John Newbold Camp

John Newbold Camp, known as Happy Camp was an American businessman, banker, and politician who served three terms as a Republican U.S. Representative from Oklahoma from 1969 to 1975.

Biography

Born in Enid, Camp was the son of Minnie C. Newbold and John R. Camp. Because of his pleasant personality as an infant, his father nicknamed him "Happy", and as an adult, the younger Camp legally changed his name so that the jovial word would appear on ballots as he ran for public office. He attended elementary and high schools in Blackwell, Douglas, and Waukomis. He attended Phillips University in Enid.

Family

In November 1930 he married Vera Overman, and they had four children: Patricia, Kay, John III, and Steven Richard.

Career

Camp became president of Waukomis State Bank. He served as member of the State of Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1943 to 1963.
He served as chairman of the Oklahoma State Board of Public Affairs from 1967 to 1968. He was GOP precinct chairman of the Garfield County Young Republican chairman and Oklahoma committee member.

Congress

Elected as a Representative to the Ninety-First and to the two succeeding Congresses, Camp served from January 3, 1969 to January 3, 1975. He was defeated for reelection in 1974, when the Watergate affair contributed to the defeat of dozens of Republican candidates across the country, even though those individuals were not involved in Watergate.

Death

Camp died from a heart attack in Enid, Garfield County, Oklahoma, on September 27, 1987. He is interred at Waukomis Cemetery, Waukomis, Oklahoma.