Image (detail), courtesy of the Carl Albert Center Congressional Archives

SMITH, James Vernon, a Representative from Oklahoma; born in Oklahoma City, Okla., July 23, 1926; educated in Tuttle public schools and attended Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts at Chickasha, Okla.; engaged in farming and cattle raising; served as member, board of regents, Oklahoma Four-Year Colleges; elected as a Republican to the Ninetieth Congress (January 3, 1967-January 3, 1969); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1968 to the Ninety-first Congress; nominated by President Nixon to be Administrator of Farmers Home Administration, confirmed by the Senate March 16, 1969, and served until his resignation in 1973; died in a wheat field fire at his farm northwest of Chickasha, June 23, 1973; interment in Fairlawn Cemetery, Chickasha, Okla.