Claude VanCleve Parsons

Claude VanCleve Parsons served as a Representative from Illinois in the United States Congress from 1929 to 1941. A member of the Democratic Party, Claude VanCleve Parsons contributed to the legislative process during 6 terms in office.

Claude VanCleve Parsons’s service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history. As a member of the House of Representatives, Claude VanCleve Parsons participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of constituents.

Claude VanCleve Parsons (October 7, 1895 – May 23, 1941) was a U.S. representative from Illinois. Born on a farm near McCormick, Pope County, Illinois, Parsons attended the public schools. He taught in the rural schools of Pope County, Illinois from 1914 to 1922. He was graduated from Southern Illinois State Normal School at Carbondale in 1923. He moved to Golconda, Illinois, in 1922 to become county superintendent of schools, in which capacity he served until 1930. He was also engaged as an editor and newspaper publisher from 1924 to 1930. Parsons was elected on November 4, 1930, as a Democrat to the Seventy-first Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Thomas S. Williams and on the same day was elected to the Seventy-second Congress. He was reelected to the Seventy-third and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from November 4, 1930, to January 3, 1941. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1940 to the Seventy-seventh Congress. He was appointed first assistant administrator of the United States Housing Authority February 14, 1941, and served until his death in Washington, D.C., May 23, 1941. He was interred in Zion Church Cemetery, near Ozark, Illinois.