View source for John Sparkman

{{short description|American politician (1899–1985)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name         = John Sparkman
| image        = John J. Sparkman.jpg
| caption      = Sparkman in 1959
| jr/sr        = United States Senator
| state        = [[Alabama]]
| term_start   = November 6, 1946
| term_end     = January 3, 1979
| predecessor  = [[George R. Swift]]
| successor    = [[Howell Heflin]]
| office1      = Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Senate Foreign Relations Committee]]
| term_start1  = January 3, 1975
| term_end1    = January 3, 1979
| predecessor1 = [[J. William Fulbright]]
| successor1   = [[Frank Church]]
| office2      = Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs|Senate Banking Committee]]
| term_start2  = January 3, 1967
| term_end2    = January 3, 1975
| predecessor2 = [[A. Willis Robertson]]
| successor2   = [[William Proxmire]]
| office3      = Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship|Senate Small Business Committee]]
| term_start3  = January 3, 1955
| term_end3    = January 3, 1967
| predecessor3 = [[Edward John Thye|Edward Thye]]
| successor3   = [[George Smathers]]
| term_start4  = February 20, 1950
| term_end4    = January 3, 1953
| predecessor4 = ''Committee formed''
| successor4   = [[Edward John Thye|Edward Thye]]
| office5      = [[Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives|House Majority Whip]]
| leader5      = [[John W. McCormack]]
| term_start5  = January 1, 1946
| term_end5    = November 6, 1946
| predecessor5 = [[Robert Ramspeck]]
| successor5   = [[Leslie C. Arends]]
| state6       = [[Alabama]]
| district6    = {{ushr|AL|8|8th}}
| term_start6  = January 3, 1937
| term_end6    = November 6, 1946
| predecessor6 = [[Archibald Hill Carmichael]]
| successor6   = [[Robert E. Jones Jr.]]
| birth_name   = John Jackson Sparkman
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1899|12|20}}
| birth_place  = [[Hartselle, Alabama]], U.S.
| death_date   = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|1985|11|16|1899|12|20}}}}
| death_place  = [[Huntsville, Alabama]], U.S.
| restingplace = [[Maple Hill Cemetery (Huntsville, Alabama)|Maple Hill Cemetery]]
| party        = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse       = Chelsea Ivo Hall (d. 1999)
| children     = 1
| education    = [[University of Alabama]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])
| allegiance   = {{flag|United States}}
| branch       = {{army|United States}}
| unit         = [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps|Student Army Training Corps]]
| battles      = [[World War I]]
}}

'''John Jackson Sparkman''' (December 20, 1899 – November 16, 1985) was an American jurist and politician from the state of [[Alabama]]. A [[Southern Democrat]], Sparkman served in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1937 to 1946 and the [[United States Senate]] from 1946 until 1979. He was the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]'s nominee for [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]] in the [[1952 United States presidential election|1952 presidential election]].

Born in [[Morgan County, Alabama]], Sparkman established a legal practice in [[Huntsville, Alabama]], after graduating from the [[University of Alabama School of Law]]. He won election to the House in 1936 and served as house majority whip in 1946. He left the House in 1946 after winning a special election to succeed Senator [[John H. Bankhead II]]. While in the Senate, he helped establish [[Marshall Space Flight Center]] and served as the chairman of several committees. Sparkman served as [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]]'s running mate in the 1952 presidential election, but they were defeated by the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] ticket of [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] and [[Richard Nixon]].

Known as a defender of [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregation]] during the [[Civil Rights era]], Sparkman voted regularly against civil rights legislation and condemned the "judicial usurpation" of the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] decision of ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', Sparkman signed the 1956 [[Southern Manifesto]], which pledged opposition to racial integration and promised to use "all lawful means" to fight the ruling that put court power behind the integration of public institutions. He became the longest-serving senator from Alabama in 1977, a record that was surpassed by [[Richard Shelby]] in 2019.<ref>{{cite news |last=Thornton |first=William |title=Richard Shelby now Alabama's longest-serving senator |url=https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2019/03/richard-shelby-now-alabamas-longest-serving-senator.html |access-date=8 February 2021 |agency=AL.com |date=3 March 2019}}</ref> Sparkman chose not to seek re-election in 1978 and retired from public office the following year.

==Early life and education==
Sparkman, a son of Whitten Joseph and Julia Mitchell (Kent) Sparkman, was born on a farm near [[Hartselle, Alabama|Hartselle]], in [[Morgan County, Alabama|Morgan County]], [[Alabama]].<ref name="McWillfams 1982">{{cite web |last1=McWilliams |first1=Tennant S. |last2=Lopez |first2=James A. |title=The Public Career of Senator John Sparkman |url=http://oh.mhsl.uab.edu/js/su.pdf |url-status=dead |publisher=[[University of Alabama at Birmingham]] |date=July 1982 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020165011/http://oh.mhsl.uab.edu/js/su.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-20}}</ref> He grew up in a four-room cabin with his eleven brothers and sisters. His father was a tenant farmer and doubled as the county's deputy sheriff. As a child, Sparkman worked on his father's farm picking cotton.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.archives.alabama.gov/famous/academy/j_spark.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629063441/http://www.archives.alabama.gov/famous/academy/j_spark.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 29, 2007 |title=JOHN SPARKMAN The following biographical sketch was compiled at the time of induction into the Academy in 1969 |publisher=Alabama Department of Archives and History |date=March 14, 2007}}</ref> He was raised [[Methodist]].<ref name="Samford University">{{cite web |url=http://www4.samford.edu/groups/amhf/inductees/Sparkman.html?height=500&width=500 |title=John Jackson Sparkman 1899-1985 |publisher=[[Samford University]] |date=April 21, 2013 |access-date=2013-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130215024732/http://www4.samford.edu/groups/amhf/inductees/Sparkman.html?height=500&width=500 |archive-date=2013-02-15 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

He attended a one-room elementary school in rural Morgan County, then walked {{convert|4|miles}} every day to his high school.<ref>{{cite web |title=FORMER SENATOR, VP CANDIDATE DEAD AT 86 |url=https://apnews.com/2b8d20befd58be25d473e1e7fb58bd83 |publisher=[[Associated Press]] |date=November 16, 1985}}</ref> Sparkman graduated from Morgan County High School in 1917 and enrolled in the [[University of Alabama]] at [[Tuscaloosa, Alabama|Tuscaloosa]].<ref name="EOA John J. Sparkman">{{cite encyclopedia |title=John J. Sparkman |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Alabama]] |url=https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/john-j-sparkman/ |access-date=2025-12-03 |last=Webb |first=Samuel L. |date=2025-01-24 |orig-date=Originally published 2008-01-24 |language=en-US |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250902110106if_/https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/john-j-sparkman/ |archive-date=2025-09-02}}</ref> During [[World War I]] he was a member of the Students Army Training Corps.<ref>{{cite news |title=Steady Rise Has Marked John Sparkman's Career |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=19520803&id=4BNNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6986,2427720 |work=[[Rome News-Tribune]] |date=August 3, 1954}}</ref> Sparkman worked shoveling coal in the university's boiler room to help pay for his education.<ref>{{cite book |title=Carry It On: The War on Poverty and the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama, 1964–1972 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SSdp-dtMM1sC&pg=PA24 |publisher=[[University of Georgia Press]] |year=2008 |isbn=9780820330518 |via=Google Books}}</ref> He worked on ''[[The Crimson White]]'' (the university's newspaper), becoming the paper's editor-in-chief, and served as his class's student-body president.<ref name="Gadsden Times 1966">{{cite web |title=Senator Sparkman Man Of The Hour |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1891&dat=19660410&id=27MfAAAAIBAJ&pg=4395,898086 |work=[[The Gadsden Times]] |date=April 10, 1966}}</ref> Sparkman was awarded a teaching fellowship in history and [[political science]],<ref>{{cite web |title=DEDICATION OF THE JOHN J. SPARKMAN CENTER FOR MISSILE EXCELLENCE |url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-1994-09-20/html/CREC-1994-09-20-pt1-PgS9.htm |publisher=[[United States Government Printing Office]] |date=September 20, 1994}}</ref> he became a founding member of the Gamma Alpha chapter of [[Pi Kappa Alpha]] in 1921, and was chosen as the university's "most outstanding senior" the same year.<ref name="Gadsden Times 1966" /> He received his [[Bachelor of Arts]] in 1921, and his [[Bachelor of Laws]] from the [[University of Alabama School of Law]] in 1923. In 1924, Sparkman earned his master's degree in history; his master thesis, on former [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] [[William C. Oates]]'s 1894 campaign for [[Governor of Alabama]], was titled "The Kolb-Oates Campaign of 1894".<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Lynda |title=Alabama history: an annotated bibliography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FkBQbq2Rv4AC&pg=PA203 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=1998 |isbn=9780313282232}}</ref>

