Tom Steed
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOklahoma's4th district
In office January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1981
Preceded by	Glen D. Johnson
Succeeded by	Dave McCurdy
Personal details
Born	March 2, 1904 (1904-03-02) Eastland County, Texas, United States
Died	June 8, 1983 (1983-06-09) (aged 79) Shawnee, Oklahoma
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Hazel Bennett Steed
Children	Roger SteedRichard Steed
Profession	journalist,newspaper editor, politician
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1942–1944
Rank	PrivateSecond Lieutenant
Unit	Anti-aircraft Artillery

Thomas Jefferson Steed (March 2, 1904 – June 8, 1983) was an American politician and aU.S. Congressman fromOklahoma.

Steed was born on a farm near inEastland County, Texas (nearRising Star, Texas) on March 2, 1904. His family later moved to Oklahoma, where he attended school (inKonawa, Oklahoma). After only one semester of high school, he began working for theAda Evening News. He married Hazel Bennett in 1923, and they had two children, Roger and Richard. Roger was a Marine second lieutenant and fighter pilot and was killed in China in 1947.^[1]

Continuing to work in journalism, Steed worked for a number of Oklahoma newspapers including theDaily Oklahoman. Beginning in 1935 he served as an assistant to three of Oklahoma's U.S. congressmen,Percy Lee Gassaway,Robert P. Hill, andGomer Griffith Smith. In 1938 he returned to Oklahoma and became managing editor of theShawnee News-Star.

After the outbreak ofWorld War II, Steed enlisted in theU.S. Army on October 29, 1942, and was assigned to theAnti-aircraft Artillery. Steed was released fromactive duty in May 1944 withrank ofSecond Lieutenant. Steed continued his contribution to the U.S. war effort when he joined theOffice of War Information on July 1, 1944. Steed also served with the information division inIndia-Burma Theater until December 1945.^[2] He often stated that his experience injournalism, the military and in theU.S. Congress had taught him "knowledge is power".

Steed ran forCongress in 1948 and was elected as aDemocrat, taking office on January 3, 1949. He was re-elected in 1950, and was continuously re-elected until 1980, when he decided to retire. (That year, he also received one vote for president at the1980 Democratic National Convention.) Steed's final congressional race in 1978 was successful although he faced a spirited challenge in the Democratic primary election from M.E. "Cuffie" Waid, a popular Lawtonoptometrist andChamber of Commerce leader. He served a total of 32 years in Congress, longer than any other Oklahoman in Congress at the time, and left office on January 3, 1981.^[3] While in Congress, he sat on the Education and Labor, Public Works, Appropriations, and Small Business committees, briefly chairing this last committee during the Ninety-fourth Congress. He also served as chair of the Subcommittee on the Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government and of the Subcommittee on Taxation and Oil Imports.

Steed did not sign the 1956Southern Manifesto, and voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,^[4]1960,^[5]1964,^[6] as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and theVoting Rights Act of 1965,^[7][8] but not theCivil Rights Act of 1968.^[9]

According to theEncyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Steed's accomplishments while serving in Congress included:

• Conducting hearings on price wars affecting the dairy and retail petroleum industries;
• Cosponsored the Upstream Conservation Act, enacted in 1954;
• Joined with Sen.Robert S. Kerr to realize theArkansas River Navigation System;
• Cosponsored the 1956 Library Services Act, which established the bookmobile system;
• Brought the Postal Service Institute toNorman, Oklahoma in 1968;
• Helped obtain funds for the education center atRose State College and the Gordon Cooper Vocational Education School in Shawnee.^[10]

Steed returned to Oklahoma and resided inShawnee, where he remained until his death on June 8, 1983 (age 79 years, 98 days).^[11] He isinterred at Resthaven Cemetery in Shawnee, Oklahoma.^[12] After his death, a portion ofInterstate 40 near Shawnee was renamed the "Tom Steed Memorial Highway."Tom Steed Reservoir nearMountain Park is also named after him.

• Politics of Oklahoma
• Oklahoma Democratic Party
• Oklahoma Congressional Districts

• Tom Steed at Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
• Tom Steed Collection andPhotograph Series at theCarl Albert Center
• "Tom Steed".Find a Grave. RetrievedMarch 24, 2008.

• 1904 births
• 1983 deaths
• 20th-century American newspaper editors
• People from Eastland County, Texas
• People from Konawa, Oklahoma
• People from Shawnee, Oklahoma
• United States Army officers
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma
• Journalists from Oklahoma
• Journalists from Texas
• People of the United States Office of War Information
• American male journalists
• United States Army personnel of World War II
• Military personnel from Texas
• 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2024