John William Elmer Thomas (September 8, 1876 – September 19, 1965) was a native of Indiana who moved to Oklahoma Territory in 1901, where he practiced law in
Lawton. After statehood, he was elected to the first state senate, representing the Lawton area. Representative and a Senator from
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
. In 1922, he ran successfully on the Democratic Party ticket for the U.S. House of Representatives. He was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1926; he won this race and held the seat until 1950, when he lost the party nomination to A.S. (Mike) Monroney. Thomas returned to a private law practice in Washington, D.C., and in 1957 moved his practice back to Lawton, where he died in 1965.
Early life
Born on a farm in
Putnam County, Indiana
Putnam County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 37,963. The county seat is Greencastle. The county was named for Israel Putnam, a hero in the French and Indian War and a ...
, near
Greencastle, to William and Elizabeth Thomas on September 8, 1876, he attended the common schools; graduated from the Central Normal College (now
Canterbury College Canterbury College may refer to:
* Canterbury College (Indiana), U.S.
* Canterbury College (Waterford), Queensland, Australia
* Canterbury College (Windsor, Ontario), Canada
* Canterbury College, Kent, England
* Canterbury College, Oxford, England ...
),
Danville, Indiana
Danville is a town in and the county seat of Hendricks County, Indiana, United States. The population was 9,001 at the 2010 census, up from 6,418 at the 2000 census. In 2019 the estimated population was 10,126.
History
Danville was founded in 18 ...
, in 1897 and from the graduate department of
DePauw University
DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...
, Greencastle, Indiana, in 1900.
Thomas studied law, was admitted to the
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
bar in 1897 and to the Oklahoma bar in 1900, and commenced practice in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
; moved to
Lawton, Oklahoma
Lawton is a city in and the county seat of Comanche County, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Ce ...
, in 1901 and continued the practice of law.
Political career
Oklahoma state politics
He was elected a member of the first state senate in 1907, where he served until 1920. He also served as president pro tempore 1910–1913, founded the Medicine Park Resort and oversaw the state's first fish hatchery at
Medicine Park, Oklahoma. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1920 to the
Sixty-seventh Congress. In 1922, he ran again and won, elected as a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
to the Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1923–March 3, 1927). As a member of the Oklahoma delegation to the House of Representatives, he supported Indian education legislation, the McNary-Haugen Farm Bill and legislation expanding credit for farmers. He also served on the House Committee on Public Lands and Claims
National politics
Elmer Thomas was not a candidate for renomination in 1926, having become a candidate for United States Senator; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1926, defeating former governor
Jack Walton. He attacked the Coolidge administration as insensitive to farmers, then reluctantly backed Hoover's Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929, and supported paying the Veteran's Bonus.
He was reelected in 1932, he actively supported Franklin D. Roosevelt and the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
. Specifically, Senator Thomas proposed an amendment known as the Thomas Amendment, to the
Agricultural Adjustment Act
The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was a United States federal law of the New Deal era designed to boost agricultural prices by reducing surpluses. The government bought livestock for slaughter and paid farmers subsidies not to plant on par ...
, intended to help farmers financially by empowering the president to reduce the gold backing for dollars and to print bills backed by silver alone when cash became depressively tight.
Lewis Douglas
Lewis Williams Douglas (July 2, 1894March 7, 1974) was an American politician, diplomat, businessman and academic.
Early life and education
Douglas was the son of James Douglas, Jr., a mining executive employed by the Phelps Dodge Company, and h ...
, Roosevelt's budget director, was furious about this threat to the gold standard, and in its final form the amendment was weaker. Thomas was also a reliable friend to Indians and served as chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs between 1935 and 1944.
Roosevelt visited Oklahoma in 1938 and campaigned for Senator Thomas' reelection. Thomas won handily. He was very interested in international affairs, having supported the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
, the
Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact, and the
World Court
The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...
. He voted for neutrality in 1935 and 1937, but said his main concern was American military preparedness. He had served in the Army as a lieutenant colonel assigned to military intelligence and retained that rank as a member of the Reserves. In June 1938 he became chair of the Sub-Committee on Military Appropriations, and after inspecting numerous bases found the country's defenses "in critical condition." During World War II his subcommittee secured funding for the top-secret atomic bomb project.
Senator Thomas was reelected in 1944, becoming the third-ranking senator in seniority. He chaired the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry from 1944 to 1946 and 1949 to 1950. He attended food conferences in Quebec and Copenhagen in 1945 and 1946 and toured Europe in 1949 as part of an audit of Marshall Plan funds.
End of political career
Thomas was challenged in the Democratic primary by
A.S. Mike Monroney in 1950. This time Thomas lost his bid for the nomination, and gave up his seat to Monroney in January 1951. In semi-retirement, he engaged in the practice of law in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, until August 1957, then returned to Lawton, Oklahoma, where he died September 19, 1965. He was interred in Highland Cemetery in Lawton.
Honors
Elmer Thomas was inducted into the
Oklahoma Hall of Fame The Oklahoma Hall of Fame was founded in 1927 by Anna B. Korn to officially celebrate Statehood Day, recognize Oklahomans dedicated to their communities, and provide educational programming for all ages. The first Oklahoma Hall of Fame Induction Cer ...
in 1932.
Elmer Thomas Lake
Senator Thomas was behind the creation of
Medicine Park, situated in the
Wichita Mountains
The Wichita Mountains are located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the principal relief system in the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen, being the result of a failed continental rift. The mountains are a northwest-southea ...
of
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
. A lake named after the senator lies to the west of the town, just northwest of
Lawton. It has of shoreline and .
Lake Elmer Thomas Oklahoma
/ref>
References
*
Further reading
* Rook, Elizabeth Thomas. ''Senator: 1876-1965 The Life and Career of Elmer Thomas'' (Lulu, 2015).
External links
Elmer Thomas Collection
an
Photograph Series
at the Carl Albert Center
The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center is a nonpartisan institution devoted to teaching and research related to the United States Congress and, more broadly, to strengthening representative democracy through engaged and infor ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, John William Elmer
DePauw University alumni
Democratic Party United States senators from Oklahoma
1876 births
1965 deaths
People from Putnam County, Indiana
People from Lawton, Oklahoma
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma
Democratic Party Oklahoma state senators