Forrest Carl Donnell (August 20, 1884March 3, 1980) was an American attorney and politician who served as a

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

and the 40th governor of

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

Early life

Donnell was born in

Quitman, Missouri Quitman is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in west central Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. The population was 42 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. History Originally it was called Russellville which was fi ...

. Donnell graduated from Maryville High School in 1900, where his father was once mayor; the Donnells lived in the home that had once belonged to Albert Morehouse, who also served as governor. At the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

he was a member of

Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig or KSig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international Fraternities and sororities in North America, fr ...

and

Phi Delta Phi Phi Delta Phi (), commonly known as Phid or PDP, is an international legal honor society and the oldest legal organization in continuous existence in the United States. Founded in 1869 at the University of Michigan as a professional fraternity, ...

fraternities. He was also elected as a member of the

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

Theta Kappa Nu Theta Kappa Nu () fraternity was an American national collegiate fraternity founded in 1924 by delegates from eleven local fraternities.Shepard, Francis W., ed. (1927)''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities'' (11th ed.) Menasha, Wi ...

and QEBH societies. He was valedictorian of the 1904 class and received a law degree in 1907. In 1907 he moved to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. In October 1911 he and future Senator Selden P. Spencer founded the law firm Spencer & Donnell. Donnell married Hilda Hays in 1913. They had two children, Ruth and John Lanier. In 1917 he was president of the Association of

Young Republicans The Young Republican National Federation, commonly referred to as the Young Republicans or YRNF, is a 527 organization for members of the Republican Party of the United States between the ages of 18 and 40. It has both a national organization ...

of Missouri; in 1918-1920, a member of the executive committee of the Republican State Committee of Missouri; and in 1919, a president of the 28th Ward Republican Club of St. Louis. He was the city attorney for

Webster Groves, Missouri Webster Groves is an inner-ring Greater St. Louis, suburb of St. Louis in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 24,010 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is home to the main campus of Webster Universit ...

, a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

southwest of St. Louis City.

Governor

Donnell was elected governor of Missouri in 1940 and served one term from 1941 to 1945. He was the first Republican governor of Missouri after the collapse of

Tom Pendergast Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1872 – January 26, 1945), also known as T. J. Pendergast, was an American political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, from 1925 to 1939. Pendergast only briefly held elected ...

’s

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

political machine, and the only major Republican elected statewide in the 1940 election; Democrats delayed seating him for six weeks until being forced to do so by the

Missouri Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Missouri (SCOMO) is the highest court in the state of Missouri. It was established in 1820 and is located at 207 West High Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. Missouri voters have approved changes in the state's constitutio ...

in what was called the "Great Governorship Steal". Donnell had defeated St. Louis politician Lawrence "Larry" McDaniel by 3,613 votes out of nearly 2 million cast, thanks largely to votes from rural areas. Donnell's predecessor Lloyd C. Stark had wrested control of federal appointments in the state from the Pendergast machine in 1936. Consequently, there was unease about a Republican taking over the appointments. Within hours of the election, several members of the Democratic party met at the DeSoto Hotel in St. Louis to plan a response. Among those attending were Senator Bennett Champ Clark, St. Louis Mayor Bernard F. Dickmann, Democratic Party Chairman

Robert Hannegan Robert Emmet Hannegan (June 30, 1903 – October 6, 1949) was an American politician who served as Commissioner of Internal Revenue from October 1943 to January 1944. He also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1944 to 19 ...

, Attorney General

Roy McKittrick Roy McKittrick (August 24, 1888 – January 22, 1961) was an American politician from Salisbury, Missouri, who served as Missouri Attorney General around the time of the World War II from 1933 until 1945. In 1944, he ran for the U.S. Senate, bu ...

and state Democratic Chairman C. Marion Hulen. Their strategy was to charge that Republican votes were fraudulently bought. They sought to use a provision of the Missouri Constitution that allowed the speaker of the house to "count – tabulate – the votes and proclaim to the general public who won". Donnell was refused to be seated while the speaker investigated the votes. Governor Stark urged that he be seated. The Missouri Supreme Court ultimately seated him. Donnell was a Mason with Tuscan Lodge #360 in St. Louis, serving as Worshipful Master in 1915 and was elected Grand Master of Missouri A.F. & A.M.(1942-1943) during his term as governor. Ironically, Democrat

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

was to imply that Donnell helped Truman win the 1940 Senate election because of their Masonic bond. Truman said: :I had a Catholic friend in St. Louis by the name of James E. Wade. He attended a meeting

here Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...

Davis made his usual charges. Forrest Donnell, who afterwards became epublicanGovernor and Senator, was speaking from the same platform. Donnell was just behind me in the Grand Lodge line and would be Grand Master in a year or two. :So Jim Wade went up to him ... and asked him if I could be the low sort of fellow that Davis charged and still be Grand Master of Masons of Missouri. Mr. Donnell said: 'No, Jim, he could not.' That ruined Mr. Davis—I won by 276,000 votes.""The Wonderful Wastebasket"
''Time''. March 24, 1952. Donnell's ambitious plans as governor were largely thwarted, despite the Republican party gaining control of the house of representatives and an equal share in the senate in 1942.

Senator

Donnell was elected to the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

in 1944. In that race, he defeated state Attorney General

by 1,988 votes out of nearly 1.56 million cas

McKittrick had unseated incumbent U.S. Senator Bennett Champ Clark in the Democratic primary. He served from 1945 to 1951. As senator, Donnell supported the Taft-Hartley Act, other antilabor measures, and lower income taxes. He opposed an excess-profits tax and most foreign aid. He lost to former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Thomas C. Hennings Jr. Thomas Carey Hennings Jr. (June 25, 1903September 13, 1960) was an United States of America, American political figure from Missouri. He was a United States Democratic Party, Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives (from 1 ...

by 53.6%-to-46.4% in the United States Senate elections, 1950. He returned to practicing law and retired in 1956. Donnell served as president of the University of Missouri Alumni Association and as a trustee of the

State Historical Society of Missouri The State Historical Society of Missouri, a private membership and state funded organization, is a comprehensive research facility located in Columbia, Missouri, specializing in the preservation and study of Missouri's cultural heritage. Estab ...

. He died in 1980 at the age of 95 in St. Louis. He is buried in

Bellefontaine Cemetery Bellefontaine Cemetery is a nonprofit, non-denominational cemetery and arboretum in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1849 as a rural cemetery, Bellefontaine has several architecturally significant monuments and mausoleums such as the Louis Su ...

References

;Specific ;General
Congressional biography

National Governors Association Biography
* Matthew C. Sherman, "'The Most Serious Senator': A Reconsideration of Forrest C. Donnell of Missouri and the North Atlantic Treaty", ''

Missouri Historical Review The ''Missouri Historical Review'' is an academic journal of history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to co ...

'' 101 (2007): 78-98. {{DEFAULTSORT:Donnell, Forrest C. 1884 births 1980 deaths People from Nodaway County, Missouri Republican Party governors of Missouri People from Webster Groves, Missouri University of Missouri alumni Republican Party United States senators from Missouri Burials at Bellefontaine Cemetery 20th-century United States senators