==Legal career==
[[File:President Harry Truman, Adlai Stevenson, and John Sparkman2.gif|thumb|left|From left: President [[Harry S. Truman]], Senator Sparkman (1952 Vice Presidential nominee) and [[Adlai Stevenson II]] ([[Governor of Illinois|Governor]], 1952 Presidential nominee) in the [[Oval Office]]]]
Sparkman briefly worked as a high school teacher before he was [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admitted]] to the [[Alabama State Bar]] in 1925. He commenced his practice in [[Huntsville, Alabama|Huntsville]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.alabar.org/members/hallfame/2006/sparkman.cfm | title=John J. Sparkman (1899-1985) | publisher=[[Alabama State Bar]] | date=April 20, 2013 | access-date=May 10, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314170751/http://alabar.org/members/hallfame/2006/sparkman.cfm | archive-date=March 14, 2013 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all}}</ref> He was also an instructor at Huntsville College from 1925 to 1928.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v9MBIctdjjkC&pg=PA1951 | title =Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005 | editor =Andrew R. Dodge, [[Betty K. Koed]] | publisher=[[United States Government Printing Office]] | year =2005| isbn =9780160731761 }}</ref> He was appointed as a U.S. Commissioner ([[United States magistrate judge|magistrate judge]]) for Alabama's northern judicial district, serving from 1930 to 1931.<ref name="McWillfams 1982" />

Sparkman was involved in many civic organizations, including serving as the district governor of the [[Kiwanis Club]] of Huntsville in 1930,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.kiwanisofhuntsvilleal.org/past%20presidents.pdf | title=Past Presidents Kiwanis Club of Huntsville | publisher=[[Kiwanis Club]] of [[Huntsville, Alabama]] | date=April 21, 2013 | access-date=April 21, 2013 | archive-date=May 12, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512231233/http://www.kiwanisofhuntsvilleal.org/past%20presidents.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> and later as the president of the Huntsville [[Chamber of Commerce]].<ref name="Palm Beach Post 1952">{{cite web | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1964&dat=19520803&id=oMoqAAAAIBAJ&pg=1041,3870686 | title=From Log House To Senate Sparkman Story | work=[[The Palm Beach Post]] | agency=The Associated Press | date=August 3, 1952 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> A [[Freemasonry|Freemason]], he was life member of [[Helion Lodge#1]] in Huntsville.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.masonlar.org/masonlar_forum/index.php?topic=227.0;wap | title =Universal Masonry Famous Masons | publisher =masonlar.org}}</ref> He was also member of the Huntsville [[Scottish Rite]] bodies and a recipient of the Knight Commander Court of Honor (KCCH).

==Political career==
[[File:VonBraunBrewerSparkman.jpg|thumb|right|In 1970, [[Wernher von Braun]] (right) was honored for his career in [[Huntsville, Alabama]], with the celebration of Wernher von Braun Day. Among those participating were Sparkman (center) and [[Governor of Alabama|Alabama Governor]] [[Albert Brewer]] (left).]]

