John H. Bankhead | |
|---|---|
 Bankhead in 1910 | |
| United States Senator fromAlabama | |
| In office June 18, 1907 – March 1, 1920 | |
| Preceded by | John Tyler Morgan |
| Succeeded by | B. B. Comer |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives from Alabama's6th district | |
| In office March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1907 | |
| Preceded by | John Mason Martin |
| Succeeded by | Richmond P. Hobson |
| Member of theAlabama Senate | |
| In office 1876–1877 | |
| Member of theAlabama House of Representatives | |
| In office 1865–1867 1880–1881 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Hollis Bankhead (1842-09-13)September 13, 1842 Moscow, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | March 1, 1920(1920-03-01) (aged 77) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Tallulah James Brockman |
| Children | 5, includingJohn andWilliam |
| Relatives | Walter W. Bankhead(grandson) Tallulah Bankhead(granddaughter) |
| Signature |  |
John Hollis Bankhead (September 13, 1842 – March 1, 1920) was an American politician andConfederate Army soldier. A member of theDemocratic Party, Bankhead served asU.S. Senator from thestate ofAlabama from 1907 until his death in 1920. Bankhead had additionally served in theUnited States House of Representatives, theAlabama Legislature, and as warden of thestate penitentiary inWetumpka.[1]
Bankhead was born on September 13, 1842, atMoscow, present-dayLamar County,Alabama (near present-daySulligent), the son of Susan Fleming (Hollis) and James Greer Bankhead.[2][3] His great-grandfather, James Bankhead (1738–1799) was born inUlster and settled inSouth Carolina.[4]
He was educated in the common schools and served in theConfederate States Army, during theCivil War, rising to the rank of captain, in the Alabama 16th Infantry, Company K.[5]
After the Civil War, Bankhead went on to serve as warden of thestate penitentiary inWetumpka. During this period, he was said to have taken part of the exploitation of inmates as cheap labor for industry as part of Alabama's convict-leasing system.[1]
Bankhead was a member of theAlabama House of Representatives from 1865 to 1867, and again in 1880 and 1881. In 1876 and 1877 he was a member of theState Senate. He was elected to theUnited States House of Representatives in 1887, serving until 1907.[5][6]
At age 65, John H. Bankhead was appointed, then elected, to serve out the remainder of the U.S. Senate term left by the death ofJohn Tyler Morgan and later re-elected twice. He served from June 18, 1907, until his death in Washington on March 1, 1920.[7]
Bankhead was a member of theInland Waterways Commission in 1907,[8] and was instrumental in enacting theFederal Aid Road Act of 1916, which became the first federal highway funding legislation.He was also a member of the Commission on Public Buildings and the Commission on Rivers and Harbors. He wrote several books relating to post roads.[5]
Bankhead served as campaign manager forOscar Underwood's1912 presidential candidacy. During his Senate tenure, Bankhead opposed theNineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which mandated nationwide women's suffrage.[1]
Following his death,B. B. Comer, a formergovernor of Alabama, was appointed to serve the rest of his term until November 2, 1920, whenJ. Thomas Heflin was elected to serve out the term.
He married Tallulah James Brockman. She was ofRevolutionary ancestry, her father's great-grandfather, Benjamin Kilgore, having been a captain of a South Carolina company in the War of the Revolution. She was the daughter of James H. Brockman, a native of Greenville District, South Carolina.
Her education was received in the fashionable schools of Tuskegee and Montgomery, Alabama. Their two elder sons,John Hollis andWilliam Brockman, were practicing lawyers. The youngest, Henry McAuley, was a student at the University of Alabama. The elder daughter, Louise, married RepresentativeWilliam Hayne Perry, of Greenville, South Carolina, son of former South Carolina governorBenjamin Franklin Perry and the younger, Marie, was the wife ofThomas McAdory Owen, a historian by profession.[9]
United States SenatorJohn H. Bankhead II andSpeaker of the HouseWilliam Brockman Bankhead were his sons, and actressTallulah Bankhead was his granddaughter. The cross-countryBankhead Highway was named after him, as isBankhead Lake on theBlack Warrior River near Birmingham. Also, theBankhead Tunnel onUS 98 in Mobile, Alabama, is named after him.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Reynolds, Francis J., ed. (1921)."Bankhead, John Hollis" .Collier's New Encyclopedia. New York: P. F. Collier & Son Company. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
"Bankhead, John H.".The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1. 1906. p. 205.| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| First | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromAlabama (Class 2) 1918 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromAlabama's 6th congressional district 1887–1907 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 2) from Alabama 1907–1920 Served alongside:Edmund Pettus,Joseph F. Johnston,Francis S. White andOscar Underwood | Succeeded by |
| Class 2 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
| Post Office and Post Roads (1816–1947) | | |
|---|---|---|
| Civil Service and Retrenchment (1873–1921) | ||
| Civil Service (1921–1947) | ||
| Post Office and Civil Service (1947–1977) | ||
| Public Buildings and Grounds (1837–1947) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Rivers and Harbors (1883–1947) | ||
| Roads (1913–1947) | ||
| Flood Control (1916–1947) | ||
| Transportation and Infrastructure* (1947–) | ||
| Note | * Alternately namedPublic Works in 80th through 93rd Congresses andPublic Works and Transportation in 94th through 103rd Congresses. | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
