T. Jeff Busby

Thomas Jefferson Busby (July 26, 1884 – October 18, 1964) was an American lawyer and politician who served six terms as a U.S. representative from Mississippi from 1923 to 1935.

Biography Born near Short, Mississippi, Busby attended the common schools of his native city, Oakland College, Yale, Mississippi, and Iuka Normal Institute. He then taught in the public schools of Tishomingo, Alcorn, and Chickasaw counties in Mississippi from 1903 to 1908.

Legal career He graduated from the Georgie Robertson Christian College in Henderson, Tennessee, in 1905 and from the law department of the University of Mississippi at Oxford in 1909. He was admitted to the bar in 1909 and began practicing at Houston, Mississippi. He served as prosecuting attorney of Chickasaw County from 1912 to 1920.

Congress Busby was elected as a Democrat to the sixty-eighth and to the five succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1923 – January 3, 1935).

During his time in Congress, Busby pitched the idea of the Natchez Trace Parkway. His motivation was to create jobs for locals who were suffering from poverty during the Great Depression until other work became available. He also believed that the project would be of interest to the people surrounding the Natchez Trace, and would impact multiple counties along the proposed 450 mile roadway. After its run through Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the project was given $50,000 to survey the Natchez Trace Trail and evaluate the possibility of Busby's Natchez Trace Parkway.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1934.

After Congress He remained in Washington DC practicing law with his son Jeff Busby until 1958. He then returned to Houston, Mississippi where he practiced law.

Death and burial He died in Houston, Mississippi on October 18, 1964. He was interred in Houston Cemetery.