LUCAS, Scott Wike

1892–1968

Concise Biography

LUCAS, Scott Wike, a Representative and a Senator from Illinois; born on a farm near Chandlerville, Cass County, Ill., February 19, 1892; attended the public schools and graduated from the law department of Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington in 1914; admitted to the bar in 1915 and commenced practice at Havana, Ill.; during the First World War served as an enlisted man and later as a lieutenant in the United States Army; State's attorney of Mason County 1920-1925; chairman of State Tax Commission 1933-1935; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fourth and Seventy-fifth Congresses (January 3, 1935-January 3, 1939); did not seek renomination, having become a candidate for Senator; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1938 and reelected in 1944 and served from January 3, 1939, to January 3, 1951; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1950; Democratic whip 1947-1949; majority leader and Democratic caucus chairman 1949-1951; Democratic Policy Committee chairman 1949-1951; chairman, Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expense (Seventy-seventh through Seventy-ninth Congresses); engaged in the practice of law in Springfield, Ill., and Washington, D.C.; died en route to Florida at Rocky Mount, N.C., February 22, 1968; interment in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Havana, Ill.

View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

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External Research Collections

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library

Springfield, IL
Papers: 1918-1968. 294 feet and 7 reels of microfilm. Congressional and senatorial papers, papers from his law practice, photographs, one oil painting, and audiovisual materials from Senate years. Finding aid.

Chicago Historical Society

Chicago, IL
Papers: Ca. 30 items.

University of Michigan
Bentley Historical Library

Ann Arbor, MI
Papers: Correspondence in Arthur Hendrick Vandenberg papers, 1884-1974. Finding aid.
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Bibliography / Further Reading

Bowen, Laurel G., and Mary Michals. "The Scott Wike Lucas Collection: Manuscripts and Audiovisual Resources." Illinois Historical Journal 77 (Autumn 1984): 193-96.

Deason, Brian. "Eye of the Storm: A Political Biography of U.S. Senator Scott W. Lucas." Ph.d. dissertation, Southern Illinois University, 2001.

___. "Scott Lucas, Everett Dirksen, and the 1950 Senate Election in Illinois." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 95 (Spring 2002): 33-51.

Schapsmeier, Edward L., and Frederick H. Schapsmeier. "Scott W. Lucas of Havana: His Rise and Fall as Majority Leader in the United States Senate." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 70 (November 1977): 302-20.

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