John
Elmer Thomas, the son of a farmer, was born in Greencastle, Indiana,
on 8th September, 1876. He graduated from DePaux University in 1900
and worked as a lawyer in Oklahoma City and Lawton.
A
member of the Democratic Party, Thomas
was elected to the 68th Congress in 1922. Over the next few years
he worked closely with William
Borah,
Henrik Shipstead, Bronson
Cutting, Lynn Frazier, Robert
LaFollette Jr., Gerald Nye, Burton
K. Wheeler and
other progressives in the Senate.
Thomas was chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs and served
on the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. An unsuccessful candidate
for renomination in 1950, Thomas worked as a lawyer in Washington
before returning to Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1957. John Elmer Thomas died
on 19th September, 1965.
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