John Walter Lambeth, Jr. was born on January 10, 1896, in Thomasville, North Carolina. During World War I, Lambeth served overseas from July 1918 to July 1919. Upon his return, he worked for his father at the Lambeth Furniture Company, first as secretary-treasurer and later as president. He left the company in 1921 to serve a term in the state legislature and went on to serve as mayor of Thomasville from 1925 to 1929. In 1930, Lambeth was elected to the United States House of Representatives, a seat he held until retiring in 1939. He died in Washington, D.C. on January 12, 1961.