Durham, Carl Thomas, 1892-1974

Physicist.

Democratic U.S. congressman, 1939-1960, representing the Sixth North Carolina District (Orange, Durham, Guilford, and Alamance counties).

Carl Thomas Durham (1892-1974) was born in Orange County, N.C.; studied pharmacy at the University of North Carolina, 1915-1917; served as pharmacist's mate in the United States Navy, 1918; held town and county offices in Chapel Hill and Orange County, N.C., and was pharmacist at Eubanks Drug Store when elected to United States Congress in 1938. He represented the Sixth North Carolina District, which included Alamance, Durham, Guilford, and Orange counties, in the United States House of Representatives, 1939-1960.

During the period of his Congressional service, Durham, in addition to attending to the immediate interests of the Sixth North Carolina District, concentrated particularly on the armed services, the development and regulation of atomic energy, and government stockpiling of strategic materials.

Durham was first assigned to the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, but soon sought and gained membership in the House Committee on Military Affairs, which was subsequently combined with Naval Affairs to form the House Armed Services Committee. Durham initiated an investigation in 1943 which led to the reform of the Army Court Martial system.

Durham was also a member of the House Committee on Atomic Energy, was sponsor of the original Atomic Energy Act which put Atomic Energy under civilian rather than military control, served as chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy, United States Representative on the International Atomic Energy Agency set up by 52 nations to explore peaceful uses of Atomic Energy, and delegate to the Atoms-for-Peace Conference in Geneva in 1954.