James B. Pearson

James B. Pearson

James Blackwood Pearson (born May 7, 1920 in Nashville , Tennessee , †  January 13, 2009 in Gloucester , Massachusetts ) was an American politician who represented the state of Kansas in the US Senate .

Life

Early life

James Pearson spent his first 14 years in Tennessee and moved with his parents - his father was a preacher of the Methodist church - 1934 by Virginia . As a young man, he graduated from Duke University in North Carolina . In 1943 he dropped out of school and joined the US Navy , where he was trained to pilot a Douglas DC-3 . In 1946 he resigned from the army with the rank of lieutenant and was then employed in the office on a base in Olathe (Kansas).

Career

He enrolled again in college, this time at the University of Virginia , where he graduated in 1950 with a law degree . One of his classmates in Virginia was the future Senator Robert F. Kennedy . After his admission to the Kansas bar, he began practicing in the small town of Mission on the Missouri border . During this time he also met his future wife Martha Mitchell, with whom he had four children, three sons and a daughter over the years. In 1952, Pearson was appointed assistant district attorney in Johnson County , a position he held until 1954. For another two years, from 1954 to 1956, Pearson served as a judge in his district's probate court .

Political career

From 1956 to 1960 belonged to Pearson, the party member of the Republicans was the Kansas Senate on. After leaving office, he assisted John Anderson as he successfully ran for governor of Kansas. In gratitude, Anderson named Pearson President of the Kansas Republican Party.

US Senator Andrew Schoeppel died in January 1962 . John Anderson, who now had the right to choose a successor, came back to Pearson, who then moved into Congress in Washington . In November 1962 he was officially confirmed in a by-election . Pearson was subsequently re-elected twice, serving as a Senator from January 31, 1962 to December 23, 1978. In December 1978 he resigned from his seat. From 1972 until his retirement from the Senate, Pearson was a delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations .

Next life

After the untimely death of his first wife, Pearson married Margaret Lynch, with whom he traveled in Japan and Southeast Asia . Between 1983 and 1991 he lived in Hawaii , where he became a board member of a trading company. He was also a partner in a Washington law firm.

James B. Pearson last lived in Massachusetts, where he died in January 2009 at the age of 88.

Web links

• James B. Pearson in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)