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Thomas Hart Benton (1889 - 1975) was born in Missouri into a family of politicians. His namesake and great-uncle, Thomas Hart Benton, was one of the first two United States Senators from Missouri, and a champion of "Manifest Destiny". His own father was a lawyer and U.S. congressman, and Benton spent his childhood shuttling between Washington D.C. and Missouri. As a teenager, Benton developed a keen interest in art and landed a job as a cartoonist for the local newspaper in Joplin, Missouri.