Oil on canvas, William Franklin Draper, 1974, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives

BLATNIK, John Anton, a Representative from Minnesota; born in Chisholm, St. Louis County, Minn., August 17, 1911; attended the public schools and was graduated from Chisholm High School in June 1929; taught a one-room rural school in St. Louis County in 1930 and 1931; State Teachers College, Winona, Minn., B.E., June 1935; also attended the University of Chicago during summer of 1938 and the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis in 1941 and 1942; engaged in CCC work in Superior National Forest in Minnesota 1935-1937; taught chemistry in high school at Chisholm, Minn., 1937-1939; assistant county superintendent of schools of St. Louis County, Minn., 1939-1941; member of the State senate 1941-1946; served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Office of Strategic Services from August 1942 until his discharge as a captain on January 1946 with eighteen months’ service overseas; awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Air Medal; elected as a Democrat to the Eightieth Congress; reelected to the thirteen succeeding Congresses and served from January 3, 1947, until his resignation December 31, 1974; chairman, Committee on Public Works (Ninety-second and Ninety-third Congresses); was not a candidate for reelection in 1974 to the Ninety-fourth Congress; became a part-time consultant for shippers; environmental and economic development consultant; was a resident of Forest Heights, Md., until his death there on December 17, 1991.