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CHATHAM, Richard Thurmond, a Representative from North Carolina; born in Elkin, Surry County, N.C., August
16, 1896; educated in the public schools; attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in
1915 and 1916 and Yale University in 1916 and 1917; served in the United States Navy from May
1917 until discharged as an ensign in June 1919; in July 1919 started working in the textile mills of
Chatham Manufacturing Co. at Winston-Salem, N.C., and retired in 1955 as chairman of the board of
directors; also owned and operated a farm near Elkin, N.C.; member of the Woolen Wage and Hour
Board, Washington, D.C., in 1939; served as a member of the State Board of Conservation and
Development and as county commissioner of Forsyth County; served in the Navy from February 14,
1942, to November 25, 1945, with combat duty in the Southwest Pacific; unsuccessful candidate for
the Democratic nomination in 1946 to the Eightieth Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-first
and to the three succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1949-January 3, 1957); unsuccessful candidate
for renomination in 1956; died in Durham, N.C., February 5, 1957; interment in Salem Cemetery,
Winston-Salem, N.C.
BibliographyChristian, Ralph J. The Folger-Chatham Congressional
Primary of 1946. The North Carolina Historical Review 53 (Winter 1976): 25-53.
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