John H. Bankhead II

John Hollis Bankhead II (July 8, 1872 – June 12, 1946) was a U.S. senator from the state of Alabama. Like his father, John H. Bankhead, he was elected three times to the Senate, and like his father, he died in office.

Following his controversial win over Heflin in 1930, the Senator from Alabama worked at the passage of various pieces of New Deal legislation to benefit cotton farmers, including the Subsistence Homestead Act of 1933, the Cotton Control Act of 1934 and the parity payment amendments to the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938. After World War II began in Europe, Bankhead was an interventionist. He took a "pro-British" stance and favored President Franklin Roosevelt's Lend-Lease program. On October 23, 1941, Bankhead voted in favor of additional lend-lease funding to provide more funding to the British Army. On November 7, 1941, he voted in favor of legislation to amend several sections of the neutrality acts. This vote made it easier for the United States to provide direct military aid to the United Kingdom during World War II. In 1943, he sponsored legislation to exempt "substantially fulltime" farm workers from the draft during World War II. Bankhead was among twelve nominated at the 1944 Democratic National Convention to serve as Franklin D. Roosevelt's running mate in the presidential election that year. He was in third place, with 98 votes, when Bankhead made a surprise withdrawal of his candidacy in favor of his Senate colleague, Harry S. Truman, who was elected vice president and succeeded to the presidency in 1945.

On May 24, 1946, Senator Bankhead suffered a stroke while attending an evening Senate committee meeting. Three weeks later, he died at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. He was the brother of Speaker of the House William B. Bankhead, and the uncle of actress Tallulah Bankhead.