John Stephens Wood

John Stephens Wood (born February 8, 1885 at Ball Ground , Cherokee County , Georgia , †  September 12, 1968 in Marietta , Georgia) was an American politician who belonged to the Democratic Party . From March 4, 1931 to January 3, 1935 (72nd and 73rd Congress) and from January 3, 1945 to January 3, 1953 (79th to 82nd Congress) he was a member of the 9th Congressional (electoral ) District of Georgia Member of the House of Representatives . As chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities (House Un-American Activities Committee - HUAC), he played a prominent role in the review of the Communist Party USA and the entertainment industry.

Career

John Wood attended the public schools in his home country and then the North Georgia Agricultural College in Dahlonega . After a subsequent law degree at Mercer University in Macon and his admission as a lawyer in 1910, he began to work in Jasper in his new profession. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . In 1917 he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. Wood was a prosecutor in the Blue Ridge Judicial District from 1921 to 1925. He then worked as a judge in the same district until 1931.

In the 1930 congressional election , Wood was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the ninth constituency of Georgia , where he succeeded Thomas Montgomery Bell on March 4, 1931 . After a re-election, he was able to complete two terms in Congress until January 3, 1935 . These were shaped by the global economic crisis. Since 1933 the first New Deal laws of the federal government were passed in Congress. In 1933 the 20th and 21st amendments to the constitution were discussed and passed.

Wood was not nominated for re-election by his party in 1934. In the following years he worked again as a lawyer. In the 1944 elections he was re-elected to Congress, where he succeeded B. Frank Whelchel on January 3, 1945 , who had previously succeeded Woods in 1935. After two more elections, Wood could remain in the US House of Representatives until January 3, 1953. During this time the Second World War ended .

Wood was from 1945 to 1947 (79th Congress) and 1949 to 1953 (82 + 83 Conference) Chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities , inter alia, the links between the Communist Party examined and the entertainment industry, from which the Hollywood blacklist resulted . Wood was then accused by his critics of neglecting the activities of the Ku Klux Klan in his capacity as chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities . In 1951, the 22nd amendment to the Constitution was passed in Congress . During these years the Cold War and the civil rights movement also began .

In 1952, John Wood renounced another candidacy for the US House of Representatives. In the following years he worked as a lawyer in Canton . Later he had to give up this job because of his deteriorating health. John Wood died in Marietta on September 12, 1968 and was buried in Atlanta .

Web links

• John Stephens Wood in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• John Stephens Wood in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: John Stephens Wood / Times in Congress