James Kimble VARDAMAN, Congress, MS (1861-1930)

VARDAMAN, James Kimble, a Senator from Mississippi; born near Edna, Jackson County, Tex., July 26, 1861; moved to Mississippi in 1868 with his parents, who settled in Yalobusha County; attended the public schools; studied law in Carrollton, Miss.; admitted to the bar in 1881 and commenced practice in Winona, Miss.; became editor of the Winona Advance; moved to Greenwood, Miss., where he continued the practice of law and also engaged in the newspaper business; member, State house of representatives 1890-1896, and served as speaker 1894; unsuccessful candidate for governor of Mississippi in 1895 and again in 1899; served in Cuba during the Spanish-American War; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1892 and 1896; publisher of the Greenwood Commonwealth 1896-1903 and the Issue 1908-1912; Governor of Mississippi 1904-1908; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1907 and 1910; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1912 and served from March 4, 1913, to March 3, 1919; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1918 and for election in 1922; chairman, Committee on the Conservation of Natural Resources (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses), Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Sixty-third Congress), Committee on Manufacturers (Sixty-fifth Congress); retired from active business pursuits in 1922 and moved to Birmingham, Ala., where he died June 25, 1930; interment in Lakewood Memorial Park, Jackson, Miss.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Fortenberry, Joseph E. “James Kimble Vardaman and American Foreign Policy, 1913-1919.” Journal of Mississippi History 35 (May 1973): 127-40; Holmes, William. The White Chief: James Kimble Vardaman. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1970.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present