Representative Daniel Rayford McGehee

Daniel Rayford McGehee (September 10, 1883 – February 9, 1962) was an American businessman, lawyer, and Democratic politician who served six terms as a U.S. Representative from Mississippi from 1935 to 1947. Over the course of his public career, he held offices at both the state and federal levels and participated actively in the legislative process during a significant period in American history, representing the interests of his Mississippi constituents during the New Deal, World War II, and the immediate postwar era.

McGehee was born on September 10, 1883, in Little Springs, Franklin County, Mississippi. He attended the local public schools, receiving his early education in his home state. Demonstrating academic promise, he pursued higher education at Mississippi College in Clinton, from which he was graduated in 1903. Seeking a career in law, he continued his studies at the law department of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, earning his law degree in 1909.

In 1909, McGehee was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Meadville, Mississippi. Alongside his legal work, he became involved in agricultural pursuits and banking, reflecting the economic life of rural Mississippi in the early twentieth century. His professional activities in law, farming, and finance helped establish him as a prominent figure in his community and provided a foundation for his subsequent entry into public office.

McGehee’s political career began at the state level. He was elected to the Mississippi State Senate, where he served from 1924 to 1928. He then moved to the Mississippi House of Representatives, representing Franklin County from 1928 to 1932. After his term in the House, he returned to the State Senate, serving from the 6th district from 1932 to 1934. Through these legislative roles, he gained experience in state governance and legislative procedure, building a reputation that would support his election to national office.

In 1934, McGehee was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fourth Congress and was subsequently re-elected to the five succeeding Congresses, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 3, 1935, to January 3, 1947. During his twelve years in Congress, he participated in the democratic process at the federal level and contributed to the legislative work of the House during a transformative period in American history. He served as chairman of the Committee on Claims during the 77th, 78th, and 79th Congresses, overseeing matters related to claims against the federal government. His tenure encompassed the later New Deal years, the entirety of World War II, and the early postwar transition, during which he represented the interests and concerns of his Mississippi constituents.

In his final term in Congress, McGehee became one of the early and vocal congressional critics of the mid-twentieth-century Supreme Court. He strongly opposed the Court’s 1946 decision in Morgan v. Virginia, which declared racial segregation on interstate transportation unconstitutional. Viewing the ruling as an overreach into states’ rights, McGehee characterized the Justices who supported the decision as mediocre lawyers with limited understanding of the Constitution, particularly its allocation of authority between the federal government and the states. He went so far as to argue that every Justice who joined the Morgan decision should be impeached. In 1946, he was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination to the Eightieth Congress, bringing his congressional service to a close in January 1947.

After leaving Congress, McGehee returned to Meadville, Mississippi, where he resumed the practice of law and continued his involvement in agricultural pursuits and banking. He remained a figure of local prominence, drawing on the same professional and business interests that had marked his early career. Daniel Rayford McGehee died in Meadville on February 9, 1962. He was interred in Midway Cemetery, closing a life that had spanned from the late nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century and had been devoted in substantial measure to public service at both the state and national levels.