Thomas C. Hennings, Jr.

Thomas Carey Hennings, Jr. ( born June 25, 1903 in St. Louis, Missouri, † September 13, 1960 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician (Democratic Party). He represented the state of Missouri in both chambers of Congress.

After attending the public schools in St. Louis Thomas Hennings studied at Cornell University in Ithaca, where he made his degree in 1924. Two years later the legal examination followed at Washington University in St. Louis, after which he was admitted to the bar in his hometown and began to practice as a lawyer. From 1929 to 1934 he served as deputy district attorney in St. Louis. Between 1932 and 1936 he served on the staff of the Governor with the rank of Colonel; besides, he was employed from 1934 to 1938 as a lecturer in law at Benton College of Law in St. Louis.

1934 Hennings was put forward by the Democratic Party as a candidate for election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the eleventh district of Missouri; He sat down beside it through against the incumbent James Edward Ruffin. After deciding the choice for himself, he moved into the Congress on 3 January 1935. It was followed by several re- elections, until he resigned his mandate on 31 December 1940 to be district attorney in St. Louis. This office he held until 1944. Moreover Hennings served from 1941 to 1943 as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

Initially he worked in the result again as a lawyer, Thomas Hennings was elected in 1950 against Republican incumbent Forrest C. Donnell in the Senate of the United States. This was the only election in which the Democrats could pick up the Republicans a seat in that year. Hennings returned to Congress on January 3, 1951. He was re-elected in 1956 and was temporarily Chairman of the Committee on Rules and Administration, but died before the end of his second term in September 1960 in Washington. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.