Menalcus Lankford

Menalcus Lankford (March 14, 1883 – December 27, 1937) was a U.S. Representative from Virginia.

Born on the Bowers plantation near Franklin, Virginia, Lankford attended public and private schools and the Norfolk High School. He was graduated from the University of Richmond in 1904, and from the law department of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1906. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Norfolk, Virginia. During the First World War served as an ensign in the aviation service of the United States Navy. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1920 to the Sixty-seventh Congress and in 1924 to the Sixty-ninth Congress.

Lankford was elected as a Republican to the Seventy-first and Seventy-second Congresses (March 4, 1929 – March 3, 1933). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1932 to the Seventy-third Congress. He served as delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1932 and 1936. He was appointed Referee in Bankruptcy in 1933 of the Norfolk division, United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, and served until his death in Norfolk, Virginia, December 27, 1937. He was interred in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

• 1928; Lankford was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives defeating Democrat Joseph T. Deal and Independent E.L. Breden, winning 55.89% of the vote.
• 1930; Lankford was re-elected defeating Democrat Deal, winning 54.41% of the vote.
• 1932; Lankford was defeated for re-election by the at-large Democratic ticket.