Representative Preston Elmer Peden

Preston Elmer Peden (June 28, 1914 – June 27, 1985) was an American lawyer, public official, and Democratic politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from Oklahoma from 1947 to 1949. His congressional service took place during the immediate post–World War II period, a significant era in American political and economic history, in which he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his Oklahoma constituents in the House of Representatives.

Peden was born in Duke, Jackson County, Oklahoma, on June 28, 1914. In 1920 he moved with his family to Altus, Oklahoma, where he was raised and attended the local public schools. His early years in southwestern Oklahoma, a largely agricultural region, helped shape his understanding of the concerns of rural communities that he would later represent in public office.

After completing his public school education, Peden attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman. He received his A.B. degree in 1936 and continued at the same institution’s law school, earning his LL.B. in 1939. That same year he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Altus, Oklahoma. Almost immediately he entered public service as an attorney for the State Insurance Fund of the State of Oklahoma, a position he held from 1939 to 1942, gaining experience in state administration and regulatory matters.

With the United States’ entry into World War II, Peden enlisted in the United States Army in June 1942 as a private. He served overseas and was promoted through the ranks to captain, reflecting both length and quality of service. He was discharged from the Army on May 5, 1946, and was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service. While serving in Europe, he married German nurse Ursula Wendt on December 24, 1945, in Bavaria. The couple had four children: their eldest son Robert, followed by daughters Marsha and Gretchen, and a younger son, Thomas, who was familiarly referred to as “Stam,” a nickname derived from “stampeden.” During his military service overseas, Peden sent a notification and declaration for the office of Congressman to the election board in Oklahoma and subsequently received the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Peden was elected as a Democrat to the Eightieth Congress and served from January 3, 1947, to January 3, 1949. As a member of the House of Representatives from Oklahoma, he participated in the democratic process at a time when Congress was addressing issues of postwar reconversion, veterans’ affairs, and the emerging Cold War. He served one term and was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1948, ending his brief but notable tenure as an elected member of Congress.

Following his departure from elective office, Peden remained active in federal legislative and administrative work. In May 1949 he served as a staff member of the House Committee on Public Lands. In 1950 he was appointed Alaskan regional counsel for the Bureau of Land Management in the Department of the Interior, a role that placed him at the center of legal and policy issues involving federal lands in the Alaska territory. From 1950 to 1952 he served as counsel to the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, further extending his expertise in public lands, natural resources, and territorial matters.

In the mid-1950s Peden transitioned to a long career in the private sector while remaining closely connected to public policy. He became director of governmental affairs for the Chicago Association of Commerce and Industry in 1954, a position he held until 1980. In this capacity, while residing in La Grange, Illinois, he represented the interests of the Chicago-area business community before governmental bodies, drawing on his legislative background and legal training to influence economic and regulatory policy over more than a quarter century.

After his retirement from his work in Chicago, Peden moved to Walnut Creek, California. He lived there until his death on June 27, 1985, one day short of his seventy-first birthday. His burial location is not publicly documented. Throughout his varied career—as attorney, soldier, congressman, congressional staff member, federal counsel, and business association executive—Preston Elmer Peden remained engaged in the intersection of law, government, and public policy at both state and national levels.