Jerry Litton

Jerry Litton (1973)

Jerry Lon Litton (born May 12, 1937 in Lock Springs , Daviess County , Missouri , †  August 3, 1976 in Chillicothe , Missouri) was an American politician . Between 1973 and 1976 he represented the state of Missouri in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Jerry Litton attended public schools in his home country and then studied journalism at the University of Missouri at Columbia until 1961 . Between 1955 and 1962 he was also a member of the Army National Guard , which was usually only called up occasionally for short exercises. Even during his student days he became politically active as a democrat . He became president of the Democratic Student Union at the University of Missouri. Litton was also regional president for Missouri for Future Farmers of America from 1955 to 1956 . After that he was a member of their federal executive committee until 1957. In 1960 he supported US Senator Stuart Symington in his party's presidential primaries , who then lost to John F. Kennedy .

After that, Litton worked as a rancher on the Charolais ranch near Chillicothe. Since he was already very committed to the youth, he took the opportunity to open his ranch for guided tours for school children and also to the public. By 1972 Litton was seen as the coming man in the Democratic Party who was predicted to have a great political future. At the time, he hosted a television show in which prominent politicians such as Jimmy Carter appeared. It was Carter who rated him as the coming president.

In the 1972 congressional election , Litton was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the sixth constituency of Missouri , where he succeeded William Raleigh Hull on January 3, 1973 . After a re-election he could remain in Congress until his death on August 3, 1976 . During this time the Vietnam War ended . In 1974, the work of Congress was also overshadowed by the Watergate affair .

In 1976, Litton decided to forego another election to the US House of Representatives. Instead, he ran in his party's primary election for the US Senate. This election took place on August 3, 1976 and was won by Litton. On the way to the planned victory celebration, his plane crashed. In this accident, Litton, his wife and two children as well as the pilot of the machine and his son were killed. The Litton family was buried in their hometown of Chillicothe, which was also the scene of the plane tragedy.

Web links

• Jerry Litton in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Jerry Litton in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Biography (English)