John J. Duncan was born in Lebanon, Tennessee on July 21, 1947. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee in 1969. He graduated from George Washington University Law School in 1973. He was admitted to the bar in 1973.
From 1981 to 1988 Duncan served as a state court judge in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1988.
Duncan’s papers are stored in approximately 450 linear feet of boxes.