Marion Tinsley Bennett

Who was Marion Tinsley Bennett?

Marion Tinsley Bennett served the United States for over 56 years in all three branches of the federal government of the United States, having been a federal judge, a member of Congress, and a colonel in the Air Force Ready Reserves.

Born in Buffalo, Missouri on June 6, 1914 to Philip Allen Bennett and Mary Bertha Bennett, he received his A.B. from Southwest Missouri State University in 1935 and earned a J.D. from the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis in 1938, after which he entered private practice. In 1941 he married June Young; they had two children, William and Ann, and four grandchildren, Jiffy, James, John, and Anna.

While practicing law, he was elected to the Greene County, Missouri Republican Central Committee, and managed his father's two Congressional election campaigns. When his father died in office in early 1943, Marion was chosen in a special election to complete his father's term in the 78th Congress. He was 28 years old. Winning reelection twice, he served in the 79th and 80th Congresses.

Marion Bennett was part of an official ten member Congressional delegation invited by General Dwight D.