William Pat JENNINGS, Congress, VA (1919-1994)

JENNINGS William Pat , a Representative from Virginia; born on a farm in St. Clair, Smyth County, Va., August 20, 1919; attended the public schools; B.S., Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Va., 1941; entered the United States Army in July 1941; served in the United States for two years and in the European Theater of Operations for two and a half years with the Twenty-ninth Infantry as platoon leader, company commander, and operations officer; instructor in ROTC at the University of Illinois; discharged as a major in May 1946; automobile and farm implement dealer in Marion, Va., from 1946 until his death; cattle farmer; delegate, Democratic National Conventions, 1952, 1956, 1960, and 1968; elected sheriff of Smyth County, Va., in 1947, reelected in 1951, and served until 1954; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-fourth and to the five succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1955–January 3, 1967); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1966 to the Ninetieth Congress; elected Clerk of the House of Representatives for the Ninetieth Congress and for the four succeeding Congresses and served until his resignation on November 15, 1975 (January 10, 1967–November 15, 1975); president of Slurry Transport Association; was a resident of Marion, Va., until his death there on August 2, 1994; interment in Rose Lawn Cemetery, Marion, Va.

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