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, John Jackson
1899–1985
Biography
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.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
[ Top ]External Research Collections
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Montgomery, AL
Papers:
Letters in several collections and in Alabama Governor records.
Auburn University Library
Auburn, AL
Papers:
Correspondence concerning legislation in Alabama Farm Bureau Federation records, 1922-1980. Finding aid. Restricted.
Oral history:
February 26, 1965. 9 pages.
Broadcast Pioneers Library
University of Maryland Hornbake Library
College Park, MD
Papers:
5 audiotapes (1974-1975) in Westinghouse Broadcasting Company collection, 1945-1981.
Columbia University
Oral History Project
New York, NY
Oral history:
43 pages. In Adlai Stevenson project. Restricted.
Emory University
Robert W. Woodruff Library
Atlanta, GA
Papers:
Correspondence in Robert Jesse Travis papers, 1818-1966. Finding aid.
Gerald R. Ford Library
Ann Arbor, MI
Papers:
1974-1977. Correspondence and briefing papers. Finding aid.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
Austin, TX
Oral history:
October 5, 1968 and June 9, 1977. 35 pages and 17 pages.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers:
Correspondence in Wernher Von Braun papers, 1796-1970. Finding aid.
Princeton University
Dulles Oral History Project
Princeton, NJ
Oral history:
1966. 38 pages.
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL
Oral history:
1977-1978. 50 pages. Restricted.
University of Alabama
W.S. Hoole Special Collections
Tuscaloosa, AL
Papers:
1947-1979. Ca. 1,000 feet. Correspondence, memoranda, political papers, speeches, and office files covering all aspects of his congressional career. Includes 1952 campaign for vice president files. Finding aid.
Oral history:
4 hours.
University of Georgia
Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
Athens, GA
Oral history:
1971. 17 pages. Limited to reminiscences of Russell.
University of Michigan
Bentley Historical Library
Ann Arbor, MI
Papers:
Correspondence in Margaret Bayne Price papers, 1918-1969. Finding aid.
University of Nebraska
Archives and Special Collections
Lincoln, NE
Papers:
Correspondence in James Melvin Reinhard papers, 1924-1974. Finding aid.
Yale University Libraries
Manuscripts and Archives
New Haven, CT
Papers:
In Max Lerner papers, 1927-1980; and John Collier papers, 1910-1987.
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Bibliography / Further Reading
Sparkman, Mrs. Ivo Hall. Journeys With the Senator. Huntsville, Ala.: Strode Publishers, 1977.