John Sparkman

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credited to the United States Senate Historical Office

John Jackson Sparkman (December 20, 1899 – November 16, 1985) was a United States politician from Alabama. He was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, where he represented Alabama from 1946 until 1979. He was the Democratic Party Vice Presidential nominee in the 1952 U.S. presidential election.

Sparkman was born on a farm near Hartselle, Alabama. He attended the rural schools and helped on the family farm. During World War I, he was a member of the Students Army Training Corps. He graduated from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in 1921 and from its law school in 1923. He was admitted to the bar in 1925 and commenced practice in Huntsville. He was an instructor at Huntsville College 1925–1928. A Freemason, he was life member of Helion Lodge #1 in Huntsville. He was also member of the Huntsville Scottish Rite bodies and a recipient of the Knight Commander Court of Honor (KCCH).

Sparkman was 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. He was Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives in 1946. He was reelected to the Eightieth Congress on November 5, 1946, and on the same date in a special election 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, he resigned from the House of Representatives and began duties in the Senate on November 6, 1946, serving until January 3, 1979. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1978.

In 1956, Senator Sparkman was one of 19 southern senators to sign the Southern Manifesto, a document opposing racial integration in public places.

Sparkman was chairman of the 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), and a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations (Ninety-fourth and Ninety-fifth Congresses).

He was a representative of the United States to the Fifth General Assembly of the United Nations in 1950. He died in Huntsville, Alabama.

Senator Sparkman founded the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at the University of Alabama in 1924

This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Preceded by George R. Swift	United States Senator (Class 2) from Alabama 1946–1979 Served alongside: J. Lister Hill, James B. Allen, Maryon Pittman Allen, Donald W. Stewart	Succeeded by Howell T. Heflin
Preceded by Alben W. Barkley	Democratic Party Vice Presidential candidate 1952 (lost)	Succeeded by Estes Kefauver
Preceded by J. William Fulbright	Chair of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 1975–1979	Succeeded by Frank Church

United States Democratic Party Vice Presidential Nominees

Calhoun • Van Buren • R. Johnson • Dallas • Butler • King • Breckinridge • H. Johnson/Lane (SD), Pendleton • Blair • Brown • Hendricks • English • Hendricks • Thurman • Stevenson • Sewall • Stevenson • Davis • Kern • Marshall • Roosevelt • Bryan • Robinson • Garner • Wallace • Truman • Barkley • Sparkman • Kefauver • L. Johnson • Humphrey • Muskie • Eagleton/Shriver • Mondale • Ferraro • Bentsen • Gore • Lieberman • Edwards

Majority Whips of the United States House of Representatives
Tawney • Watson • Dwight • Bell • Knutson • Vestal • McDuffie • Greenwood • Boland • Ramspeck • Sparkman • Arends • Priest • Arends • Albert • Boggs • O'Neill • McFall • Brademas • Foley • Coelho • Gray • Bonior • DeLay • Blunt • Clyburn