Miles Poindexter
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Miles Poindexter was an American politician. As a Republican and later a Progressive, he served as a United States Representative and United States Senator.
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[edit] Early life
Poindexter was born in Memphis, Tennessee on April 22, 1868. He attended the Fancy Hill Academy in Virginia, and Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, where he graduated with a law degree in 1891.
[edit] Legal Career
After he graduated, he settled in Walla Walla, Washington, where he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law. In 1892 he became the prosecuting attorney of Walla Walla County. He moved to Spokane, Washington in 1897 where he continued the practice of law. He served as the assistant prosecuting attorney for Spokane County from 1898 to 1904, and as a judge of the superior court from 1904 to 1908.
[edit] Political Life
He was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-first Congress, and served from March 4, 1909 to March 3, 1911. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1910 and was reelected in 1916, serving from March 4, 1911 to March 3, 1923. Poindexter left the Republican Party in 1913 to join the Progressive Party, rejoining the Republicans in 1915.[1] He was unsuccessful in his candidacy for reelection in 1922.
[edit] Positions on Committees
- Chairman, United States Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Interior Department (Sixty-second Congress)
- United States Senate Committee on Mines and Mining (Sixty-second Congress, Sixty-sixth Congress and Sixty-seventh Congress)
- United States Senate Committee on Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico (Sixty-second Congress)
- United States Senate Committee on Expenditures in the War Department (Sixty-third Congress and Sixty-fourth Congress)
- United States Senate Committee on Indian Depredations (Sixty-fifth Congress)
[edit] Later life
Poindexter was appointed by President Warren Harding as Ambassador to Peru from 1923 to 1928. In 1928 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate. He returned to his home, ‘Elk Cliff,’ in Greenlee, Rockbridge County, Virginia, where he died September 21, 1946. He was interred in the Presbyterian Cemetery, Lexington, Virginia.
[edit] Sources
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William E. Humphrey |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 3rd congressional district 1909–1911 |
Succeeded by William Leroy La Follette |
| Preceded by Samuel H. Piles |
United States Senator (Class 1) from Washington 1911–1923 Served alongside: Wesley L. Jones |
Succeeded by Clarence C. Dill |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by William E. Gonzales |
United States Ambassador to Peru 20 April 1923–21 March 1928 |
Succeeded by Alexander P. Moore |
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[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States]
