Home |  PublicationsEncyclopedia |  McKeown, Thomas Deitz

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

Far left, to right: Fletcher Swank, Thomas McKeown, James McClintic, T. P. Gore, Gov. Murray, and Cicero Murray, 1907
(2012.201.B0409.0469, Oklahoma Publishing Company Photography Collection, OHS).

McKEOWN, THOMAS DEITZ (1878–1951).

Born in Blackstock, South Carolina, on June 4, 1878, U.S. Rep. Thomas Deitz McKeown was the son of Theodore B. and Annie Robinson McKeown. Educated in the public schools and by private tutors, the future solon attended special law lectures at Cornell University. Admitted to the bar in 1899, he began his practice in Malvern, Arkansas. By 1901 he had moved his practice to Ada, in Indian Territory. A year later he married Anna Sanders.

A member of Oklahoma's first state bar commission, McKeown served in various judicial positions until 1916. That year he made a successful campaign for Oklahoma's Fourth District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Elected as a Democrat, he served two terms. Defeated in 1920, he regained the seat in 1922 and served continuously for five more terms. While in Congress, he was a member of various committees, including Insular Affairs, Revision of the Laws, Coinage, Weights, and Measures, Merchant Marine and Fisheries, Roads, and Judiciary. During his congressional tenure he coauthored the LaGuardia-McKeown Corporate Bankruptcy Bill, introduced the first old-age assistance bill and the first oil compact bill, formulated numerous bills favoring veterans, and called for various farm relief programs.

Following his defeat for reelection in 1934, McKeown moved to Chicago and opened a law practice. He returned to Ada in 1937 and devoted his time to farming and oil production. In April 1946 he reentered public service when he became Pontotoc County attorney. The following year he became county judge and served until his death in Ada on October 22, 1951. He was interred in Rosedale Cemetery.

Carolyn G. Hanneman

Learn More

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774–1996 (Alexandria, Va.: CQ Staff Directories, 1997).

Rex F. Harlow, comp., Makers of Government in Oklahoma (Oklahoma City: Harlow Publishing Co., 1930).

Thomas Deitz McKeown Papers, Congressional Archives, Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center, University of Oklahoma, Norman.

"T. D. M'Keown Dies; Once Congressman," New York Times, 23 October 1951.

"Tom McKeown Dies in Ada," Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), 23 October 1951.

Joseph B. Thoburn and Muriel H. Wright, Oklahoma: A History of the State and Its People, Vol. 3 (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1929).

Citation

The following (as per The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition) is the preferred citation for articles:
Carolyn G. Hanneman, “McKeown, Thomas Deitz,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=MC032.

Published January 15, 2010

Copyright and Terms of Use

No part of this site may be construed as in the public domain.

Copyright to all articles and other content in the online and print versions of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History is held by the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS). This includes individual articles (copyright to OHS by author assignment) and corporately (as a complete body of work), including web design, graphics, searching functions, and listing/browsing methods. Copyright to all of these materials is protected under United States and International law.

Users agree not to download, copy, modify, sell, lease, rent, reprint, or otherwise distribute these materials, or to link to these materials on another web site, without authorization of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Individual users must determine if their use of the Materials falls under United States copyright law's "Fair Use" guidelines and does not infringe on the proprietary rights of the Oklahoma Historical Society as the legal copyright holder of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and part or in whole.