John N. Sandlin

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John Nicholas Sandlin, Sr. (February 24, 1872 -- December 25, 1957), of Minden, Louisiana, represented his state's Fourth Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives from 1921-1937. In 1936, rather than seeking a ninth term in the House, Sandlin contested an open seat in the U.S. Senate. He lost the Democratic nomination to Allen J. Ellender of Houma in Terrebonne Parish in south Louisiana. Ellender, a confidant of the late Huey Pierce Long, Jr., received 364,931 ballots (68 percent) to Sandlin's 167,471 votes (31.2 percent). There was no Republican candidate, and Ellender was sworn in to the first of what would become six consecutive senatorial terms.

Sandlin was born in the McIntyre community west of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish, to Nicholas J. Sandlin, a native of North Carolina, and the former Irene McIntyre. He was educated in public schools and attended the former Minden Normal School and Business College, the forerunner to Minden High School. He privately studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1896, when he began his law practice in Minden. He was prosecuting attorney for the Second Judicial District from 1904-1910 and judge of the same district from 1910-1920.

Sandlin married Ruth Reems, and they had a son, John N. Sandlin, Jr. (1906-1955). After Ruth's death in 1911, Sandlin wed Mrs. Emma Lou Palmer Crichton in 1913.

He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1916, which met in St. Louis, Missouri, to renominate President Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey and Vice President Thomas Marshall of Indiana. He was first elected to Congress in 1920, when he denied renomination to incumbent John Thomas Watkins, also of Minden. Sandlin served a total of sixteen years in Congress. Upon leaving Washington, D.C., he resumed his law practice in Minden.

Sandlin was a Methodist, a Freemason, and a member of Woodmen of the World.

He is interred in the Minden Cemetery at the intersection of Pine and Goodwill streets.

Preceded by John Thomas Watkins (D)	United States Representative for the 4th Congressional District of (Northwest) Louisiana John Nicholas Sandlin, Sr., (D) 1921–1937	Succeeded by Thomas Overton Brooks (D)