Representative Raymond Stephen McKeough

Raymond Stephen McKeough (April 29, 1888 – December 16, 1979) was an American Democratic politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1935 to 1943. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Illinois’s 2nd Congressional District for four consecutive terms during a significant period in American history, contributing to the legislative process in the era of the New Deal and the early years of World War II.

McKeough was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he was raised and educated. He graduated from the De La Salle Institute in Chicago in 1905. Following his graduation, he entered the workforce at the Union Stock Yards, a major center of Chicago’s meatpacking industry, gaining early experience in the city’s industrial economy. In 1909 he became a railroad clerk, a position that placed him within the transportation sector at a time when railroads were central to commerce and trade in the United States.

By the mid-1920s, McKeough had shifted into the financial sector. He entered the securities industry in 1925 and worked as a broker from 1929 to 1934. His experience in business and finance coincided with the onset of the Great Depression, a period that shaped the economic and political environment in which he would soon launch his congressional career. These professional roles helped establish his public profile in Chicago and provided a foundation for his subsequent political endeavors.

In 1934, McKeough won the Democratic nomination for Congress from Illinois’s 2nd District. He was endorsed by the powerful Cook County Democratic Party and its chairman, Patrick Nash, which was instrumental in securing his election. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat and served four two-year terms from 1935 to 1943. During his tenure in Congress, McKeough participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his urban constituents in Chicago. His service coincided with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and the nation’s mobilization for World War II, placing him in the midst of major legislative efforts to address economic recovery, social welfare, and national defense.

In 1942, while still serving in the House, McKeough sought higher office and ran for the United States Senate from Illinois. In the Democratic primary, his principal opponent was Paul Douglas, an economist and University of Chicago professor associated with reform politics. Although Douglas carried 99 of Illinois’s 102 counties, McKeough’s strong support and majority in the Chicago area enabled him to win the Democratic nomination. In the general election that November, however, he was defeated by the incumbent Republican senator, Charles W. Brooks. His unsuccessful Senate bid marked the end of his service in the House of Representatives in 1943.

Soon after the conclusion of his congressional service, McKeough continued his involvement in public affairs through federal administrative roles. He joined the Office of Price Administration, the World War II–era agency responsible for enforcing wartime wage and price controls designed to curb inflation, and served there until January 1944. In October 1945, he was appointed to the United States Maritime Commission, where he served until 1950, helping oversee aspects of the nation’s maritime policy and merchant fleet in the postwar period. He then served on the U.S. International Claims Commission from 1951 to 1953, participating in the adjudication of international financial claims.

After leaving federal service, McKeough briefly worked with the Great American Oil Company in 1956. Later that year, on December 3, 1956, he embarked on what became his final period of public service when he was appointed an assistant state’s attorney. He held this position for exactly four years, retiring on December 3, 1960. Following his retirement from government service, he entered the insurance business, remaining active in private enterprise during his later years.

Raymond Stephen McKeough died in Blue Island, Illinois, on December 16, 1979. He was buried at Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery in Evergreen Park, Illinois. His long career encompassed industrial labor, finance, legislative service in the U.S. House of Representatives, a statewide Senate campaign, and multiple federal and local appointments, reflecting decades of engagement in public life at both the national and state levels.