page_title: John E. Rankin
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: John E. Rankin / Political career
caption_attribution_description: English: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt (center) signs the Rural Electrification Act with Representative John E. Rankin (left) and Senator George W. Norris (right).
context_page_description: John Elliott Rankin was a Democratic politician from Mississippi who served sixteen terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1921 to 1953. He was co-author of the bill for the Tennessee Valley Authority and from 1933 to 1936 he supported the New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which brought investment and jobs to the South. After 1937 he was active in the Conservative Coalition that largely controlled domestic policy.
  Rankin proposed a bill to prohibit interracial marriage and opposed a bill to prohibit state use of the poll tax, which southern states had used since the turn of the century to disenfranchise most blacks and many poor whites. He used his power to support segregation and deny federal benefits of varied programs to African Americans. For instance, in 1944, following the Port Chicago disaster, the U.S. Navy asked Congress to authorize payments of $5,000 to each of the victims' families. But when Rankin learned most of the dead were black sailors, he insisted the amount be reduced to $2,000; Congress settled the amount at $3,000 per family.
  He was the main House sponsor of the GI Bill.
caption: Roosevelt signing the Rural Electrification Act in 1935, with Rankin (left) and Senator George W. Norris (R-Nebraska) (right).
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