Miles Poindexter

Miles Poindexter
United States Senator from Washington
In office March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1923
Preceded by	Samuel H. Piles
Succeeded by	Clarence Dill
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 3rd district
In office March 4, 1909 – March 3, 1911
Preceded by	District created
Succeeded by	William Leroy La Follette
Personal details
Born	April 22, 1868 Memphis, Tennessee
Died	September 21, 1946 (aged 78) Rockbridge County, Virginia
Political party	Republican Progressive

Miles Poindexter (April 22, 1868 – September 21, 1946) was an American politician. As a Republican and later a Progressive, he served as a United States Representative and United States Senator.

Early life

Poindexter was born in Memphis, Tennessee. 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.

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.

Political life

He was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-first Congress, and served from March 4, 1909 to March 4, 1911 representing Washington's newly created 3rd congressional district. He was then elected to the United States Senate in 1910 and was reelected in 1916, serving from March 4, 1911 to March 4, 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. He was one of only three Republican Senators to vote, on June 1, 1916, to confirm Louis Brandeis as a Supreme Court Justice—the other two Republicans being Robert M. La Follette and George W. Norris.

To date, Poindexter is the last Senator from Washington who lived east of the Cascades at the time of his election.

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)

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. He was interred in the Presbyterian Cemetery, Lexington, Virginia.

References

1. U.S. Senate: Art & History Home > People > Senators > Senators Who Changed Parties During Senate Service (Since 1890)

Sources

• United States Congress. "Miles Poindexter (id: P000403)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Archives

• Miles Poindexter Papers. 1897-1940. 189.79 cubic feet (442 boxes).
• Miles Poindexter photograph collection. circa 1910-1920. .12 cubic feet (4 folders). 162 photographic prints.
• Thomas Burke papers. 1875-1925. 24.78 cubic feet (58 boxes).
• Austin E. Griffiths papers. 1891-1952. 11.73 cubic feet (25 boxes). 1 microfilm reel.