Richard Merrill Atkinson

Richard Merrill Atkinson (born February 6, 1894 in Nashville , Tennessee , †  April 29, 1947 there ) was an American politician . Between 1937 and 1939 he represented the state of Tennessee in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Richard Atkinson attended his home public schools and Wallace University School in Nashville, which he graduated from in 1912. This was followed by a study at Vanderbilt University until 1916 . After studying law at Cumberland University in Lebanon and being admitted to the bar in 1917, he began working in his new profession in Nashville in 1920. In between, he served in the United States Marine Corps in France between 1917 and 1919 during World War I. Between 1926 and 1934 Atkinson was a district attorney in Tennessee's Tenth District. From 1931 to 1933 he also served as the state commissioner for the administration of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park .

Politically, Atkinson was a member of the Democratic Party . In the 1936 congressional elections he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the fifth constituency of Tennessee , where he succeeded Joseph Byrns on January 3, 1937 . Since he was not nominated for re-election by his party in 1938, he could only serve one term in Congress until January 3, 1939 . During this time, further New Deal laws by the federal government were passed there.

After leaving the US House of Representatives, Richard Atkinson worked again as a lawyer in Nashville, where he died on April 29, 1947.

Web links

• Richard Merrill Atkinson in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Richard Merrill Atkinson in the database of Find a Grave (English)