Errett P. Scrivner

Errett Power Scrivner (March 20, 1898 - May 5, 1978) was a U.S. Representative from Kansas.

Biography

Born in Newton, Kansas, Scrivner attended the grade schools and was graduated from Manual Training High School, Kansas City, Missouri. During the First World War enlisted in Battery B, One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Field Artillery, in July 1917. He served overseas in 1918 and 1919. Awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart Medals. He was graduated from the law department of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas in 1925. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Kansas City, Kansas.

Scrivner was elected as a Republican to the Seventy-eight Congress, by special election, September 14, 1943, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of U.S. Guyer. He was reelected to the seven succeeding Congresses and served from September 14, 1943 to January 3, 1959. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1958 to the Eighty-sixth Congress, largely due to his request for a vote for appropriations to continue construction on the controversial and wildly unpopular Tuttle Creek Dam along the Big Blue River. President Eisenhower had specifically chosen to leave out funding for the continuation of the dam, but Scrivner's insistence led to the displacement of thousands of families and the flooding of some of America's best crop land. He remains an unpopular figure among older residents of the Blue Valley to this day. He served as special assistant to the comptroller, Department of Defense, Washington, D.C., from January 1959 to March 1960. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Public Affairs, from March 7, 1960, to January 20, 1961. City commissioner, Cocoa Beach, 1970. Resided in Cocoa Beach, Florida, until his death there May 5, 1978. Cremated. Entombment in a crypt at Florida Memorial Gardens, Rockledge, Florida.

References

• Errett P. Scrivner at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.