John Crepps Wickliffe BECKHAM, Congress, KY (1869-1940)

BECKHAM, John Crepps Wickliffe, (grandson of Charles Anderson Wickliffe and cousin of Robert Charles Wickliffe), a Senator from Kentucky; born in Wickland, near Bardstown, Nelson County, Ky., August 5, 1869; attended the Roseland Academy at Bardstown and Central University, Richmond, Ky.; high school principal; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1889 and commenced practice in Bardstown in 1893; member, State house of representatives 1894-1898, serving as speaker in 1898; lieutenant governor of Kentucky in 1899, becoming Governor upon the death of the Governor, February 3, 1900; subsequently elected Governor for the unexpired term ending December 8, 1903, and reelected for the term 1903-1907; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1914 and served from March 4, 1915 to March 3, 1921; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1920; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Labor (Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth Congresses); resumed the practice of law in Louisville, Ky.; unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Kentucky in 1927; unsuccessful candidate for nomination to the United States Senate in 1936; died in Louisville, Ky., January 9, 1940; interment in Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort, Ky.

Bibliography

Finch, Glenn. ‘The Election of United States Senators in Kentucky: The Beckham Period.’ Filson Club History Quarterly 44 (January 1970): 38-50.

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