James Blackwood PEARSON, Congress, KS (1920-2009)

PEARSON James Blackwood , a Senator from Kansas; born in Nashville, Davidson County, Tenn., May 7, 1920; with his parents moved to Virginia in 1934 and attended the public schools of that State and Duke University, Durham, N.C.; during the Second World War interrupted schooling to serve as a pilot in the Naval Air Transport of the United States Navy 1943-1946, and was discharged as a lieutenant; graduated from the law school of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1950; admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Mission, Kans., in 1950; assistant county attorney of Johnson County, Kans., 1952-1954; county probate judge 1954-1956; member, State senate 1956-1960; did not seek reelection but returned to the practice of law; appointed on January 31, 1962, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Andrew F. Schoeppel; elected on November 6, 1962, in special election for the term ending January 3, 1967; reelected in 1966 for a full six-year term, and again in 1972; served from January 31, 1962, until his resignation December 23, 1978; was not a candidate for reelection in 1978; was a resident of Gloucester, Massachusetts, at the time of his death on January 13, 2009.

Bibliography

Pearson, James B. "Oversight: A Vital Yet Neglected Congressional Function." University of Kansas Law Review 23 (Winter 1975): 277-88; Seaton, Frederick D. "Man in the Middle: The Career of Senator James B. Pearson." Kansas History 34 (Winter 2011-2012): 297-315.

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