John W. Thomas

John W. Thomas

John W. Thomas (* 4. January 1874 in Phillips County , Kansas ; †  10. November 1945 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician of the Republican Party , of the State of Idaho in the US Senate represented.

Life

John Thomas was born on a farm in Kansas. He attended village school and later Central Normal College in Great Bend . He then worked as a teacher and held the office of Superintendent of Schools in Phillips County from 1898 to 1903 . From 1906 to 1909 he worked in Colby for the Land Office before moving to Gooding , Idaho, where he worked in banking and ranching. He had a daughter with his wife Florence: Mary Brooks later became politically active as the State Senator of Idaho and was director of the United States Mint from 1969 to 1977 .

Political career

In 1917, Thomas was elected Mayor of Gooding for a two-year term. Between 1925 and 1933 he was a member of the Republican National Committee .

After the death of his political mentor Frank Gooding , Thomas was appointed by Idaho's Governor H. C. Baldridge as his successor in the US Senate. He took his mandate from June 30, 1928 and was confirmed in a by-election for Gooding's remaining term. Thomas ran for a full term in 1932, but was defeated by Democrat James P. Pope .

As a result, he initially returned to his previous business areas. In 1940 he moved back to the Senate. Again he was appointed by the governor, in this case CA Bottolfsen , to succeed a deceased senator ( William Borah ). Again he won the by-election for the rest of the term and this time the election for a full six-year term in 1942, where he prevailed against the Democrat Glen H. Taylor . However, John Thomas died in office three years later.

Web links

• John W. Thomas in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• John W. Thomas in the database of Find a Grave (English)