John Stephens Wood

John Stephens Wood ( * February 8, 1885 in Ball Ground, Cherokee County, Georgia, † September 12, 1968 in Marietta, Georgia ) was an American politician who belonged to the Democratic Party. From March 4, 1931 until January 3, 1935 ( 72nd and 73rd Congress ) and from 3 January 1945 to 3 January 1953 ( 79th to 82nd Congress ), he was a member of the Congressional 9 ( dial - ) district of Georgia member of the house of Representatives. As Chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities ( House Un - American Activities Committee - HUAC ), he played a prominent role in the review of the U.S. and the entertainment industry Communist Party.

Career

John Wood attended the public schools of his home and then the North Georgia Agricultural College, Dahlonega. After a subsequent law degree from Mercer University in Macon and its made ​​in 1910 admitted to the bar he began in Jasper to work in his new profession. At the same time he proposed as a member of the Democratic Party launched a political career. In 1917 he was elected to the House of Representatives from Georgia. In the years 1921-1925 was Wood prosecutor in the Blue Ridge Judicial District. He then worked as a judge in the same district until 1931.

In the congressional elections of 1930, Wood was in the ninth constituency of Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of Thomas Montgomery Bell on March 4, 1931. After a re-election he was able to complete in Congress until January 3, 1935 two legislative sessions. These were inspired by the world economic crisis. Since 1933, the first New Deal legislation of the Federal Government were adopted in Congress. In 1933 was also the 20th and the 21st Amendment to the Constitution considered and adopted.

Wood in 1934 was not nominated by his party for re-election. In the following years he worked again as a lawyer. In the 1944 elections, he was again elected to Congress, where he succeeds B. Frank Whelchel took up on January 3, 1945, which was previously made ​​1935 Woods successor. After two more elections Wood could remain until January 3, 1953 at the U.S. House of Representatives. During this time, ended the Second World War.

Wood was from 1945 to 1947 ( 79th Congress ) and 1949-1953 ( 82 83 Congress ) Chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities, which investigated, among others, the connections between the Communist Party and the entertainment industry, from which the Hollywood blacklist resulted. Wood was then accused by his critics to leave in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities, the activities of the Ku Klux Klan completely ignored. In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was passed in Congress. In these years, the Cold War and the civil rights movement began.

1952 John Wood gave up one more run for the U.S. House of Representatives. In the following years he worked as a lawyer in Canton. Later he was forced to retire due to his deteriorating health condition that profession. John Wood died on September 12, 1968 in Marietta and was buried in Atlanta.