William Jefferson Blythe Jr. lost control of his 1942 Buick on U.S. Route 60 outside of Sikeston, Missouri, after one of his car's tires blew out. He survived the accident after being thrown from the car, but drowned in a drainage ditch as he tried to pull his way out of the three feet (1 meter) of water in the ditch. Three months later, Blythe's widow, Virginia, gave birth to their son, whom she named William Jefferson Blythe III in honor of his father and grandfather. In 1950, Blythe's widow married Roger Clinton Sr.; 12 years later, Blythe's posthumous son legally adopted his stepfather's
William J. Jefferson William J. Jefferson William Jennings "Bill" Jefferson (born March 14, 1947) is a former Louisiana politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 to 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented , which includes much of the greater New Orleans area. He was elected as Louisiana's first black congressman since the end of Reconstruction. On November 13, 2009, Jefferson was sentenced to thirteen years in federal prison for bribery after a corruption investigation, the longest sentence ever given to a congressman. He began serving that sentence in May 2012