Courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office

GURNEY, John Chandler (Chan), a Senator from South Dakota; born in Yankton, S.Dak., May 21, 1896; attended the public schools; during the First World War served as a sergeant in Company A, Thirty-Fourth Engineers, United States Army, with service overseas 1918-1919; engaged in the seed and nursery business 1914-1926; operator of a radio station at Yankton, S.Dak., 1926-1932; moved to Sioux Falls, S.Dak., and engaged in the wholesale gasoline and oil business 1932-1936; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1936; elected as a Republican in 1938 to the United States Senate; reelected in 1944 and served from January 3, 1939, to January 3, 1951; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1950; chairman, Committee on Armed Services (Eightieth Congress); appointed a member of the Civil Aeronautics Board in 1951, became chairman in 1954, reappointed in 1958, and served until 1964; retired to Yankton, S.Dak., where he died, March 9, 1985; interment in Yankton Cemetery.