Joe B. Bates

Joseph Bengal Bates (October 29, 1893 – September 10, 1965) was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky.

Joe B. Bates
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 8th district
In office June 4, 1938 – January 3, 1953
Preceded by	Fred M. Vinson
Succeeded by	James S. Golden
Personal details
Born	Joseph Bengal Bates (1893-10-29)October 29, 1893 Republican, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	September 10, 1965(1965-09-10) (aged 71) Ashland, Kentucky, U.S.
Resting place	Bellefonte Memorial Gardens, Flatwoods, Kentucky
Alma mater	Mountain Training School

Born in Republican, Kentucky, Bates attended the public schools and the Mountain Training School at Hindman, Kentucky. He graduated from Eastern Kentucky State Teachers College at Richmond in 1916. He studied law. He taught in the rural schools of Knott County, Kentucky, from 1912 to 1915, was high school superintendent at Raceland, Kentucky from 1917 to 1919, and worked as county clerk of Greenup County, Kentucky from 1922 to 1938.

Bates was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fifth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Fred M. Vinson. He was reelected to the Seventy-sixth and to the six succeeding Congresses and served from June 4, 1938, to January 3, 1953. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1952, and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination in 1956 for the United States Senate. He practiced law and was a resident of Greenup, Kentucky. He died in Ashland, Kentucky on September 10, 1965. He was interred in Bellefonte Memorial Gardens, Flatwoods, Kentucky.