James A. Haley

A Representative from Florida. Born in Jacksonville, Calhoun County, Ala. , January 4, 1899. Attended the public schools and the University of Alabama. During the First World War enlisted in Troop A, Second Cavalry, in April 1917 and served overseas. Accountant, Sarasota, Fla. , 1920-1933. General manager of John Ringling estate 1933-1943. First vice president of Ringling Circus, 1943-1945. Convicted on February 21, 1945, of manslaughter. Sentenced to Connecticut state prison. President and director of Ringling Brothers, Barnum &. Bailey Circus, Sarasota, Fla. , 1946-1948. Engaged in newspaper publishing and later in general printing business. Chairman of the Democratic executive committee of Sarasota County,1935-1952. Member of the Florida state house of representatives, 1949-1952. Delegate to the Democratic National Conventions, 1952-1960. Elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-third and to the eleven succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1953-January 3, 1977). Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs (Ninety-third and Ninety-fourth Congresses). Was not a candidate for reelection to the Ninety-fifth Congress in 1976. Died on August 6, 1981, in Sarasota, Fla. Interment in Boca Raton Cemetery, Boca Raton, Fla.