Representative Ralph Emerson Bailey

Ralph Emerson Bailey (July 14, 1878 – April 8, 1948) was an American lawyer and Republican politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from Missouri from 1925 to 1927. He was born in Cainsville, Harrison County, Missouri, and in 1880 moved with his parents to Illinois, where the family settled in Benton, Franklin County. Growing up in Benton, he attended the graded and high schools there, receiving a public school education that prepared him for a career in teaching and the law.

In 1897, Bailey returned to Missouri, settling in Bloomfield. He pursued higher education at the Southeast Missouri Teachers’ College in Cape Girardeau (now Southeast Missouri State University), from which he graduated in 1901. Seeking further training, he soon took a special course at the University of Missouri. During this period he turned his attention to the study of law, laying the foundation for his professional and political career.

Bailey was admitted to the bar in 1907 and commenced the practice of law in Bloomfield, Missouri. In 1910 he moved to Sikeston, in Scott County, where he continued in private legal practice and became an active figure in local civic affairs. He served as city attorney of Sikeston from 1912 to 1914 and again from 1918 to 1922, advising the municipal government and representing the city in legal matters. In addition to his legal and municipal work, he maintained a connection to his alma mater by serving as a member of the board of regents of the Southeast Missouri Teachers’ College, contributing to the governance and development of the institution.

Building on his legal reputation and public service at the local and regional levels, Bailey entered national politics as a member of the Republican Party. He was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-ninth Congress, representing Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1925, to March 3, 1927. During this single term in Congress, he participated in the legislative process during a significant period in American history, taking part in the democratic process and representing the interests of his Missouri constituents in the national legislature. Although he completed his term, he was not a candidate for renomination in 1926 to the Seventieth Congress, thereby limiting his congressional service to one term.

After leaving Congress, Bailey returned to Sikeston and resumed the practice of law, continuing his professional career in the community where he had long been established. He remained engaged in legal work until later in life. Ralph Emerson Bailey died in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on April 8, 1948. He was interred in the City Cemetery in Sikeston, Missouri, closing a life marked by service as an educator, attorney, local official, and one-term member of the United States House of Representatives.