Frank Hood Lee

Frank Hood Lee (March 29, 1873 – November 20, 1952) was a U.S. Representative from Missouri and a lawyer, newspaperman, and hotel proprietor whose career reflected the political and economic life of southwestern Missouri in the early twentieth century. He was born on a farm near De Soto, Johnson County, Kansas, on March 29, 1873. In 1876 his parents, Daniel Marion Lee and Lucy (Howard) Lee, moved the family to Missouri and settled near Virgil City in Vernon County, a rural community in the western part of the state. Growing up in an agricultural setting on the Missouri frontier, Lee experienced the social and economic conditions that shaped many Midwestern politicians of his generation.

Lee attended the public schools of Virgil City, receiving a basic common-school education typical of rural Missouri in the late nineteenth century. While there is no record of his attending college, he pursued the study of law, as was common at the time, through reading law and practical training rather than formal legal education. His early involvement in local affairs and his legal studies prepared him for entry into public service and the legal profession.

Lee’s public career began at the local level. In 1894 he was elected justice of the peace, an office that combined minor judicial duties with local administrative responsibilities. This early judicial role gave him experience in handling legal disputes and community issues and marked his first formal position in public life. Continuing his legal studies during this period, he was admitted to the bar in 1904. That same year he commenced the practice of law in Joplin, Missouri, a rapidly growing mining and commercial center in Jasper County, where he would base much of his professional and political activity.

Building on his legal practice and local reputation, Lee entered state politics as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives. He served two terms in the state legislature from 1915 to 1918, representing his district during a period that included the First World War and significant changes in state and national policy. As a Democratic legislator, he participated in the lawmaking process in Jefferson City, gaining experience in legislative procedure and party politics that would later inform his campaigns for federal office.

Lee sought to extend his political career to the national level in the 1920s and early 1930s. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1922 to the Sixty-eighth Congress and again in 1930 to the Seventy-second Congress, reflecting both the competitive nature of his district and the shifting political currents of the era. Persistence in seeking federal office, however, eventually brought success. Running as a Democrat, he was elected to the Seventy-third Congress and served from March 4, 1933, to January 3, 1935. His term coincided with the early years of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, a time of intense legislative activity in response to the Great Depression. Although specific committee assignments and legislative initiatives are not detailed in the surviving record, Lee took part in the work of the House of Representatives during this transformative period. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1934 to the Seventy-fourth Congress, ending his brief tenure in national office.

After leaving Congress, Lee returned to Joplin and resumed the practice of law, continuing his legal career until his retirement. In addition to his work as an attorney, he became involved in local business and media enterprises. He owned and operated The Southwestern, a Jasper County newspaper, which gave him a platform in local public discourse and reflected his continued interest in civic and political affairs. He also owned the Jefferson Hotel, a Joplin establishment that placed him among the city’s business community and contributed to the commercial life of the region.

Frank Hood Lee spent his later years in Joplin, remaining a figure identified with both the legal profession and local enterprise. He died in Joplin, Missouri, on November 20, 1952. He was interred in Ozark Memorial Park, also in Joplin, closing a life that spanned from the post–Civil War frontier era through the New Deal and mid-twentieth-century America, and that combined local service, state legislative experience, and a term in the United States House of Representatives.