American politician
John H. Bankhead
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|
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In office
June 18, 1907 ? March 1, 1920
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Preceded by
| John Tyler Morgan
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Succeeded by
| B. B. Comer
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In office
March 4, 1887 ? March 3, 1907
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Preceded by
| John Mason Martin
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Succeeded by
| Richmond P. Hobson
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In office
1876?1877
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In office
1865?1867
1880?1881
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Born
| John Hollis Bankhead
(
1842-09-13
)
September 13, 1842
Moscow, near the present day town of Sulligent,
Alabama
, U.S.
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Died
| March 1, 1920
(1920-03-01)
(aged 77)
Washington, D.C.
, U.S.
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Political party
| Democratic
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Spouse
| Tallulah James Brockman
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Children
| 5, including
John
and
William
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Relatives
| Walter W. Bankhead
(grandson)
Tallulah Bankhead
(granddaughter)
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Signature
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John Hollis Bankhead
(September 13, 1842 – March 1, 1920) was an American politician and
Confederate Army
soldier. A member of the
Democratic Party
, Bankhead served as
U.S. Senator
from the
state
of
Alabama
from 1907 until his death in 1920. Bankhead had additionally served in the
United States House of Representatives
, the
Alabama Legislature
, and as warden of the
state penitentiary
in
Wetumpka
.
[1]
Early life and military service
[
edit
]
Bankhead was born on September 13, 1842, at
Moscow
, present-day
Lamar County
,
Alabama
(near present-day
Sulligent
), the son of Susan Fleming (Hollis) and James Greer Bankhead.
[2]
[3]
His great-grandfather, James Bankhead (1738?1799) was born in
Ulster
and settled in
South Carolina
.
[4]
He was educated in the common schools and served in the
Confederate States Army
, during the
Civil War
, rising to the rank of captain, in the Alabama 16th Infantry, Company K.
[5]
Career
[
edit
]
After the Civil War, Bankhead went on to serve as warden of the
state penitentiary
in
Wetumpka
. During this period, he was said to have taken part of the exploitation of inmates as cheap labor for industry as part of Alabama's convict-leasing system.
[1]
Bankhead was a member of the
Alabama House of Representatives
from 1865 to 1867, and again in 1880 and 1881. In 1876 and 1877 he was a member of the
State Senate
. He was elected to the
United States House of Representatives
in 1887, serving until 1907.
[5]
[6]
U.S. Senate
[
edit
]
At age 65, John H. Bankhead was appointed, then elected, to serve out the remainder of the U.S. Senate term left by the death of
John Tyler Morgan
and later re-elected twice. He served from June 18, 1907, until his death in Washington on March 1, 1920.
[7]
Bankhead was a member of the
Inland Waterways Commission
in 1907,
[8]
and was instrumental in enacting the
Federal Aid Road Act of 1916
, which became the first federal highway funding legislation.
He was also a member of the Commission on Public Buildings and the Commission on Rivers and Harbors. He wrote several books relating to post roads.
[5]
Bankhead served as campaign manager for
Oscar Underwood
's
1912 presidential candidacy
. During his Senate tenure, Bankhead opposed the
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
, which mandated nationwide women's suffrage.
[1]
Following his death,
B. B. Comer
, a former
governor of Alabama
, was appointed to serve the rest of his term until November 2, 1920, when
J. Thomas Heflin
was elected to serve out the term.
Personal life
[
edit
]
He married Tallulah James Brockman. She was of
Revolutionary
ancestry, her father's great-grandfather, Benjamin Kilgore, having been a captain of a South Carolina company in the War of the Revolution. She was the daughter of James H. Brockman, a native of Greenville District, South Carolina.
Her education was received in the fashionable schools of Tuskegee and Montgomery, Alabama. Their two elder sons,
John Hollis
and
William Brockman
, were practicing lawyers. The youngest, Henry McAuley, was a student at the University of Alabama. The elder daughter, Louise, married Representative
William Hayne Perry
, of Greenville, South Carolina, son of former South Carolina governor
Benjamin Franklin Perry
and the younger, Marie, was the wife of
Thomas McAdory Owen
, a historian by profession.
[9]
Legacy
[
edit
]
United States Senator
John H. Bankhead II
and
Speaker of the House
William Brockman Bankhead
were his sons, and actress
Tallulah Bankhead
was his granddaughter. The cross-country
Bankhead Highway
was named after him, as is
Bankhead Lake
on the
Black Warrior River
near Birmingham. Also, the
Bankhead Tunnel
on
US 98
in Mobile, Alabama, is named after him.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Cooley, Angela Jill (March 27, 2008).
"Bankhead, John Hollis"
.
Encyclopedia of Alabama
. Retrieved
June 11,
2023
.
- ^
The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography
. Vol. XIV. James T. White & Company. 1910. p. 210
. Retrieved
December 15,
2020
– via Google Books.
- ^
Saunders, James Edmonds (1899).
Early Settlers of Alabama
. L. Graham & son, Limited, printers.
ISBN
9781548724696
.
- ^
"James Bankhead"
. Ancestry.com
. Retrieved
September 19,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Reynolds, Francis J., ed. (1921).
"Bankhead, John Hollis"
.
Collier's New Encyclopedia
. New York: P. F. Collier & Son Company.
- ^
"S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903"
.
GovInfo.gov
. U.S. Government Printing Office. November 9, 1903. p. 3
. Retrieved
July 2,
2023
.
- ^
"John H. Bankhead, Alabama's Senator, Dies at Washington"
.
Los Angeles Evening Express
. Washington. Associated Press. March 1, 1920. p. 1
. Retrieved
December 15,
2020
– via Newspapers.com.
- ^
Donald J. Pisani,
Water Planning in the Progressive Era: The Inland Waterways Commission Reconsidered
, Journal of Policy History 18.4 (2006) pp.389-418
- ^
Hinman, Ida (1895).
The Washington Sketch Book
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Post Office and Post Roads
(1816–1947)
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Civil Service and Retrenchment
(1873–1921)
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Civil Service
(1921–1947)
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Post Office and Civil Service
(1947–1977)
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Public Buildings and Grounds
(1837?1947)
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Rivers and Harbors
(1883?1947)
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Roads
(1913?1947)
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Flood Control
(1916?1947)
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Transportation and Infrastructure*
(1947?)
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Note
| *
Alternately named
Public Works
in 80th through 93rd Congresses and
Public Works and Transportation
in 94th through 103rd Congresses.
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International
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National
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People
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Other
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