Born in Washington, D. C., on November 29,1913. Died, July 29, 1979. Attorney. Member, U. S. Congress. University of Kentucky, A.B., 1937; LL.B., 1939.
He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives and as the Commonwealth's Attorney General before being elected to the Congress in 1972; he was re-elected in 1974 and again in 1976, serving through 1978. He was the sixth Kentucky Breckinridge to serve in the national legislative body.
He was a member of the House Agriculture Committee and served on three of that committee's subcommittees: Family Farms, Rural Development, and Special Studies; Department Investigations, Oversight, and Research, and the Tobacco subcommittee. He also was a member of the Small Business Committee and served as Chairman of its subcommittee on Anti-Trust, Consumers and Employment.
He attended the University, where he received his undergraduate degree in 1937 and two years later, in 1939, was awarded the law degree. With the advent of World War II, he joined the U. S. Army and attained the rank of Colonel.
He was named to chair the Congressional Rural Caucus during the 94th Congress, and under his guidance the Caucus membership tripled in size and expanded its scope to include such issues as rural unemployment, improvement to education, health and social services, and emphasis on bringing more industry and development to the rural community. He was renamed to the Rural Caucus in 1976.
He has served as President of the Kentucky Historical Society and Vice President of the National, as well as the Kentucky and the Bluegrass United Cerebral Palsy Associations. He has served on the Kentucky Commission on Children and Youth, and has been Vice Chairman of the Kentucky Welfare Association. He has been a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. As Attorney General, he was given the General Wyman Award by the National Association of Attorneys General in recognition of his "outstanding contributions to the Office and the Country."
John Bayne Breckinridge was named to the Hall of Distinguished Alumni on April 7, 1975.
