PEARSON, James Blackwood, a Senator from Kansas; born in Nashville, Davidson County, Tenn.,
May 7, 1920; with his parents moved to Virginia in 1934 and attended the public
schools of that State and Duke University, Durham, N.C.; during the Second
World War interrupted schooling to serve as a pilot in the Naval Air Transport
of the United States Navy 1943-1946, and was discharged as a lieutenant;
graduated from the law school of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville
in 1950; admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Mission,
Kans., in 1950; assistant county attorney of Johnson County, Kans., 1952-1954;
county probate judge 1954-1956; member, State senate 1956-1960; did not seek
reelection but returned to the practice of law; appointed on January 31, 1962,
as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the
death of Andrew F. Schoeppel; elected on November 6, 1962, in special election
for the term ending January 3, 1967; reelected in 1966 for a full six-year
term, and again in 1972; served from January 31, 1962, until his resignation
December 23, 1978; was not a candidate for reelection in 1978; was a resident
of Gloucester, Massachusetts, at the time of his death on January 13, 2009.