After Representative [[Archibald Hill Carmichael]] announced his retirement in 1936, Sparkman ran in the Democratic primary for the open seat. A teacher of the Big Brother Class at the First [[Methodist Church]] in Huntsville, his campaign was launched through fundraising, campaigning and advertising by students in his Sunday class.<ref name="Palm Beach Post 1952" /> Sparkman was elected to the [[United States House of Representatives]] in the [[United States House elections, 1936|1936 election]], defeating [[Union Party (United States)|Union Party]] candidate, architect Harry J. Frahn<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.archives.alabama.gov/aha/markers/colbert.html | title=THE ALABAMA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Historical Marker Program Colbert County | publisher=Alabama Department of Archives and History | date=September 13, 2012 | access-date=2013-04-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222172403/http://www.archives.alabama.gov/aha/markers/colbert.html | archive-date=2013-02-22 | url-status=dead}}</ref> with 99.7% of the vote.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1936election.pdf | title =STATISTICS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 3, 1936 | author =Leroy D. Brandon | publisher = [[Clerk of the United States House of Representatives]] | date =December 18, 1936}}</ref> He was reelected in [[United States House elections, 1938|1938]] and [[United States House elections, 1940|1940]]. During this time, [[World War II]] began in Europe. Sparkman took a pro-British foreign policy stance, advocating the United States should assist Great Britain in the war against the Nazis. In 1941, he voted in favor of the [[Lend-Lease]] Act of 1941 in order to provide military equipment and food to the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.voteview.com/rollcall/RH0770006|title = Voteview {{pipe}} Plot Vote: 77th Congress > House > 6}}</ref> Sparkman was  reelected in the elections of [[United States House elections, 1942|1942]] and [[United States House elections, 1944|1944]], serving in the [[75th United States Congress|75th]], [[76th United States Congress|76th]], [[77th United States Congress|77th]], [[78th United States Congress|78th]], and [[79th United States Congress|79th Congresses]].

As a Member of the House of Representatives, "[Sparkman] gained renown for his sponsorship of such programs as the farm-tenant purchase program, rehabilitation loans for small farmers, and lower interest rates for farm loans. He was a champion of the [[Tennessee Valley Authority|TVA]] and [[Rural Utilities Service#Rural Electrification Administration|REA]]."<ref>Biographical sketch on John Sparkman, ''Alabama Academy of Honor'', archived [https://web.archive.org/web/20200211155832/https://archives.alabama.gov/famous/academy/j_spark.html here].</ref>

In 1946, he served as [[Party whips of the United States House of Representatives|house majority whip]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://history.house.gov/People/Office/Democratic-Whips/ | title =Democratic Whips (1899 to present) | author =United States House of Representatives Office of the Historian | publisher =history.house.gov}}</ref> He was reelected in the [[United States House elections, 1946|1946 House election]] to the [[80th United States Congress|80th Congress]] and on the same date was [[United States Senate elections, 1946|elected to the United States Senate]] in a [[special election]] to fill the vacancy caused by the death of [[John H. Bankhead II]], for the term ending on January 3, 1949. Sparkman resigned from the House of Representatives immediately following the election and began his Senate term on November 6, 1946. He served until his retirement on January 3, 1979, having not sought reelection in [[United States Senate elections, 1978|1978]].

He was chairman of the Select Committee on Small Business ([[81st United States Congress|81st]], [[82nd United States Congress|82nd]], and [[84th United States Congress|84th]] through [[90th United States Congress|90th Congresses]]), co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Inaugural Arrangements ([[86th United States Congress|86th Congress]]), chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency ([[90th United States Congress|90th]] and [[91st United States Congress|91st Congresses]]), co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Defense Production (91st and [[90th United States Congress|93rd Congresses]]), [[United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs|Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs]] ([[92nd United States Congress|92nd]] and 93rd Congresses), and a member of the [[Committee on Foreign Relations]] ([[94th United States Congress|94th]] and [[95th United States Congress|95th Congress]]).

The 1943 ''Sparkman Act'', which allowed female physicians to be commissioned as officers in the armed forces, was named after him.

In 1949, Sparkman was instrumental in convincing the [[United States Department of the Army]] to transfer the missile development activities from [[Fort Bliss, Texas]], to [[Redstone Arsenal]]. This brought [[Wernher von Braun]] and the German [[Operation Paperclip]] scientists and engineers to Huntsville, forming the foundation to what eventually became the [[NASA]] [[Marshall Space Flight Center]]. Von Braun selected Huntsville to relocate his fellow German engineers because it reminded him of Germany.

