Walter Cleveland Caudill (June 9, 1888 – January 18, 1963) was a Virginia physician and politician. As a member of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

, Caudill represented Pearisburg, Virginia and adjoining counties between 1936 and 1955, first as a delegate and then as a state Senator.

Early and family life

Caudill was born in

Alleghany County, North Carolina Alleghany County ( )
, from the North Carolina Collection website at the University of North Caro ...

, then educated at the Elk Creek Training School in Elk Creek, Virginia. He attended Appalachian State Teacher's College in

Boone, North Carolina Boone is a town in and the county seat of Watauga County, North Carolina, United States. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, Boone is the home of Appalachian State University and the headquarters of the disaster and me ...

. Upon graduation, he moved to

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

and studied at the

Medical College of Virginia The VCU Medical Center (VCU Health), formerly known as the Medical College of Virginia (MCV), is the medical campus of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), located in downtown Richmond, Virginia, United States. As MCV, VCU Medical Center merged ...

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Caudill joined the U.S. Army and was part of the

American Expeditionary Force The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...

. Caudill practiced medicine in Pearisburg (the county seat of Giles County) as a physician and surgeon. He also served as the President of the Medical Society of Virginia and was active in his

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

church.

Political career

In 1935, Giles and Bland County voters elected Caudill to represent them, part-time, as their delegate to the

. He served one term, having replaced Dr. Jasper N. Walker (1866-1938), who was chairman of Bland County's Democratic committee as well as that county's health secretary for thirty years. Caudill was replaced by Dr. James J. Davidson, who served on the Bland County board of supervisors for 16 years but only one term as a delegate. In 1939, Caudill won election to state senate district 19, representing Bland, Giles, Pulaski and Wythe Counties. His predecessor, Anderson E. Shumate had served since 1928. Caudill likewise won re-election several times. Before his retirement after the 1955 session, Caudill had risen to speaker pro tempore and floor leader of the Senate. He used his political clout to secure construction of a hospital for Giles County, situated in Pearisburg.NRIS Pearisburg Historic District
p.28 During his last legislative term, Caudill was a member of the Gray Commission that ultimately led to the Stanley Plan which embodied the Massive Resistance to racial integration vowed by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd after the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

''. However, because Dr. Caudill retired in 1955, he did not participate in the escalation. Fellow Democrat D. Woodrow Bird was elected to succeed Caudill representing those counties in the Senate, and fellow Democrat Charles T. Moses of Appomattox County succeeded him as the Senate President Pro Tem during Massive Resistance.

Death and legacy

Caudill died on January 18, 1963.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caudill, Walter C. 1888 births 1963 deaths Medical College of Virginia alumni Democratic Party Virginia state senators Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Politicians from Roanoke, Virginia Physicians from Virginia People from Pearisburg, Virginia American segregationists 20th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly