Kent E. Keller

Kent Ellsworth Keller ( * June 4, 1867 in Campbell Hill, Illinois, † September 3, 1954 in Ava, Illinois ) was an American politician. Between 1931 and 1941 he represented the state of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Kent Keller attended the public schools in Ava and then studied until 1890 at the Southern Illinois Normal University in Carbondale. In the meantime, he worked in the newspaper industry and as a teacher. He was also founder of the Ava Community High School. Between 1891 and 1892 he studied at the University of Heidelberg. After a subsequent law degree from the St. Louis Law School and was admitted as an attorney of his 1896 he began to practice in this profession in Ava. From 1899 to 1912 he worked in Mexico in the mining industry. Then he returned to Ava, where he focused on literary matters. At the same time he proposed as a member of the Democratic Party launched a political career. From 1913 to 1917 he was in the Illinois Senate. In June 1916 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis in part, was nominated to the president Woodrow Wilson for re-election.

In the congressional elections of 1930 Keller in the 25th electoral district of Illinois was in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of the Republican Edward E. Denison on March 4, 1931. After four elections he could pass in Congress until January 3, 1941 five legislative sessions. Since 1933, most of the New Deal legislation of the Federal Government there were passed under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1940, Keller was not re-elected.

After his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, he dealt again with literary matters. Between 1945 and 1946 he was an advisor to the U.S. ambassador in Mexico. In the years 1942, 1944, 1948 and 1950, Keller applied in each case unsuccessfully to return to Congress. He died on September 3, 1954 in Ava.