Ollie M. James, born in 1871 three miles northwest of here, served as a U.S. Representative from 1903 to 1913 and as a Senator from 1913 until his death in 1918. He chaired the Democratic National Conventions that nominated Woodrow Wilson for President in 1912 and 1916. In his last speech in the Senate in February 1918, he upheld Wilson's conduct of World War I, declaring, "Liberty will be safe and Americanism secure."