He was a practicing dentist in Festus in 1932 when a banker walked in one day and said, “Doctor, I was just out at Hillsboro and I filed you for Representive.” This was a complete surprise to the doctor who wasn’t at all excited about getting into politics. But he ran, was elected, and eventually carved a historic place in the annuals of the Missouri legislature. He didn’t like Missouri’s capital city when he arrived to serve his first term, and the townspeople didn’t look too kindly on members of the legislature either. Ironically, he would later be mayor of that town for twelve years. Had not his father died when young John was a youth he might have been a farmer near Cincinnati, Ohio. He thought about being a lawyer, but his brother was a professor at the Kansas City Dental College so John Cristy moved to Kansas City and studied dentistry.
