John Jefferson Whitacre (December 28, 1860 â December 2, 1938) was an American businessman and politician who served two terms as a U.S. representative from Ohio from 1911 to 1915.
Born in Decatur, Nebraska, Whitacre attended the public schools, Hiram (Ohio) College, and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He engaged as a manufacturer of hollow building tile. He served as delegate to the 1912 Democratic National Convention. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1908 to the Sixty-first Congress. He had a home built in Brown Township, Carroll County, Ohio. During the 1920 presidential campaign, both candidates, Warren G Harding and James M. Cox visited his home.
Whitacre was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-second and Sixty-third Congresses (March 4, 1911 â March 3, 1915).
He announced he would not run for a third term in 1914:
He resumed his former manufacturing pursuits. He served as president of the Whitacre Engineering Co. and the Whitacre-Greer Fireproofing Co. He was nominated in 1928 for the 18th district, but lost. He died in Miami, Florida, December 2, 1938. He was interred in Magnolia Cemetery, Magnolia, Ohio.