James Edmund Jeffries
Politician. Republican. Born: June 1, 1925, Detroit, Michigan. Died: August 22, 1997, Tucson, Arizona. Served in U.S. House of Representatives, 2nd District: January 3, 1979, to January 3, 1983.
Two-term Kansas congressman Jim Jeffries was born at Detroit, Michigan, on June 1, 1925, and attended the public schools, before attending Cranbrook Academy in 1943 and Michigan State University in 1947. Jeffries served a two-year hitch (1943-1945) in the United States Army Air Corps-he was a gunner aboard a B-29 bomber. After the war, Jeffries ran the family's farm near St. Clair, Michigan, but in 1950 he moved his young family to Atchison, Kansas, where he ran a car dealership, among other things, before starting an investment business in 1970, and where he became active politically, serving as a delegate to Kansas State Republican convention in 1978. Elected as a Republican to the U.S. Congress in 1978 (defeating the incumbent, Martha Keys, for the Second District seat) and again in 1980 (served, January 3, 1979-January 3, 1983), the conservative Atchison congressman was not a candidate for reelection in 1982. Thereafter, Jeffries resided in Atchison until 1990 when he retired to Tucson, Arizona; he died there on August 22, 1997.
Entry: Jeffries, James Edmund
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: June 2011
Date Modified: January 2013
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
