John G. Sargent

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

John Sargent
53rd United States Attorney General
In office
March 7, 1925 – March 4, 1929
PresidentCalvin Coolidge
Preceded byHarlan Stone
Succeeded byWilliam Mitchell
Attorney General of Vermont
In office
October 8, 1908 – October 3, 1912
GovernorGeorge H. Prouty
John A. Mead
Preceded byClarke C. Fitts
Succeeded byRufus E. Brown
Personal details
Born
John Garibaldi Sargent

(1860-10-13)October 13, 1860
Ludlow, Vermont, U.S.
DiedMarch 5, 1939(1939-03-05) (aged 78)
Ludlow, Vermont, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseMary Gordon
Children1
EducationTufts University (BA)

John Garibaldi Sargent (October 13, 1860 – March 5, 1939) was an American lawyer and government official. He served as United States Attorney General during the administration of President Calvin Coolidge.

Biography

[edit]

John G. Sargent was born in Ludlow, Vermont on October 13, 1860, the son of John Henmon Sargent and Ann Eliza Hanley.[1] He graduated from Black River Academy, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts College in 1887.[2][3] Sargent was married to the former Mary Lorraine Gordon on August 4, 1887.[4] They had a daughter, Gladys Gordon Sargent.[5]

Sargent studied law at a firm in Ludlow, was admitted to the bar in 1890, and became a partner in the firm of William W. Stickney, a cousin of Calvin Coolidge.[6] Among the prospective attorneys who studied under Sargent and Stickney were Julius A. Willcox, who later served as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court,[7] and Joseph F. Radigan, who served as Vermont's United States Attorney from 1961 to 1969.[8]

In addition to practicing law, Sargent was active in the insurance business, served as President of the Ludlow Savings Bank, and was a member of the board of directors of several railroads and other corporations.[9][10][11]

A Republican, he served as Windsor County State's Attorney from 1898 to 1900.[12] Sargent was Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs (chief assistant) for Stickney during Stickney's term as Governor of Vermont from 1900 to 1902.[13]

From 1908 to 1912 Sargent was Vermont Attorney General.[14] In 1912, Sargent received an honorary master's degree from Tufts.[15][16]

In 1925, President Coolidge's nominee for Attorney General, Charles B. Warren, was rejected by the United States Senate.[17] Coolidge then nominated Sargent, whom he had known since childhood.[18] Sargent was confirmed unanimously, and served until March 4, 1929.[19][20]

After the leaving office, Sargent returned to practicing law; he brought into the firm as a partner Paul A. Chase, who had served as his special assistant while he was U.S. Attorney General.[21] He was also Chairman of the Vermont Commission on Uniform State Laws, and a trustee of the Black River Academy.[22][23]

Sargent died in Ludlow on March 5, 1939, and was buried at the Pleasant View Cemetery in Ludlow, Vermont.[24]

John G. Sargent's honors included honorary LL.D. degrees from Tufts, Norwich University, Middlebury College, and Dartmouth College.[25]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Volney Sewall Fulham, The Fulham Genealogy, 1910, page 260
  2. ^ E. Thompson Company, Law Notes, Volume 29, 1925, page 16
  3. ^ Funk & Wagnalls, The Literary Digest, Volume 75, 1925, page 44
  4. ^ William Henry Smith, History of the Cabinet of the United States of America, 1925, pages 355-356
  5. ^ Robert I. Vexler, The Vice-Presidents and Cabinet Members, Volume 2, 1975, page 544
  6. ^ James Terry White, The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 25, 1967, page 337
  7. ^ Bigelow, Walter J. (1919). Vermont, Its Government. Montpelier, VT: Historical Publishing Company. p. 138.
  8. ^ "Radigan Out for House". Rutland Herald. Rutland, VT. July 25, 1956. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Vexler, The Vice-Presidents and Cabinet Members
  10. ^ Standard Publishing, The Standard
  11. ^ Boston and Maine Railroad, Annual Report, 1919, page 4
  12. ^ William Richard Cutter, American Biography: A New Cyclopedia, Volume 24, 1926, page 137
  13. ^ Robert Sobel, Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch, 1774-1989, 1990, page 320
  14. ^ Vermont Attorney General, Past Vermont Attorneys General Archived 2012-05-19 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved January 31, 2014
  15. ^ Vermont Bar Association, Report of Proceedings of the Annual Meeting, Volume 33, 1939, page 39
  16. ^ The Green Bag magazine, The Academic Roll of Honor, July 1912, page 375
  17. ^ Joseph Pratt Harris, The Advice and Consent of the Senate, 1953, page 260
  18. ^ Federal Writers' Project, Vermont; a Guide to the Green Mountain State, 1934, page 255
  19. ^ Meenekshi Bose, Rosanna Perotti, editors, From Cold War to New World Order: The Foreign Policy of George H.W. Bush, 2002, page 373
  20. ^ Phyllis Raybin Emert, Attorneys General: Enforcing the Law, 2005, page 155
  21. ^ "Chase Leaves Office of Attorney General to Join Sargent Firm". Hartford Courant. Hartford, VT. Associated Press. July 2, 1930. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ Standard Publishing, The Standard, Volume 124, 1939, page 292
  23. ^ U.S. Government Printing Office, Congressional Record, 1929, page 3817
  24. ^ Newsweek magazine, Deaths: John G. Sargent, Volume 13, 1939, page 57
  25. ^ George Jean Nathan, Henry Louis Mencken, editors, The American Mercury, Volume 12, 1927, page 477
[edit]
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for Vermont Attorney General
1908, 1910
Succeeded by
Legal offices
Preceded by U.S. Attorney General
Served under: Calvin Coolidge

1925–1929
Succeeded by
Preceded by Vermont Attorney General
1908-1912
Succeeded by