Parke Monroe BANTA, Congress, MO (1891-1970)

BANTA, Parke Monroe, a Representative from Missouri; born in Berryman, Crawford County, Mo., November 21, 1891; attended the public schools, and William Jewell College at Liberty, Mo.; was graduated from Northwestern University Law School at Evanston-Chicago, Ill., in 1914; was admitted to the bar in 1913 and practiced at Potosi, Mo., 1914-1925 and at Ironton, Mo., 1925-1941; prosecuting attorney of Washington County, Mo., in 1917 and 1918; during the First World War served in the United States Army as a private and through the ranks to first lieutenant from April 1918 to August 1919; member of the board of trustees of Arcadia, Mo., in 1928 and 1929; member of Ironton-Arcadia School Board in 1932 and 1933; administrator of the Missouri State Social Security Commission 1941-1945; elected as a Republican to the Eightieth Congress (January 3, 1947-January 3, 1949); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1948 to the Eighty-first Congress and for election in 1950 to the Eighty-second Congress; resumed the practice of law in Ironton, Mo.; general counsel for Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, D.C., from April 11, 1953, until January 20, 1961; retired; died in Cape Girardeau, Mo., May 12, 1970; interment in New Masonic Cemetery, Potosi, Mo.

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