Miles Poindexter

Miles Poindexter
United States Senator from Washington
In office March 4, 1911 – March 4, 1923
Preceded by	Samuel H. Piles
Succeeded by	Clarence Dill
Personal details
Born	April 22, 1868(1868-04-22) Memphis, Tennessee
Died	September 21, 1946(1946-09-21) (aged 78) Rockbridge County, Virginia
Political party	Republican

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. He was 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.

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.

Sources

• Miles Poindexter at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

References

1. ^ http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/senators_changed_parties.htm#8 U.S. Senate: Art & History Home > People > Senators > Senators Who Changed Parties During Senate Service (Since 1890)]

United States House of Representatives
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
United States Senate
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

Persondata
Name	Poindexter, Miles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	April 22, 1868
Place of birth	Memphis, Tennessee
Date of death	September 21, 1946
Place of death	Rockbridge County, Virginia