenwood Cemetery, West Point, Miss.