John Jackson SPARKMAN, Congress, AL (1899-1985)

SPARKMAN, John Jackson, a Representative and a Senator from Alabama; born on a farm near Hartselle, Morgan County, Ala., December 20, 1899; attended the rural schools and helped on the family farm; during the First World War was a member of the Students Army Training Corps; graduated from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in 1921 and from its law school in 1923; admitted to the bar in 1925 and commenced practice in Huntsville, Madison County, Ala.; instructor at Huntsville (Ala.) College 1925-1928; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fifth and to the five succeeding Congresses and served from January 3, 1937, to November 5, 1946, when he resigned; majority whip in 1946; was reelected to the Eightieth Congress on November 5, 1946, and at the same time was elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John H. Bankhead II for the term ending January 3, 1949; following the election resigned from the House of Representatives and began duties in the Senate November 6, 1946; reelected in 1948, 1954, 1960, 1966 and 1972 and served from November 6, 1946, to January 3, 1979; was not a candidate for reelection in 1978; chairman, Select Committee on Small Business (Eighty-first, Eighty-second, and Eighty-fourth through Ninetieth Congresses), co-chairman, Joint Committee on Inaugural Arrangements (Eighty-sixth Congress), chairman, Committee on Banking and Currency (Ninetieth and Ninety-first Congresses), co-chairman, Joint Committee on Defense Production (Ninety-first and Ninety-third Congresses), Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (Ninety-second and Ninety-third Congresses), Committee on Foreign Relations (Ninety-fourth and Ninety-fifth Congresses); representative of the United States to the Fifth General Assembly of the United Nations in 1950; unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1952; died in Huntsville, Ala., November 16, 1985; interment in Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Ala.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives; Sparkman, John. ‘The Role of the Senate in Determining Foreign Policy.’ In The Senate Institution. Edited by Nathaniel Preston. pp. 31-39. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1969; Sparkman, Mrs. Ivo Hall. Journeys With the Senator. Huntsville, Ala.: Strode Publishers, 1977.

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