Sparkman was a representative of the United States at the Fifth [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly]] of the [[United Nations]] in 1950.<ref name="Samford University" />

In January 1951, Sparkman stated that he believed the [[Truman administration]] housing defense program could increase inflationary pressures, a view that aligned with Republican senators [[Irving Ives]] and [[Andrew Frank Schoeppel]], but furthered that the plan was essential and should be undertaken regardless of inflation concerns.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ie8Y0QrpMWAC&dat=19510117&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title="Inflationary" Housing Plans Are Hit By GOP|date=January 17, 1951|publisher=Times Daily}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20136/volume-136-I-1832-English.pdf|title=Treaty of Peace with Japan}}</ref> On September 8, 1951, he was the fourth signatory to the [https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20136/volume-136-I-1832-English.pdf Treaty of Peace with Japan (with two declarations)].

In 1952, he was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president, running on the ticket of [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]]. However, the election was won by the Republican candidate, [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]. Sparkman ran against [[Richard M. Nixon]], the junior senator from [[California]].

After the election, Sparkman in an interview expressed approval that American small businessmen were giving large firms competition for foreign aid contracts. "The large firms once dominated this field. Now we are insisting that the small business get a fair share of these contracts and it has had a good effect. The increasing competition has cut costs in the entire American foreign aid program."<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ie8Y0QrpMWAC&dat=19521204&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Sen. Sparkman Says Small Business Is Giving Competition (December 4, 1952)]</ref>

In January 1955, the University of Alabama News Bureau released remarks of Sparkman he had made during an interview following the 1954 midterm elections. Sparkman predicted a larger number of Democrats would cooperate with the Eisenhower administration, furthering that their tendency to criticize the Republicans rather than the president directly was ending, and Republicans, by contrast, would be more likely to oppose the president's foreign policy. Sparkman advocated for studying of the administration's defense program to confirm that the reduction in numbers would not be concurrent with a decrease in strength.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Z610oKUqOA4C&dat=19550109&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Sparkman Says Demos To Cooperate With Ike (January 9, 1955)]</ref>

On January 21, 1955, Sparkman introduced a bill authorizing $50 million in appropriation each quarter of the year for [[G.I.]]s to see a reduction dependent on the sales of home mortgages to private lenders of properties owned by the [[Veterans Administration]]. In a statement, Sparkman argued that the past few years had seen a home loan program which had come up short in meeting the needs of GI applications and the government was making a profit from the loans to GI's.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Z610oKUqOA4C&dat=19550122&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |title=GI Loan Bill Sponsored by Sen. Sparkman |date=January 22, 1955 |publisher=Gadsden Times}}</ref>

On February 2, 1955, during an interview, Sparkman said the US would have to weigh giving Nationalist islands to Red China if the United Nations succeeded in imposing a cease-fire in [[Formosa]]. He said the Eisenhower administration had a foggy attitude towards defending the islands.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Z610oKUqOA4C&dat=19550202&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Sparkman Says Loss of Islands Possible (February 2, 1955)]</ref>

In February 1955, Sparkman criticized the farming policies of the Eisenhower administration, charging them with having hurt the financial situations of American farmers the most since before the beginning of [[World War II]] and that the plight of farmers would continue so long as legislation affecting controls on crop acreage and the flexible price support system was enacted.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Z610oKUqOA4C&dat=19550216&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Sparkman Raps Farm Policies of Republicans (February 16, 1955)]</ref>

Sparkman delivered a speech at the Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner in [[Rome, Georgia]] on February 21, 1955, assailing Republican economic promises as a hoax and asserting the Eisenhower administration was operating on a theory of reactionary [[trickle-down economics]]. He said the school and road programs of the Eisenhower administration were intended to deliver larger funds to investment bankers rather than children or those using highways, predicting that the enactment of Eisenhower's school program would not see a single classroom built in either Georgia or Alabama.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Z610oKUqOA4C&dat=19550222&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Sparkman Rips At Republicans At Demo Dinner (February 22, 1955)]</ref>

