Otis Wingo Explained

Otis Wingo
State1:Arkansas
District1:4th
Term Start1:March 4, 1913
Term End1:October 21, 1930
Preceded1:William B. Cravens
Succeeded1:Effiegene Wingo
Office2:Member of the Arkansas State Senate
Term2:1907-1909
Birth Name:Otis Theodore Wingo
Birth Date:18 June 1877
Birth Place:Weakley County, Tennessee, U.S.
Death Place:Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Resting Place:Rock Creek Cemetery
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Residence:De Queen, Arkansas, U.S.
Spouse:Effiegene Locke Wingo
Children:Blanche Wingo[1]
Party:Democratic
Occupation:Attorney

Otis Theodore Wingo (June 18, 1877 – October 21, 1930) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. representative from Arkansas's 4th congressional district from 1913 to 1930. He was the husband of his successor in office, Effiegene Wingo.

Biography

Born in Weakley County in northwestern Tennessee, Wingo attended the public schools, Bethel College at McKenzie, Tennessee, the former McFerrin College at Martin in Weakley County, Tennessee, and Valparaiso University in Indiana.

Early career

He taught school and studied law, having been admitted to the bar in 1900. He established his practice in De Queen in Sevier County in southwestern Arkansas. From 1907 to 1909, Wingo was a member of the Arkansas State Senate.

Congress

In 1912, Wingo was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third and to the eight succeeding Congresses, having served from March 4, 1913, until his death while undergoing surgery in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 21, 1930.

Advocacy for national park

In 1927, Wingo joined his fellow Democrat, U.S. Senator Joseph Taylor Robinson, and Republican State Representative Osro Cobb of Montgomery County in proposing the establishment of a second national park in Arkansas which would have been located in the scenic Ouachita National Forest about halfway between Little Rock and Shreveport, Louisiana. The proposal, which would have been in driving distance of then some 45 million Americans, was pocket vetoed by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge.[2]

Death and burial

Upon Wingo's death, Cobb was urged by his party to contest the vacant U.S. House seat in a special election, but he instead deferred to Wingo's widow, Effiegene, who served until 1933.[3]

Wingo and his wife are interred at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Mrs. Wingo had five children named "Pratt" and no mention of "Blanche." So each must have had previous marriages.
  2. [Osro Cobb]
  3. Cobb, p. 44