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Senator from Oklahoma
The Legislative Career of Hoosier Elmer Thomas
CAROLYN G. HANNEMAN
| Although he might not rank with Daniel Webster or Henry Clay, United States Senator John William Elmer Thomas was a leading national politician in his time. A native of Indiana, Thomas achieved his prominence early in the twentieth century, when he represented the state of Oklahoma first as a two-term, Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives and later as a four-term member of the Senate. His knack for formulating legislative solutions to the problems confronting Native Americans, farmers, veterans, and wage earners contributed to the duration of his success in politics. |
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To understand Elmer Thomas's significance, it is important to consider his political legacy, not only to his adopted state but also to the nation. Thomas arrived in Oklahoma on November 16, 1900—seven years to the day before the Sooner State was admitted to the union. Opening a legal practice in Lawton—one of the sites for the great land lottery opening the Indian land of southwestern Oklahoma in 1901—Thomas carried on a lucrative business in notarizing homesteaders' documents. He served as a leading figure in the development of Lawton and of nearby Medicine Park, where he later resided. |
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After Oklahoma achieved statehood in 1907, Thomas was elected to its legislature as a senator, and was involved in setting up state government and planning the construction of the capitol. As chairman of the Senate committee on appropriations, he oversaw the funding of numerous projects around the new state. Never one to back away from a challenge, Thomas opposed bond issues to finance a state highway system, instead opting for a "pay as you go" arrangement to match federal monies. He also secured a state fish hatchery for Medicine Park. |
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In 1920, Thomas sought election as the Sixth District Representative to the U.S. House of Representatives. Defeated in that campaign, he won the seat in 1922 and was re-elected in 1924. In 1926, Thomas won election to the first of his four terms in the Senate. During his time in the Senate, he chaired both the agriculture and Indian affairs committees, eventually rising to the level of third-ranking member of the senior legislative body. |
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As the representative of a predominantly rural state, Thomas emphasized agricultural issues. During the drought of the 1930s, he obtained funds for the creation of irrigation projects for western Oklahoma. In addition, he worked with the Oklahoma delegation to push for statewide flood control projects. Thomas also worked to secure favorable legislation for Native Americans—an important constituency in the state. Although his memoir does not reflect his significant contributions to Indian policy, Thomas co-authored the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936, which brought the New Deal to Oklahoma Indians. As a member of the House, Thomas had also secured for members of the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache tribes the title to oil royalties in the bed of the Red River. |
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With the onset of the Great Depression, Thomas became an outspoken proponent of inflation. As a young man, he had supported William Jennings Bryan and his free silver policies. Now Thomas argued that cheapening the dollar would cause prices to rise and, in turn, bring more money to farmers and wage earners. In 1933, Thomas successfully added an amendment to the farm bill which allowed Franklin D. Roosevelt to adjust the money supply. |
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