Selden Palmer SPENCER, Congress, MO (1862-1925)

SPENCER, Selden Palmer, a Senator from Missouri; born in Erie, Pa., September 16, 1862; attended the public schools of Erie; graduated from Yale College in 1884 and from the Washington University Law School, St. Louis, Mo., in 1886; admitted to the bar in 1886 and commenced practice in St. Louis; professor of medical jurisprudence in the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis in 1886; member, State house of representatives 1895-1896; judge of the circuit court of St. Louis 1897-1903; captain in the Missouri Home Guard and chairman of the draft board 1917-1918; elected on November 5, 1918, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William J. Stone; reelected in 1920 and served from November 6, 1918, until his death; chairman, Committee on Claims (Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh Congresses), Committee on Indian Affairs (Sixty-seventh Congress), Committee on Privileges and Elections (Sixty-seventh through Sixty-ninth Congresses); died at Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, D.C., on May 16, 1925; interment in Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Mo.

Bibliography

Margulies, Herbert F. “Selden P. Spencer, Senate Moderates and the League of Nations.” Missouri Historical Review 83 (July 1989): 373-94; Schlup, Leonard. “The Unknown Senator: Selden Palmer Spencer of Missouri and The League of Nations.” Research Journal of Philosophy & Social Sciences (1991): 15-23.

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