John Jacob Rhodes

John Jacob Rhodes, Jr. (September 18, 1916 – August 24, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Rhodes was elected as a U.S. Representative from the state of Arizona. He was preceded in office by Democrat John Murdock, and succeeded by fellow Republican John McCain. In turn, Rhodes' son, Republican John Jacob Rhodes III ("Jay"), succeeded McCain in January 1987.

Life and career

Rhodes was born in Council Grove, Kansas. He met Calvin Coolidge when he was eleven years old, and after shaking hands with the President, reportedly refused to wash his hand for a week. He attended public schools, and in 1938 graduated from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, where he also earned his Army Reserve commission in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). In 1941, he graduated from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was called to active duty with the United States Army Air Corps and United States Army Air Forces. He served at Williams Field, Arizona from 1941 – 1946. After the war, he chose to settle in Arizona with his wife, Elizabeth Harvey, whom he had married in 1942. From 1947 to 1952 he was the staff judge advocate of the Arizona National Guard, and from 1951 to 1952 he served as vice chairman of the Arizona Board of Public Welfare.

In 1950, Rhodes ran for Attorney......
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