James Alexander REED, Congress, MO (1861-1944)

REED, James Alexander, a Senator from Missouri; born on a farm near Mansfield, Richland County, Ohio, November 9, 1861; moved with his parents to Cedar Rapids, Linn County, Iowa, in 1864; attended the public schools and Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1885 and commenced practice in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; moved to Kansas City, Mo., in 1887 and continued the practice of law; counselor of Kansas City 1897-1898; prosecuting attorney of Jackson County 1898-1900, when he resigned; mayor of Kansas City 1900-1904; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1910; reelected in 1916 and 1922 and served from March 4, 1911, to March 3, 1929; was not a candidate for renomination in 1928; chairman, Committee on Manufactures (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses), Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds (Sixty-fifth Congress), Committee on Standards, Weights and Measures (Sixty-sixth Congress); resumed the practice of his profession in Kansas City, Mo.; died at his summer home near Fairview, Oscoda County, Mich., September 8, 1944; interment in Mount Washington Cemetery, near Kansas City, Mo.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Meriwether, Lee. Jim Reed, “Senatorial Immortal”: A Biography. Webster Groves, Mo.: International Mark Twain Society, 1948; Mitchell, Franklin D. “The Re-Election of Irreconcilable James A. Reed.” Missouri Historical Review 60 (July 1966): 416-35.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present