McClintic, James V., U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma's 7th district (1915-1935); Member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives (1911), 1878-1948

Biographical:

James Vernon McClintic was born near Bremond, Texas, on September 8, 1878. He attended Add-Ran (now Texas Christian) University and became a salesman. In 1902 he moved to Snyder, Oklahoma Territory, where he operated a store. A Democrat, he rose rapidly in political life by becoming Snyder city clerk in 1908, Kiowa County clerk in 1909, Oklahoma state representative in 1911, and state senator in 1913. McClintic became the first representative of Oklahoma's Seventh District (created after the 1910 federal census), serving from 1915 to 1934. Over this period he served on numerous committees: Expenditures on Public Buildings (which he chaired in the late 1910s); Patents; Public Lands; Ways and Means; and Naval Affairs (on which he served the longest). "Sunny Jim," as his constituents dubbed him, claimed many congressional firsts, including establishment of a school for House and Senate pages, advocacy for the military use of aircraft, and introduction of bank deposit guarantee legislation (1921). While in Congress, he studied at Georgetown University Law School and entered the Oklahoma bar in 1928. The voter dissatisfaction with the Great Depression ended McClintic's congressional career; he barely won the 1932 Democratic primary and lost the election of 1934 to Sam Massingale. There were unsuccessful attempts to regain this seat in 1941 and 1946. In his later years McClintic became an administrator. He served as the executive assistant to Oklahoma Governor E. W. Marland. He also contributed to "Washington-Here and There," a political column published in the Daily Oklahoman. After this he was an administrative assistant for the Washington, D.C., Department of Vehicles and Traffic. Later, he worked for the Department of the Interior (1941-1944) and for the War Department (1944-1945). He died on a train en route from Chicago to Los Angeles on April 22, 1948.

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