Sherman MINTON, Congress, IN (1890-1965)

MINTON, Sherman, a Senator from Indiana; born in Georgetown, Floyd County, Ind., October 20, 1890; attended the public schools; graduated from the law department of Indiana University at Bloomington in 1915, and from Yale University in 1916; admitted to the bar in 1915 and commenced practice in New Albany, Ind.; during the First World War served as a captain in the Motor Transport Corps 1917-1919, serving overseas one year; captain in the Infantry section, Officers’ Reserve Corps 1919-1943; moved to Miami, Fla., in 1925 and continued the practice of law; returned to New Albany, Ind., in 1928 and resumed the practice of law; public counselor of Indiana 1933-1934; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from January 3, 1935, to January 3, 1941; Democratic whip 1939-1941; chairman, Committee on Pensions (Seventy-sixth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1940; served as administrative assistant in the Executive Office of the President 1941; judge of the circuit court of appeals for the seventh circuit 1941-1949; appointed by President Harry S. Truman as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, taking the oath of office October 12, 1949, and served until October 15, 1956, when he resigned due to ill health; was a resident of New Albany, Ind., where he died April 9, 1965; interment in Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Gugin, Linda C., and James E. St. Clair. Sherman Minton: New Deal Senator, Cold War Justice. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1997; Atkinson, David N. “From New Deal Liberal to Supreme Court Conservative.” Washington University Law Quarterly (1975): 361-94.

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