John Hollis Bankhead (September 13, 1842 – March 1, 1920) was a Democratic U.S. Senator from the state of Alabama between 1907 and 1920.

Biography

Bankhead was born on September 13, 1842, at Moscow, Marion County, Alabama (near present day Sulligent, Alabama). His great-grandfather, James Bankhead (1738–1799) was born in Ulster and settled in South Carolina.[1] At age 65, John H. Bankhead was appointed, then elected, to serve out the remainder of the U.S. Senate term left by the death of John Tyler Morgan and later re-elected twice. He served from June 18, 1907, until his death on March 1, 1920. B. B. Comer, former governor of Alabama, was appointed to serve the rest of his term, until November 2, 1920, when J. Thomas Heflin was elected to serve out the term.

Bankhead was a member of the Inland Waterways Commission in 1907, and was instrumental in enacting the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, which became the first federal highway funding legislation.

United States Senator John H. Bankhead II and Speaker of the House William Brockman Bankhead were his sons, and actress Tallulah Bankhead was his granddaughter. The cross-country Bankhead Highway was named after him, as is Bankhead Lake on the Black Warrior River near Birmingham.