James Davis Speed (January 30, 1915 – June 14, 2006) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He served as a Democratic member of the North Carolina House of Representatives. He also served as a member for the

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

and 11th district of the

North Carolina Senate The North Carolina Senate is the upper chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, which along with the North Carolina House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the state legislature of North Carolina. The term of office for e ...

. Speed was the son of Addie Jeffreys and Henry Plummer Speed. He attended at the Gold Sand High School. Speed worked as a cowman on his family’s farm, and regarded himself primarily as a farmer. In 1961, Speed was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives, serving until 1972. In 1977, he was elected to represent the 7th district in the

. In 1983 he was moved to the 11th district, replacing R. C. Soles Jr. who was moved to the 18th district. In December 1996, he retired from the Senate, to be replaced by

Allen Wellons Allen Hewitt Wellons (born March 12, 1949) is an American attorney and Democratic politician. The onetime campaign manager for 11th district state senator Jim Speed, he succeeded the longtime lawmaker after he retired in 1996. Wellons ran for r ...

. He was honored with numerous

award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

s in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. Speed died in June 2006, at the age of 91.

References

1915 births 2006 deaths Democratic Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives Democratic Party North Carolina state senators 20th-century American legislators 20th-century North Carolina politicians {{NorthCarolina-politician-stub