Clair A. Callan

{{Short description|American politician (1920–2005)}}

{{Redirect|Clair Callan|the vice-president for Science, Quality, and Public Health Standards at the American Medical Association|Clair Mills Callan}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name =

|image = Clair Armstrong Callan.jpg

|caption =

|state = Nebraska

|district = {{ushr|Nebraska|1|1st}}

|term_start = January 3, 1965

|term_end = January 3, 1967

|predecessor = Ralph F. Beermann

|successor = Robert Vernon Denney

|birth_name = Clair Armstrong Callan

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|3|29}}

|birth_place = Odell, Nebraska, U.S.

|death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|5|28|1920|3|29}}

|death_place = Fairbury, Nebraska, U.S.

|party = Democratic

}}

Clair Armstrong Callan (March 29, 1920 – May 28, 2005) was an American Democratic Party politician.

Born in Odell, Nebraska, the grandson of Irish immigrants,

{{citation |url= https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQKK-MM3 |title= United States Census, 1930 |website= FamilySearch |access-date=March 8, 2018 }} Callan graduated from Nebraska State Teachers College, now known as Peru State College. He served as an officer in the United States Navy during World War II on a destroyer in the Pacific Theater.

He served on the Odell Village Board, Odell School Board, Gage County School Reorganization Board, Gage County Fair Board, and the Gage County Extension Board. He was chairman of both the Governor's Committee on State Government Reorganization Board and the Nebraska Power Review Board. He worked as a farmer, stockman, and in the hardware and farm supply business.

After losing his first race for Nebraska's 1st Congressional District in 1962 to incumbent Ralph Beermann, Callan was narrowly elected to the Eighty-ninth United States Congress in 1964, serving from January 3, 1965, to January 3, 1967. He was defeated for reelection to the Ninetieth United States Congress in 1966 by Robert Vernon Denney and lost a rematch to him in 1968. In 1970, when Denney decided not so seek reelection, Callan ran as an independent when he failed to receive the Democratic nomination, winning 26% in a three way race and finishing ahead of the Democratic nominee. He was Deputy Administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration from 1967 to 1968 and president of the Allied Industries International, Inc. and Agri-Tech in Nashville, Tennessee. He died on May 28, 2005, in Fairbury, Nebraska.

He was a member of the United Methodist Church, a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Freemasons, the Shriners, the Elks, the Odd Fellows and of the Optimist Club.