Miles Poindexter (April 22, 1868September 21, 1946) was an American lawyer and politician. As a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and briefly a Progressive, he served one term as a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1909 to 1911, and two terms as a

United States senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

from 1911 to 1923, representing the state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Poindexter also served as United States Ambassador to Peru during the presidential administrations of

Warren Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...

and Calvin Coolidge.

Early life

Poindexter was born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, the son of Josephine (Anderson) Poindexter and William B. Poindexter. His parents were residents of

Malvern Hill Malvern Hill stands on the north bank of the James River in Henrico County, Virginia, USA, about eighteen miles southeast of Richmond. On 1 July 1862, it was the scene of the Battle of Malvern Hill, one of the Seven Days Battles of the Americ ...

in Henrico County, Virginia, and his father was an

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

veteran of the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. Poindexter was raised in Virginia, and attended the

Fancy Hill Fancy Hill is a historic home located near Glasgow, Rockbridge County, Virginia, United States. The house was built in two phases, the first about 1821 and the second about 1831. The result is a two-story, eight-bay, Federal-style brick dwelling ...

Academy in

Rockbridge County, Virginia Rockbridge County is a county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,650. Its county seat is the city of Lexington. Rockbridge County completely surrounds the in ...

. He then attended

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexington ...

in Lexington, Virginia, from which he graduated with an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree in 1891.

Political career

In 1908, Poindexter was elected to the U.S. House. He served one term (1909–1911), and was reelected in 1910. He resigned before his new term began in March 1911 because the state legislature elected him to the U.S. Senate. He was reelected in 1916, and served from 1911 to 1923. Poindexter became a

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

member in 1912, but returned to the Republicans in 1915. Poindexter was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 1920, and for reelection to the Senate in 1922. In 1923, Poindexter was appointed Ambassador to Peru. He served until 1928, when he returned to Washington and waged an unsuccessful campaign for the Senate.

Legal career

After he graduated, Poindexter settled in

Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla is a city in Walla Walla County, Washington, where it is the largest city and county seat. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,927 as of 2021. The population of the city and its two su ...

, where he was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

and began the practice of law. In 1892 he became the

prosecuting attorney A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

of Walla Walla County. He moved to

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...

in 1897 where he continued the practice of law. He served as the assistant prosecuting attorney for

Spokane County Spokane County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 539,339, making it the fourth-most populous county in Washington. The largest city and county seat is Spokane, the second largest cit ...

from 1898 to 1904, and as a judge of the superior court from 1904 to 1908.

Political career

He was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-first Congress, and served from March 4, 1909 to March 3, 1911 representing Washington's newly created 3rd congressional district. He was reelected in 1910, but resigned in 1911 because the Washington State Legislature elected him to the U.S. Senate. He was reelected in 1916, and served from March 4, 1911 to March 3, 1923. Poindexter left the Republican Party in 1913 to join the

, rejoining the Republicans in 1915. During World War I, Poindexter moved away from supporting progressive causes and led several efforts that questioned the patriotism of German-Americans and attempted to keep them from wartime leadership positions in the military. In a highly-publicized instance, Poindexter accused German-born Colonel Carl Reichmann (1859–1937), a distinguished Army officer who had served since 1881, of being pro-German and used the legislative process to block Reichmann's promotion to brigadier general. Reichmann had become a US citizen in 1887 and the promotion was supported by

American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. It fought along ...

commander John J. Pershing, Hugh L. Scott, the Army Chief of Staff, and Newton D. Baker, the

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

, but they were unable to overcome Poindexter's opposition and Reichmann remained a colonel. Poindexter also played a role in instigating the

First Red Scare The First Red Scare was a period during the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of far-left movements, including Bolshevism and anarchism, due to real and imagined events; real events included the R ...

by accusing the Wilson administration of being infested with Bolshevism and accusing

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

Associate Justice Louis Brandeis of being a communist.Kastenberg 2018 Poindexter was a target of reformers and progressives in 1922, and lost his bid for reelection to the Democratic nominee, Representative Clarence Dill.

Committee chairmanships

During his Senate tenure, Poindexter served as chairman of the following committees: * 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 The United States Congress has operated with more than 1500 standing, special, select, or joint committees over the years. , United States Senate Historical Office. June 2008. Most of these committees are now defunct. In some cases, their ...

( Sixty-second Congress) *

United States Senate Committee on Expenditures in the War Department The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is the chief oversight committee of the United States Senate. It has jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland s ...

( Sixty-third Congress and

Sixty-fourth Congress The 64th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1915, to M ...

) * United States Senate Committee on Indian Depredations ( Sixty-fifth Congress)

Later life

Poindexter ran in the 1920

Republican Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries have been held in the United States since 1912 to nominate the Republican presidential candidate. 1912 This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. President William Taft ran to become the nomine ...

, but was not a serious contender for the party's nomination. He received the votes of 20 delegates on the first ballot at the 1920 Republican National Convention, and the nomination went to

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...

on the 10th ballot. After he lost his 1922 campaign for reelection to the Senate, in 1923 Harding appointed Poindexter as United States Ambassador to Peru. He served until 1928, when he resigned and returned to Washington. He was an unsuccessful candidate that year for the United States Senate.

Retirement and death

After the death of his wife, Poindexter returned to his home, "Elk Cliff" in Greenlee, near

Natural Bridge Station, Virginia Natural Bridge Station is an unincorporated community in Rockbridge County, Virginia, United States, named for both its proximity to Natural Bridge and formerly having a train depot along the Norfolk & Western rail line. Formerly known as Sherwoo ...

. He died there on September 21, 1946, and was buried at Fairmount Memorial Park in Spokane.

Family

In 1892, Poindexter married Elizabeth Gale Page (1866–1929) of Walla Walla. They were the parents of a son, Gale Aylett Poindexter (1893–1976). Poindexter remarried in 1936, becoming the husband of Elinor Jackson Junkin Latane, the widow of John Holladay Latane, a professor at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

. Elizabeth Gale Page was the granddaughter of

Joseph Gale Joseph Goff Gale (April 29, 1807 – December 13, 1881) was an American pioneer, trapper, entrepreneur, and politician who contributed to the early settlement of the Oregon Country. There he assisted in the construction of the first sailing vesse ...

, an executive of the

Provisional Government of Oregon The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, ...

. She and Miles Poindexter were the aunt and uncle of actress Gale Page.

References

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External sources

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Early life

Political career

Legal career

Political career

Committee chairmanships

Later life

Retirement and death

Family

See also

References

Sources

Books

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Internet

External sources

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