Richard Merrill Atkinson

Richard Merrill Atkinson (February 6, 1894 – April 29, 1947) was an American politician, attorney, and a U.S. Representative from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served one term in the United States House of Representatives from 1937 to 1939, representing his Tennessee constituents during a significant period in American history marked by the New Deal and the later years of the Great Depression.

Atkinson was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 6, 1894, and was educated in the city’s public schools. He graduated from Wallace University School in Nashville in 1912. He went on to attend Vanderbilt University, also in Nashville, from which he graduated in 1916. Pursuing a legal career, he enrolled at the Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, and completed his legal studies there in 1917. That same year he was admitted to the bar, although his entry into active legal practice would be delayed by military service in World War I.

During the First World War, Atkinson served in the United States Marine Corps. He entered service on June 30, 1917, and was assigned to the Forty-seventh Company, Second Division, serving in France with the American Expeditionary Forces. His active duty continued until he was honorably discharged on August 29, 1919. After returning from Europe, he commenced the practice of law in Nashville in 1920, establishing himself in the city’s legal community.

Atkinson’s public career advanced through his work in state and local legal offices. He served as attorney general of the tenth judicial circuit of Tennessee from September 1, 1926, to September 1, 1934, a position in which he was responsible for prosecuting criminal cases and representing the state’s interests within the circuit. In addition to his judicial circuit duties, he was appointed state commissioner of Smoky Mountain National Park from 1931 to 1933, participating in the early administrative and developmental efforts surrounding what would become Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a major conservation and tourism asset for Tennessee and the region.

Building on his legal and public service record, Atkinson was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fifth Congress. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 3, 1937, to January 3, 1939. During his single term in Congress, he contributed to the legislative process as a member of the House of Representatives, participating in debates and votes at a time when the federal government was deeply engaged in economic recovery efforts under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. As a Representative from Tennessee, he represented the interests of his constituents in national affairs and took part in the broader democratic process of lawmaking. In 1938 he sought renomination but was unsuccessful, bringing his congressional service to a close after one term.

Following his departure from Congress, Atkinson returned to Nashville and resumed the private practice of law. He continued his legal work there for the remainder of his life, maintaining his professional ties to the city where he had been born, educated, and first admitted to the bar.

Richard Merrill Atkinson died in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, on April 29, 1947. He was interred at Spring Hill Cemetery in Madison, Tennessee.