US Congressman. He was born one of two children (he also had a brother and a half-sibling) to Wallace Swank and Melinda Wells Swank near Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa. He was educated locally and moved with his parents to Beef Creek, Indian Territory, in 1888. He then continued his education and later attended an academy in Noble, Oklahoma, and the prestigious University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. He then became interested in education and politics. He taught school in Stella, Oklahoma beginning in 1898, and in 1902 he was elected as the Superintendent of Schools for the Cleveland County, Oklahoma, area, and served in that position from 1903 to 1907. He then served as a Private Secretary to United States Representative Scott Ferris from 1907 to 1908. During that time he studied law at Georgetown University Law Department in Washington, D.C., from 1907 to 1908, and at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, where he graduated from with his LL.B. (or Bachelor of Law Degree) in 1909. Following his graduation from Cumberland University, he was admitted to the bar in 1909 and then commenced his practice of law in Norman, Oklahoma. He was then appointed as Judge of the County Court of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, and served in that position from 1911 to 1915. On December 30, 1914, he married Ada Blake and the couple would have two children together. He then served as a Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District of Oklahoma from 1915 until his resignation in September of 1920. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected. A Member of the Democratic Party, he then served Oklahoma's 5th District (Sixty-Seventh Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses) in the United States House of Representatives from 1921 to 1929. He was an unsuccessful Candidate for reelection to the Seventy-First Congress in 1928. After his term in the United States Congress expired on March 3, 1929, he was succeeded in office by United States Representative Ulysses Stevens Stone. He then resumed his practice of law for a couple of years. He then decided to run for another seat in the United States Congress and was again elected. A Member of the Democratic Party, he then served Oklahoma's 5th District (Seventy-Second Congress and Seventy-Third Congress) in the United States House of Representatives from 1931 to 1935. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1934. After his term in the United States Congress expired on January 3, 1935, he was succeeded in office by United States Representative Joshua Bryan "Josh" Lee. He ran again for a seat in the United States Congress in 1936, 1937, and again in 1938, but with no success. While serving in the United States Congress he had been a strong supporter of farm loans and the Home Owners' Loan Corporation. He also helped to secure the Civilian Conservation Corps camps for the 5th District and appropriations for Platt National Park (later Chickasaw National Recreation Area) in Sulphur, Oklahoma. Following his time in politics, he left Washington, D.C., and moved back to Norman, Oklahoma, where he continued with his law practice and worked in the oil business until his retirement in 1943. He passed away on March 16, 1950, in Norman, Oklahoma, at the age of 74, and he was buried in the IOOF (or Odd Fellows) Cemetery in that city. His wife Ada had predeceased her husband passing away on May 29, 1943, at the age of 56, and she is buried him. A lifelong Methodist, he was also a member of some well-known organizations including the Freemasons, Knights Templar, Order of the Eastern Star, Odd Fellows, Elks, Woodmen of the World, and Woodmen Circle.