John Thomas, served from 1928 to 1933, and 1940 to 1945

John Thomas was born on a farm in Phillips County, Kansas on January 4, 1874. He attended the rural schools and the Central Normal College at Great Bend, Kansas as a youth. He taught school, serving as superintendent of schools of Phillips County, Kansas, from 1898 to 1903. He was then the register of land office at Colby, Kansas, from 1906 to 1909.

In 1909, he moved to Gooding, Idaho, where he was engaged in banking and livestock business. He served as the mayor of Gooding from 1917 to 1919. He was a member of the Republican National Committee from 1925 to 1933.

He was appointed and subsequently elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Frank R. Gooding and served from June 30, 1928, to March 3, 1933. He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1932. During his tenure, he was the chairman of the Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation (Seventy-first and Seventy-second Congresses).

After leaving the Senate, he resumed his former business pursuits but was again appointed and subsequently elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William E. Borah. He was re-elected in 1942, and served from January 27, 1940, until his death in Washington, D.C., November 10, 1945. He was buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Gooding, Idaho.

Bibliography

U.S. Congress. Memorial Services. 79th Cong., 2nd session., 1946. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1948.

Photos provided by the Idaho State Historical Society.  Biographical information compiled by Congressional Research Service.