Frank Willis Hancock, Jr. (November 1, 1894 – January 23, 1969) was a US Representative from North Carolina between 1930 and 1939 for the Democratic Party. Early life and education Franklin Wills Hancock, Jr. was born in Oxford, North Carolina on November 1, 1894. He was the only son and one of four children of Franklin Wills and Lizzie Hobgood Hancock. His father was a descendant of William Hancock, the brother of John Hancock, signer of the Declaration of Independence. He attended the local public schools and Horner Military Academy in Oxford, N.C. He then matriculated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a law degree. He was admitted to the bar in 1916 and commenced practice in Oxford, N.C. Hancock had additional business interests in insurance and real estate. World War I During the First World War, he attended officers' training camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. Political career He was chairman of the Granville County Democratic Executive Committee in 1924. He was then elected to the North Carolina State Senate and served in from 1926 to 1928. Afterwards, he was a member of the state House of Representatives from 1928 to 1930. Hancock was also a trustee of the Colored Orphanage of North Carolina at Oxford from 1920 to 1937. In 1940, he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Congress He was elected as a Democrat to the 71st U.S. Congress, filling the vacancy caused by the death of Charles M. Stedman. In a separate election on the same day, he was elected to the 72nd U.S. Congress. He was subsequently reelected to the three succeeding sessions of Congress, serving from November 4, 1930, to January 3, 1939. Hancock did not seek renomination in 1938 but was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator that same year. In 1938, Hancock was recruited by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to challenge incumbent Democratic Senator Robert R. Reynolds in the Democratic primary. Hancock was unsuccessful, losing by a fairly wide margin. While a member of Congress in the 1930s, Hancock supported passage of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, which provided low-interest loans to share-croppers and tenant farmers. The administration of these rural relief programs was located in the Farm Security Administration, which he would later be appointed to lead. Later career He later served in several posts in the Roosevelt administration. He