Christie BENET, Congress, SC (1879-1951)

BENET Christie , a Senator from South Carolina; born in Abbeville, Abbeville County, S.C., December 26, 1879; attended the common schools, the College of Charleston, the University of South Carolina at Columbia, and the University of Virginia at Charlottesville; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Columbia, Richland County, S.C., in 1903; solicitor of the fifth judicial circuit in 1908; attorney for the city of Columbia 1910-1912; three times secretary of the Democratic State committee; appointed on July 6, 1918, as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Benjamin R. Tillman and served from July 6 to November 5, 1918, when a successor was elected; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1918 to the Senate to fill the vacancy; chairman, Committee on National Banks (Sixty-fifth Congress); resumed the practice of law; member and later chairman of the board of regents of South Carolina State Hospital 1915-1946; during the Second World War served as chairman of the War Finance Committee for South Carolina and was serving as chairman of the Alien Enemy Hearing Board for the eastern district of South Carolina at time of death; died in Columbia, S.C., March 30, 1951; interment in Elmwood Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present