Franklin S. Billings, Jr.

Franklin Swift Billings, Jr. (June 5, 1922 – March 9, 2014) was an American politician and judge from the state of Vermont. Billings served as Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives, chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court and chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont.

Early life

Franklin S. "Bill" Billings was born in Woodstock, Vermont on June 5, 1922, the son of Governor Franklin S. Billings. He was raised in Woodstock and Milton, Massachusetts, graduated from Milton Academy, and received a B.S. from Harvard College in 1943.^[1][2][3]

World War II

Billings completed the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Harvard and received his commission as a Second Lieutenant. He was slated for training at Fort Sill when an Army physical uncovered a heart condition that disqualified him from military service. He then moved to Schenectady, New York to work on a General Electric radar project for the United States Navy.^[4]

Billings then joined the American Field Service as a volunteer ambulance driver. He served with the British Eighth Army and the 6th Armoured Division, and earned the British Empire Medal. He was wounded at the Battle of Monte Cassino in Southern Italy in May 1944, requiring five months of recovery and recuperation at a United States Army hospital in Italy, then four months stateside.^[5] In 2010 he was awarded the Purple Heart.^[6][7]

Early career

Billings attended Yale Law School for a year, and then transferred to the University of Virginia School of Law, from which he received a J.D. in 1947. He then practiced law in Woodstock.^[8]

A Republican, he held several elected and appointed offices, including Village Trustee, Town Selectman, Town Meeting Moderator, Assistant Secretary and Secretary of the Vermont State Senate, Executive Clerk to Governor Joseph Johnson, and Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs (chief assistant) to Governor Robert Stafford. Billings also served as Judge of the Hartford Municipal Court from 1955 to 1962.^[9][10]

Later career

Elected to the Vermont House of Representatives as a Republican in 1960, Billings served from 1961 to 1965. In the House Billings was one of the "Young Turks," a group of relatively junior members who pursued progressive policies regardless of party affiliation. The effort to end conservative Republican dominance of Vermont had gone on since the early 1900s with limited success. The Young Turks attained more success, including the election of fellow Young Turk Philip H. Hoff, a Burlington liberal, as Vermont's first Democratic Governor since the founding of the Republican Party in the 1850s.^[11]

He was Speaker in his final term. During his speakership, Vermont conformed to federal proportional representation requirements, moving the state House from a "one town, one vote" body of over 240 members to 150 members elected by district.^[12]

Billings became a Judge of the Superior Court in 1966.^[13] He was an Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1975 to 1983, and Chief Justice from 1983 to 1984.^[14][15]

In 1984 Billings was nominated to the seat on the United States District Court for the District of Vermont vacated by James S. Holden, and was succeeded as Chief Justice by Frederic W. Allen. He served on the federal court from 1984 until assuming senior status in 1994, and was Chief Judge from 1988 to 1991.^[16][17]

Retirement and death

In retirement Billings continued to reside in Woodstock. He died in Woodstock on March 9, 2014 at the age of 91.^[18]

Family

Billings married Pauline (Polly) Richardson Gillingham in 1951. They had four children: Franklin S. III; Jireh S.; Elizabeth; and Ann.^[19]

References

1. Vermont Secretary of State, Vermont Legislative Directory, 1985, page 442
2. J.C. Fifield Company, The American Bar, Volume 44, Part 1962, page 1480
3. Mike Donoghue, Burlington Free Press, Former Vermont judge Franklin Billings Jr. dies at 91, March 9, 2014
4. David Cogger, Vermont Standard, Judge Billings Receives Purple Heart, December 16, 2010
5. Vermont General Assembly, Senate Concurrent Resolution 23, Congratulating Judge Franklin Swift Billings, Jr., and Mrs. Pauline Richardson Gillingham Billings on Their 60th Wedding Anniversary, 2011, page 1
6. Vermont Public Radio, Federal Judge Awarded Purple Heart, February 18, 2010
7. David Cogger, Vermont Standard, Judge Franklin Billings Recalls President Coolidge, May 9, 2010
8. U.S. Government Printing Office, United States Senate Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearings on Appointments to the Federal Judiciary, Volume 3, 1985, page 198
9. Aspen Law & Business, Almanac of the Federal Judiciary, Volumes 1-2, 1988, page 118
10. Vermont Secretary of State, Legislative Directory, 1983, page 346
11. Steve Zind, Vermont Public Radio, Former Chief Justice, Legislator Franklin S. Billings Jr. Dies, March 11, 2014
12. Sunlight Foundation, Capitol Words, Sen. James M. Jeffords, Tribute To Franklin S. Billings, Jr., May 23, 1997
13. James Roger Sharp, Nancy Weatherly Sharp, American Legislative Leaders in the Northeast, 1911-1994, 2000, page 59
14. Vermont House of Representatives, State of Vermont, List of Supreme Court Chief Justices, 2004
15. Vermont Secretary of State, Vermont Legislative Directory, 1985, page 442
16. The Vermont Bar Journal & Law Digest, Hon. Franklin S. Billings, Jr. Sworn in as U.S. District Judge, Volume 10, 1984, page 13
17. Bernan Press, Biographical Directory of the Federal Judiciary, 2001, page 277
18. Kevin O'Connor, Rutland Herald, Top Vt. judge Franklin Billings Jr. dies at age 91, March 10, 2014
19. Paul Anthony Theis, Edmund Lee Henshaw, Who's Who in American Politics, Volume 2, 1991, page 1657

External links

• Franklin S. Billings, Jr. at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  
• Franklin S. Billings, Jr. at The Political Graveyard
• Franklin S. Billings, Jr. at Find a Grave