STEED, Thomas Jefferson, a Representative from Oklahoma; born on a farm near Rising Star,
Eastland County, Tex., March 2, 1904; attended the public schools of Konawa,
Okla.; connected with Oklahoma daily newspapers for twenty years, including
four years as managing editor of Shawnee News and Star; enlisted on October 29,
1942, as a private in Antiaircraft Artillery and released from active duty in
May 1944 with rank of second lieutenant; joined Office of War Information July
1, 1944, and served with information division in India-Burma Theater until
December 1945; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-first and to the fifteen
succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1949-January 3, 1981); chairman, Committee on
Small Business (Ninety-fourth Congress); was not a candidate for reelection in
1980 to the Ninety-seventh Congress; was a resident of Shawnee, Okla., until
his death on June 8, 1983; interment at Resthaven Cemetery, Shawnee, Okla.