Role U.S. representative Party Democratic Party | Name Clifton Woodrum Resigned December 31, 1945 | |
Alma mater University College of MedicineWashington and Lee University Died October 6, 1950, Washington, D.C., United States Education | ||
Succeeded by James Lindsay Almond, Jr. | ||
Clifton Alexander Woodrum (April 27, 1887 – October 6, 1950) was a Virginia pharmacist, lawyer and U.S. Representative from Roanoke who was considered a Progressive Democrat for his support of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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Early and family life
Born in Roanoke, Virginia to Robert H. and Anna T. Woodrum, years after his brother Robert J. Woodrum and sister Claudine J. Woodrum, Clifton Woodrum attended the local public schools. He later attended the University College of Medicine (now combined with the Medical College of Virginia) in Richmond, Virginia. He married Martha Lena Woodrum, formerly of Texas. They had a son, Clifton A. Woodrum Jr. (1910-1959), and a daughter, Martha Anne Woodrum Zillhardt (1916-2002).
Careers
Woodrum became a registered pharmacist and engaged in his profession in Roanoke. He also followed his father's example, studied law at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, and was admitted to the bar in 1908 and commenced practice in Roanoke, Virginia. His father had been Roanoke's first elected Commonwealth's Attorney, and he too served in that capacity, from 1917-1919. The Virginia General Assembly then elected Woodrum as a judge of the Roanoke's Hustings Court, where he served from 1919-1922.
Woodrum was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-eighth Congress and re-elected eleven times. He served from March 4, 1923, until his resignation on October 24, 1945 (effective December 31, 1945), to become president of the American Plant Food Council, Inc. Considered a "Southern Progressive" in Washington, Woodrum bucked the powerful Senators Carter Glass and Harry F. Byrd and the Byrd Organization to become an ardent "New Dealer." As a member of the United States House Committee on Appropriations, he steered federal money for the purchase of land for Roanoke's airport, originally called "Woodrum's Field" in his honor, and today known as the Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional Airport. He was also instrumental in bringing the United States Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, now known as the Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center to his district. The hospital brought many jobs to the region during the Great Depression.
Death and legacy
Woodrum died in Washington, D.C., October 6, 1950. He was interred in Fairview Cemetery, Roanoke, Virginia. His son and namesake also became a lawyer in Roanoke, but only survived him by 9 years. His grandson Chip Woodrum continued the family tradition of opposing the Byrd organization, and served in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he became known (among other accomplishments) for updating Virginia's Freedom of Information Act.