On February 25, 1955, Sparkman predicted the Senate would approve the authorization of one and a half billion dollars of government insurance to be granted for housing mortgages, saying that if the bill was not enacted, "our housing program will come to a stop."<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Z610oKUqOA4C&dat=19550225&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Sparkman Predicts More Housing Aid (February 25, 1955)]</ref>

In 1956, Sparkman was one of 82 representatives and 19 senators who signed the [[Southern Manifesto]] opposing the 1954 [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] decision ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' and [[racial integration]]. In 1956, the Democrats did not renominate Sparkman as Stevenson's vice presidential running mate, opting instead for U.S. Senator [[Estes Kefauver]] of neighboring [[Tennessee]], partly because he had refused to sign.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120712014143/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nBUiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BoAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6168,1607667&dq=ruptured+aortic+aneurysm+kefauver&hl=en "Crime Fighting Senator Kefauver Dies Unexpectedly"] The Associated Press, as reported in the ''[[Reading Eagle]]'', Reading, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1963. Accessed July 18, 2012.</ref> In 1957, Sparkman voted against HR 6127, the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]].<ref>[http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/s75 Vote Tally. Civil Rights Act of 1957] GovTrack.</ref>

On June 30, 1961, President [[John F. Kennedy]] signed the Housing Act of 1961; Kennedy thanked Sparkman for spearheading "this bill through the Senate".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=8216|title=264 - Remarks Upon Signing the Housing Act.|date=June 30, 1961 |publisher=American Presidency Project}}</ref> During the September 4, 1964 signing of the Housing Act of 1964 by President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], the latter expressed his "very special congratulations this morning to both Senator Sparkman and Congressman Rains of Alabama."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=26475|title=549 - Remarks Upon Signing the Housing Act.|date=September 2, 1964|first=Lyndon B.|last=Johnson|publisher=American Presidency Project}}</ref>

In August 1961, the [[Kennedy administration]] reaffirmed its lack of interest in compromising on its five-year foreign aid program, Sparkman arguing that the administration faced the possibility of having to settle for a reduction in the program by two years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=wZJMF1LD7PcC&dat=19610802&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=JFK Stands Pat on 5-Year Aid Program|publisher=The Milwaukee Sentinel|date=August 2, 1961}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

On June 19, 1964, Sparkman and 20 other Southern Democrats, and one lone Southern Republican voted against the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]].<ref>[https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/88-1964/s409 "HR. 7152. PASSAGE."] ''GovTrack'', n.d. Retrieved 20 Aug. 2020.</ref>

On July 9, 1964, President Johnson signed the [[Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964]] into law, observing Sparkman was one of the members of Congress who helped in securing the legislation's passage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=26369|title=453 - Remarks Upon Signing the Urban Mass Transportation Act.|date=July 9, 1964|publisher=American Presidency Project}}</ref>

From 1967 to 1975, Sparkman was the chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency where he worked on helping small farmers.

After this, [[J. William Fulbright]], the longest serving chairman as of 2023 from 1959 to 1974, lost the Democratic primary contest in Arkansas in the [[1974 United States Senate election in Arkansas]], who Sparkman succeeded to become the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee from 1975 to 1979. On the Foreign Relations Committee, the committee lost much of its influence due to a perceived lack of leadership and his ideological position that the president should mainly pursue foreign policy, not Congress. This statement was reinforced by a response to an interviewee's question shortly after becoming chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, where he said that they don't "make foreign policy, except insofar as the executive will take our advice and consent."<ref>{{Cite news |date=1985-11-17 |title=JOHN SPARKMAN, 85, EX-SENATOR, DIES |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/17/us/john-sparkman-85-ex-senator-dies.html |access-date=2023-02-28 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

On January 20, 1978, at the age of 78, Sparkman announced that—for reasons he did not specify—he would not seek reelection as Alabama senator, but noted that he had served as Alabama senator for longer than anybody in history up to that point.<ref>{{cite news |date=1978-01-21 |title=Around the Nation |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/01/21/archives/around-the-nation-sparkman-78-wont-seek-reelection-to-senate-465.html |access-date=2023-02-28 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Later elections===
In 1960, Sparkman defeated the Republican Julian E. Elgin of [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], who received 164,868 votes (29.8 percent) in the Senate contest. Six years later, Elgin ran again against Sparkman as an [[Independent (politics)|Independent]] but polled few votes. In 1966, Sparkman defeated another Republican, [[John Grenier]], the former state GOP chairman and an attorney from [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]], who polled 39 percent of the vote.

