Jerry Litton
American politician (1937-1976)

Jerry Lon Litton (May 12, 1937 – August 3, 1976) was an American politician from Missouri who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Missouri's 6th congressional district from 1973 until his death in 1976. A member of the Democratic Party, he ran for United States Senate in 1976. Litton won the Democratic primary; however, he died in a plane crash while heading to his victory party.
Early life
Litton was born near Lock Springs, Missouri, in a house without electricity. He was Missouri state president (1955–1956) and national secretary (1956–1957) of the Future Farmers of America (FFA), and he later graduated from the University of Missouri in 1961 with a B.S. in Journalism. He was president of the University of Missouri Young Democrats and chair of the National Youth for Stuart Symington during Symington's unsuccessful 1960 run for U.S. President. Litton served as President of the Theta chapter of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity.
He made his fortune raising cattle at the Litton Charolais Cattle Ranch in Chillicothe, Missouri. This ranch was maintained as a beautiful showplace where he entertained both the well-connected and constituents. Litton made a point to bring schoolchildren and low-level local leaders to his home.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q951075. The first chronological checks are 1937, 1976, 1973 and 1955.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jerry Litton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.