Elmer Thomas

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John William Elmer Thomas
United States Senator from Oklahoma
In office March 4, 1927 – January 3, 1951
Preceded by	John W. Harreld
Succeeded by	A. S. Mike Monroney
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma's 6th district
In office March 4, 1923 - March 3, 1927
Preceded by	L.M. Gensman
Succeeded by	Jed Johnson
Born	September 8, 1876 Greencastle, Indiana
Died	September 19, 1965 Lawton, Oklahoma
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Lawyer

John William Elmer Thomas (September 8, 1876 – September 19, 1965) was a Representative and a Senator from Oklahoma.

Born on a farm near Greencastle, Indiana, he attended the common schools; graduated from the Central Normal College (now Canterbury), Danville, Indiana, in 1897 and from the graduate department of DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, in 1900.

He studied law; admitted to the Indiana bar in 1897 and to the Oklahoma bar in 1900, and commenced practice in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; moved to Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1901 and continued the practice of law; member, State senate 1907–1920, serving as president pro tempore 1910–1913; founded the town of Medicine Park, Oklahoma 1908; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1920 to the Sixty-seventh Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1923–March 3, 1927).

He was not a candidate for renomination in 1926, having become a candidate for United States Senator; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1926; reelected in 1932, 1938 and 1944 and served from March 4, 1927, to January 3, 1951; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1950; chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs (Seventy-fourth through Seventy-seventh Congresses), Committee on Agriculture and Forestry (Seventy-eighth, Seventy-ninth and Eighty-first Congresses), Committee on Indian Affairs (Seventy-eighth Congress); engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D.C., until August 1957; returned to Lawton, Oklahoma, where he died September 19, 1965; interment in Highland Cemetery.

During the Depression, Senator Thomas proposed an amendment to the Agricultural Adjustment Act that would help farmers financially by empowering the president to reduce the gold backing for dollars and to print bills backed by silver alone when cash became depressively tight. Lewis Douglas, Roosevelt's budget director, was furious about this threat to the gold standard, and in its final form the amendment was weaker.

Preceded by L.M. Gensman	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma's 6th congressional district March 4, 1923–March 3, 1927	Succeeded by Jed Johnson
Preceded by John W. Harreld	United States Senator (Class 3) from Oklahoma March 4, 1927–January 3, 1951 Served alongside: William B. Pine, Thomas Gore, Joshua B. Lee, Edward H. Moore, Robert S. Kerr	Succeeded by A. S. Mike Monroney

[edit] References

• This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

[edit] External links

• Find-A-Grave biography