Representative Luther Patrick

Luther Patrick (January 23, 1894 – May 26, 1957) was a U.S. Representative from Alabama who served in the United States Congress from 1937 to 1947. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented his Alabama constituents during a decade marked by the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Second World War, contributing to the legislative process over four terms in office.

Born on January 23, 1894, Patrick came of age in the post-Reconstruction South, a period in which Alabama’s political and economic life was undergoing significant change. Details of his early family life and upbringing are sparsely documented in the public record, but his later professional achievements indicate that he pursued a course of study that prepared him for work in law, public affairs, or related fields, positioning him to enter public service in the early twentieth century.

Patrick’s education and early career laid the groundwork for his eventual role in national politics. Like many Southern Democrats of his generation, he would have been shaped by the dominant political culture of the region and by the economic challenges facing Alabama in the early 1900s. His professional path prior to election to Congress, while not extensively chronicled in surviving summaries, led him into public life and gave him the experience and local standing necessary to seek federal office.

Patrick was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives and began his congressional service in 1937. Serving continuously until 1947, he completed four terms in the House. During this time, Congress grappled with the implementation and evolution of New Deal programs, the nation’s mobilization for World War II, and the early contours of the postwar international order. As a member of the House of Representatives, Patrick participated in debates and votes on these and other major issues, representing the interests and concerns of his Alabama district within the broader framework of Democratic Party policy and national priorities.

Throughout his decade in Congress, Patrick’s work reflected the responsibilities of a mid‑twentieth‑century Southern legislator, balancing local economic and social concerns with the demands of national legislation. He took part in the democratic process at a time when federal authority was expanding in response to economic crisis and global conflict, and his service coincided with significant changes in the role of the federal government in American life.

After leaving Congress in 1947, Patrick concluded his tenure in national elective office. While detailed accounts of his later professional activities are limited in standard reference works, his post-congressional years were spent outside the House of Representatives as the country transitioned from wartime to peacetime and entered the early Cold War era. He remained part of the generation of public figures whose careers had been shaped by the upheavals of the 1930s and 1940s.

Luther Patrick died on May 26, 1957. His decade of service in the U.S. House of Representatives placed him among the Alabama Democrats who helped shape federal policy during one of the most consequential periods in twentieth‑century American history, and his congressional career remains the central, documented achievement of his public life.