Douglass, Shannon Clay, 1887-

Shannon Clay Douglass, who since 1910 has been an active member of the Kansas City bar, was born in St. Louis, September 29, 1887, and is a son of Shannon C. and Hallie H. (Burr) Douglass... Shannon Clay Douglass, Jr... entered the University of Missouri at Columbia where he pursued his legal course winning his LL B degree in 1910. He at once entered upon the practice of law, and for two terms filled the position of assistant prosecuting attorney, acting in that capacity during the trial of the famous Chick case which resulted in Chick's conviction and confinement in the penitentiary. He gained a clientage of distinctively representative character in the private practice of law and continued an active member of the bar until 1918 when he withdrew to take the business management of the Southwest Journal Printing Company with which he was associated until January, 1921. He is a member of the Kansas City Bar Association. -- Stevens, Walter Barlow. Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921. p. 736, 739

Clark, Bennett Champ (8 Jan. 1890-13 July 1954), senator and federal judge, was born Joel Bennett Clark in Bowling Green, Missouri, the son of James Beauchamp "Champ" Clark, a congressman, and Genevieve Bennett. As the son of a long-time Democratic congressman from Missouri and Speaker of the House of Representatives, young Clark was reared largely in the political environment of Washington, D.C. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Missouri in 1913 and received a law degree from George Washington University in 1914. From 1913 to 1917 he served as parliamentarian in the House of Representatives and even wrote a manual on parliamentary procedures...In 1917 he volunteered for the army, served in the American Expeditionary Force in Europe, and rose from the rank of captain to colonel by the time he left military service after the end of World War I. He was one of seventeen charter members of the American Legion, serving one year as national commander. After leaving the army, he practiced law in St. Louis...In [1932] he won election to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat from Missouri. He was reelected in 1938... Clark was rejected the next time he faced the voters, in 1944...With the death of Roosevelt in 1945, however, Clark's fellow Democrat from Missouri, Harry S. Truman, became president and appointed Clark an associate justice of the U.S. District Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia. He held that position until his death in Gloucester, Massachusetts. -- "Bennett Champ Clark." American National Biography Online. http://www.anb.org/articles (Retrieved March 26, 2009)

Frank Parks Briggs (1894-1992) graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1915. He was involved in the newspaper and publishing business, and was Mayor of Macon, Mo., from 1930-1932. He was in the state senate from 1933-1944 and was then appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by Harry S. Truman's resignation and served January 18, 1945-January 3, 1947. He was chariman of the Missouri State Conservation Commission from 1955-1956 and Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife from 1961-1965. Briggs died on September 23, 1992.

Cannon, Clarence Andrew (11 Apr. 1879-12 May 1964), congressman, was born in Elsberry, Missouri, the son of John Randolph Cannon, a farmer and merchant, and Ida Glovina Whiteside. Reflecting his family's influence and his rural, border-state background, Cannon maintained a lifelong devotion to the Southern Baptist faith and the Democratic party... he studied law at the University of Missouri while teaching at Stephens College. He earned an LL.B. and joined the bar in 1908. He established a law practice in Troy, Missouri, but soon transferred it to his home town of Elsberry... [H]is congressman, Champ Clark, hired him as a confidential secretary in 1911. When Democrats elected Clark Speaker of the House that year, Cannon found himself near the center of power in Washington. Enjoying Clark's patronage, Cannon advanced to the positions of House journal clerk (1914-1917) and House parliamentarian (1917-1920). A quick study, he rapidly established himself as a leading authority on parliamentary procedure. His skills proved so impressive that the Republicans retained him after winning the House in 1918. In 1920 he became parliamentarian of the Democratic National Convention, a position he held through 1960... After resigning as House parliamentarian, Cannon returned to his law practice in Elsberry. In 1922 voters in Clark's old congressional district elected Cannon to his mentor's seat in the House of Representatives. Popular with his constituents, he repeatedly won reelection, often without opposition, until his death. -- "Clarence Andrew Cannon." American National Biography Online. http://www.anb.org/articles (Retrieved March 26, 2009)