{{Short description|American politician (1898–1994)}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Jessie Sumner |image = Jessie Sumner.jpg |state1 = Illinois |district1 = 18th |term_start1 = January 3, 1939 |term_end1 = January 3, 1947 |preceded1 = James A. Meeks |succeeded1 = Edward H. Jenison |office2 = Judge of Iroquois County, Illinois |term_start2 = December 8, 1937 |term_end2 = December 5, 1938 |predecessor2 = John H. Gillan |successor2 = Stephen C. Malo |birth_date = {{Birth date|1898|07|17}} |birth_place = Milford, Illinois, U.S. |death_date = {{Death date and age|1994|08|10|1898|07|17}} |death_place = Watseka, Illinois, U.S. |resting_place = Maple Grove Cemetery, Milford, Illinois, U.S. |party = Republican |occupation = Attorney<br/>Bank president |alma_mater = Smith College }} '''Jessie Sumner''' (July 17, 1898 – August 10, 1994) was an American attorney and banker from Illinois. A Republican, she served as a U.S. Representative from 1939 to 1947.
==Early life== Jessie Sumner was born in Milford, Illinois on July 17, 1898, the daughter of Aaron Taylor Sumner and Jeannette Elizabeth (Gillan) Sumner.<ref name="Pace">{{cite news |last=Pace |first=Eric |date=August 15, 1994 |title=Jessie Sumner, Fervent Enemy Of Roosevelt in House, Dies at 96 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/15/obituaries/jessie-sumner-fervent-enemy-of-roosevelt-in-house-dies-at-96.html |work=The New York Times |location=New York |page=B7 |via=TimesMachine}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Peters |first=Anna Ruth Whitescarver Austin |date=2006 |title=Whitescarver Family Ties II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qqhbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22aaron+taylor+sumner%22+%22Gillan%22 |location=Baltimore |publisher=Gateway Press |page=275 |via=Google Books}}</ref> She attended the public schools of Milford and in 1916 she graduated from the Girton School in Winnetka, Illinois.<ref name="BlueBook1940">{{cite book |date=1940 |title=Illinois Blue Book, 1939-1940 |url=https://www.idaillinois.org/digital/collection/bb/id/22172/ |location=Springfield, Illinois |publisher=Illinois Secretary of State |page=131 |via=Illinois Digital Archives}}</ref> She then attended Northampton, Massachusetts's Smith College, from which she graduated in 1920 with a AB degree in economics.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clayton |first=John |date=1970 |title=The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2glAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Jesse+Sumner+,+res+.+Iroquois+Co.%22 |location=Carbondale, Illinois |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |page=147 |isbn=978-0-8093-0381-6 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
After college, Sumner studied law at the University of Chicago Law School, Columbia University, and Oxford University.<ref name="BlueBook1940"/> She also studied briefly at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the New York University School of Commerce in New York City.<ref name="Directory1971">{{cite book |author=Joint Committee On Printing, U.S. Congress |date=1971 |title=Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WgWeWBMrSbgC&pg=PA1776 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=US Government Printing Office |page=1776 |via=Google Books}}</ref> She was admitted to the bar in 1923 and practiced in Chicago, Illinois.<ref name="BlueBook1940"/> In 1928, Sumner moved to New York City, where she was employed on the legal staff of the Chase National Bank.<ref name="BlueBook1940"/> She returned to Milford, Illinois in 1932, resumed the practice of law, and was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Iroquois County district attorney.<ref name="BlueBook1940"/><ref name="Directory1971"/> Sumner also served as director of Sumner National Bank in Sheldon, of which her father was president.<ref name="Pace"/><ref name="Directory1971"/>
==Later career== In December 1937, Sumner won a special election for judge of Iroquois County, filling the vacancy left by the death of her uncle John H. Gillan.<ref>{{cite news |last=Stanger |first=Harlan |date=December 11, 1937 |title=Iroquois Voters Judge Jessie Sumner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pantagraph-voters/181442650/ |work=The Pantagraph |location=Bloomington, Illinois |page=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She served until December 1938, when she resigned in preparation to assume her seat in the United States House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite news |agency=United Press |date=December 30, 1938 |title=Jessie Sumner Tells of Plans for Congress |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-belleville-news-democrat-plans/181442897/ |work=Belleville News-Democrat |location=Belleville, Illinois |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1938, Sumner was elected to the U.S. House; she was reelected three times and served from January 3, 1939 to January 3, 1947, the 76th, 77th, 78th Congresses.<ref name="Directory1971"/> During her congressional service, Sumner was known for her opposition to the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.<ref name="Pace"/> She was also an isolationist before World War II and opposed expansion of the navy and continuation of the pre-war draft.<ref name="Pace"/> After the war, Sumner opposed the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration's efforts to rebuild Europe and Asia.<ref name="Pace"/> She was not a candidate for renomination in 1946, and returned to her Illinois legal and banking interests.<ref name="Directory1971"/>
After the end of her congressional term, Sumner resumed her position at Sumner National Bank, where she had been appointed as vice president in 1938.<ref name="Pace"/> Following the death of her father, in 1966 she succeeded him as the bank's president, and she served until her death.<ref name="Pace"/> She also managed her family's other business interests, including an insurance company, grain elevators and farms.<ref name="Pace"/> Sumner died in Watseka, Illinois, on August 10, 1994.<ref name="Pace"/> She was buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Milford.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bunting |first=Jason |date=March 22, 2023 |title=Women's History Month Commemoration, Jessie Sumner |url=https://www.ilga.gov/documents/house/transcripts/htrans103/10300025.pdf |website=103rd General Assembly: House of Representatives; Transcript |location=Springfield, Illinois |publisher=Illinois General Assembly |page=240}}</ref>
==See also== * Women in the United States House of Representatives
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== {{CongBio|S001071}}
{{Bioguide}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box |state=Illinois |district=18 |before=James A. Meeks |years=1939-1947 |after=Edward H. Jenison}} {{s-end}} {{USCongRep-start|congresses= 76th–79th United States Congresses |state=Illinois}} {{USCongRep/IL/76}} {{USCongRep/IL/77}} {{USCongRep/IL/78}} {{USCongRep/IL/79}} {{USCongRep-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumner, Jessie}} Category:1898 births Category:1994 deaths Category:Businesspeople from Illinois Category:Lawyers from Chicago Category:County judges in the United States Category:Smith College alumni Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:Columbia University alumni Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Category:New York University Stern School of Business alumni Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford Category:Female United States representatives Category:Women in Illinois politics Category:People from Milford, Illinois Category:Republican Party United States representatives from Illinois Category:20th-century American women politicians Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:20th-century American judges Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:20th-century United States representatives