JT Rutherford

JT Rutherford (1961)

JT Rutherford (born May 30, 1921 in Hot Springs , Arkansas , † November 6, 2006 in Arlington , Virginia ) was an American politician . He represented the state of Texas in the US House of Representatives .

Career

JT Rutherford was born in Arkansas in 1921. His family then moved to Odessa , Texas, in 1934 , where he attended public school. During World War II he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps . He served there between 1942 and 1946 and was stationed overseas for 21 months. During this time he was awarded the Purple Heart . As a crew member of an amphibious vehicle, he landed in the first wave on D-Day in Normandy. Before that he was involved in the battles for Tarawa , Saipan and Tinian . He was wounded near Saipan. After the war, he joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve with a major.

Rutherford studied from 1946 to 1947 at San Angelo College and then from 1947 to 1948 at Sul Ross State College in Alpine . Then he attended from 1948 to 1950, the Law School of Baylor University in Waco . He then worked as a businessman and partner in an industrial electronics company. Until he was elected to an office, he also owned an advertising agency.

politics

From 1948 to 1952 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Texas ; from 1953 to 1954 he was a member of the Texas Senate . He was then elected to the 84th and three subsequent Congresses. His term lasted from January 3, 1955 to January 3, 1963. He ran for the 88th Congress in 1962 , but was defeated by Republican Ed Foreman . During his time as a Member of Parliament, he only missed one of the several thousand votes. During his tenure in Congress, he refused to sign the Southern Manifesto , which spoke out against racial integration in public institutions. He was the first chairman of the National Parks Subcommittee in the US House of Representatives. In addition, he received the US Department of Interior's Conservation Service Award in 1962 for his efforts as a champion of nature conservation legislation. These included laws that created a new national coastline on Padre Island , Cape Cod National Seashore, and Point Reyes , California . After leaving Congress, he founded J. T. Rutherford & Associates, a government consulting firm that works for Congress.

Rutherford died on November 6, 2006 in Arlington.

Note

1. ↑ Rutherford's first name was actually JT , the letters were not an abbreviation.

Web links

• JT Rutherford in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Washington Post Obituary