John Bonifas Bennett (January 10, 1904 – August 9, 1964) was an American lawyer and

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, a ...

from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. He served in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

from 1947 to 1964.

Early life and education

Bennett was born in

Garden, Michigan :''There is also Garden City in Wayne County. '' Garden is a village in Delta County of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 221 at the 2010 census. The village is located within Garden Township. M-183 runs through the village, ...

, his mother was an immigrant from

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. He attended the public schools, and graduated from Watersmeet High School. He graduated from

Marquette University Law School Marquette University Law School is the professional graduate law school of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is one of two law schools in Wisconsin and the only private law school in the state. Founded in 1892 as the Milwaukee Law ...

in 1925 and took a

post-graduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

course at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

Law School in 1926. He was admitted to the

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in 1925 and to the Michigan bar in 1926. He practiced

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

Ontonagon, Michigan Ontonagon ( ) is a village in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,285 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat and only village of Ontonagon County. The village is located within Ontonagon Township, at the mouth of the Ontonagon R ...

, from 1926 through 1942. He was

prosecuting attorney A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...

Ontonagon County Ontonagon County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 Census, the population was 5,816, making it Michigan's third-least populous county. The co ...

from 1929 to 1934 and the deputy commissioner of the Michigan Department of Labor and Industry from 1935 to 1937.

Tenure in Congress

Bennett was unsuccessful in his first two attempts for a seat in the

, losing in 1938 and 1940 to incumbent

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 ...

Frank E. Hook. In 1942 Bennett defeated Hook and was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

from Michigan's 12th congressional district to the

78th Congress The 78th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1943, ...

, serving from January 3, 1943, to January 3, 1945. In 1944 Bennett lost the election to Hook. Two years later in 1946 he returned to Congress once again, having been unsuccessfully challenged by Emil Hurja in the Republican primary. He was subsequently re-elected to the eight succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1947, until his death from cancer in

Chevy Chase, Maryland Chevy Chase () is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place (Chevy Chase (CDP), Maryland) that straddle the northwest border of Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Several settlements in th ...

, in August 1964. In Congress, Bennett was a moderate Republican who voted against the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

, but voted in favor of 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well as the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

shortly before his death at age 60. He is interred in

Gate of Heaven Cemetery Gate of Heaven Cemetery, approximately 25 miles (40 km) north of New York City, was established in 1917 at 10 West Stevens Ave. in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, as a Roman Catholic burial site. Among its famous residents is ...

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

References

External links

* *
John B. Bennett
at ''The Political Graveyard'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, John Bonifas 1904 births 1964 deaths People from Delta County, Michigan 20th-century American politicians Michigan lawyers Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan 20th-century American lawyers American people of Luxembourgian descent Marquette University Law School alumni University of Chicago Law School alumni Deaths from cancer in Maryland Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Silver Spring, Maryland) People from Ontonagon, Michigan

Early life and education

Tenure in Congress

See also

References

External links