Wright Patman

A Representative from Texas. Born at Patman's Switch near Hughes Springs, Cass County, Tex. , August 6, 1893. Attended the public schools. Was graduated from Hughes Springs (Tex. ) High School in 1912 and from the law department of Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tenn. , in 1916. Engaged in agricultural pursuits in Texas in 1913 and 1914. Was admitted to the bar in 1916 and commenced practice in Hughes Springs, Tex. Assistant county attorney of Cass County, Tex. , in 1916 and 1917. During the First World War served as a private and later as a machinegun officer in the United States Army 1917-1919. Member of the State house of representatives 1921-1924. District attorney of the fifth judicial district of Texas 1924-1929. Elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-first Congress. Reelected to the twenty-three succeeding Congresses, and served from March 4, 1929, until his death March 7, 1976, in Bethesda, Md. Chairman, Select Committee on Small Business (Eighty-first, Eighty-second, and Eighty-fourth through Eighty-seventh Congresses), Joint Economic Committee (Eighty-fifth, Eighty-seventh, Eighty-ninth, Ninety-first and Ninety-third Congresses), Joint Committee on Defense Production (Eighty-eighth, Ninetieth, Ninety-second, and Ninety-fourth Congresses), Committee on Banking and Currency (Eighty-eighth through Ninety-third Congresses). Interment in Hillcrest Cemetery, Texarkana, Tex.