Thomas C. Hennings Jr.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Thomas Hennings
James Edward Ruffin
Succeeded byJohn B. Sullivan
Personal details
Born
Thomas Carey Hennings Jr.

(1903-06-25)June 25, 1903
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
DiedSeptember 13, 1960(1960-09-13) (aged 57)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting placeArlington National Cemetery
Political partyDemocratic
EducationCornell University (BA)
Washington University (LLB)

Thomas Carey Hennings Jr. (June 25, 1903 – September 13, 1960) was an

Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives (from 1935 until 1940) and the United States Senate
(from 1951 until 1960).

Early life

Born into a wealthy family in

Governor's staff from 1932 to 1936 and was a lecturer on criminal jurisprudence at the Benton College of Law
in St. Louis from 1934 to 1938.

Congressional career

House of Representatives

Hennings was elected to the Seventy-fourth, Seventy-fifth, and Seventy-sixth Congresses and served from January 3, 1935, to December 31, 1940. He was the first Democrat in 22 years to represent Missouri's 11th congressional district.[2] Hennings enjoyed support from St. Louis' growing African American population. Hennings regularly hired African Americans to his offices in Washington D.C. and St. Louis. During the Second New Deal, he worked towards establishing an African American branch of the Civilian Conservation Corps at Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Within the New Deal's Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA), Hennings advocated for a "Negro Federal Employment Office" with all black staff. Hennings also sponsored anti-lynching bills while in the House. His work secured him the endorsements of two of St. Louis' black newspapers, the Argus and the American and the city's NAACP chapter.[3] Hennings resigned in 1940 to become a candidate for circuit attorney of St. Louis.

Time out of Office

Hennings was circuit attorney from 1941 to 1944, taking leave of absence in September, 1941 to volunteer in active duty in the

United States Naval Reserve. Serving in the Pacific and Caribbean as a lieutenant commander for three years, he was discharged from active duty due to physical disability incurred in the line of duty.[2]
After which, he resumed the practice of law in the St. Louis firm of Green, Hennings, Henry and Evans.

Senate

He was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1950 over Republican incumbent and former governor

abdominal cancer in Washington, D.C. in 1960.[4] Hennings did not sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto, and voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960.[5][6] While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Rules and Administration (Eighty-fifth and Eighty-sixth Congresses), and served on the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency
while it investigated comic books.

Personal life

Hennings died on September 13, 1960, and is buried Arlington National Cemetery.

Hennings' daughter Karla Ann was briefly married to

Watergate burglaries
and the subsequent cover-up.

See also

References

  1. OCLC 497581.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  2. ^ a b Edward V. Long, Tom Hennings-The Man from Missouri, 26 MO. L. REV. (1961) Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol26/iss4/3
  3. ^ Day, John (April 2020). "Senator Thomas C. Hennings Jr. of Missouri: Political Champion of the Black Freedom Struggle". Missouri Historical Review. 114: 188 – via Print.
  4. ^ "Cancer Takes Solon, 57, Of Missouri". Salt Lake Tribune. September 14, 1960.
  5. ^ "HR. 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957". GovTrack.us.
  6. ^ "HR. 8601. PASSAGE OF AMENDED BILL".
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
James Edward Ruffin
 Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 11th congressional district

1935–1940 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by
Class 3)
1950, 1956
 Succeeded by
Preceded by
Secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus

1953–1960 		Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by
U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Missouri
1951–1960
Served alongside: James P. Kem, Stuart Symington
 Succeeded by
Preceded by Chair of the Senate Rules Committee
1957–1960 		Succeeded by
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