Initially, Grenier had planned to run for governor in 1966, and [[James D. Martin]] was poised to oppose Sparkman, as Martin had four years earlier against Sparkman's colleague, [[J. Lister Hill]]. However, ''[[The New York Times]]'' predicted toppling the "tight one-party oligarchy" would be a herculean task. Though Sparkman trailed in some polls, ''The Times'' speculated that he would rebound because Alabamians were accustomed to voting straight Democratic [[ticket (politics)|ticket]]s.<ref>''[[The New York Times]]'', October 2, 1965, p. 1; October 14, 1965, p. 40</ref>

In his last Senate race in 1972, Sparkman easily defeated President Nixon's former [[United States Postmaster General|postmaster general]], the Republican businessman [[Winton M. Blount]] of Montgomery, originally from [[Union Springs, Alabama|Union Springs]]. Blount, running without a specific endorsement from President Nixon, first had to dispatch intraparty Republican rivals Martin and Alabama State Representative Bert Nettles.<ref>Billy Hathorn, "[http://archive.tuskegee.edu/gchr/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gchr-09-02-1994.pdf A Dozen Years in the Political Wilderness: The Alabama Republican Party, 1966–1978]", ''Gulf Coast Historical Review'', Vol. 9, No. 2 (Spring 1994), pp. 33–34</ref>

On October 30, 1977, Sparkman became the longest-serving senator in the [[history of Alabama]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.senate.gov/states/AL/timeline.htm | title =STATES IN THE SENATE Alabama | publisher =senate.gov | date =April 21, 2013}}</ref> This record was later surpassed by [[Richard Shelby]] in 2019.

==Death==
On November 16, 1985, Sparkman died of a [[heart attack]] at Big Springs Manor Nursing Home in [[Huntsville, Alabama|Huntsville]], Alabama, a month before his 86th birthday.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19851118&id=HgE1AAAAIBAJ&pg=4592,1088586 | title =John Sparkman, former senator | work=[[Bangor Daily News]] | agency=[[Associated Press]] | date =November 18, 1985}}</ref> Survived by his wife and daughter, he was interred in Huntsville at the historic [[Maple Hill Cemetery (Huntsville, Alabama)|Maple Hill Cemetery]].

Sparkman High School in [[Harvest, Alabama|Harvest]], Alabama, Sparkman Park in Hartselle, Alabama, Sparkman School in [[Somerville, Alabama|Somerville]], Alabama, [[Bob Wallace Avenue/Sparkman Drive|Sparkman Drive]] in [[Huntsville, Alabama|Huntsville]] are all named in his honor.

==Electoral history==
'''1972 Alabama United States Senatorial Election'''
{|
|'''John Sparkman (D) (inc.) 62.3%'''
|-
|[[Winton M. Blount]] (R) 33.1%
|}

'''1966 Alabama United States Senatorial Election'''
{|
|'''John Sparkman (D) (inc.) 60.1%'''
|-
|[[John Grenier]] (R) 39%
|}

'''1960 Alabama United States Senatorial Election'''
{|
|'''John Sparkman (D) (inc.) 70.2%'''
|-
|Julian Elgin (R) 29.8%
|}

'''1954 Alabama United States Senatorial Election'''
{|
|'''John Sparkman (D) (inc.) 82.5%'''
|-
|[[Junius Foy Guin Jr.|J. Foy Guin Jr.]] (R) 17.5%
|}

'''1952 United States Presidential Election (Vice President's seat)'''
{|
|[[Richard Nixon]] (R) 55.2%
|-
|'''John Sparkman (D) 44.3%'''
|-
|[[Charlotta Bass]] (Progressive) 0.2%
|-
|[[Enoch Holtwick]] (Prohibition) 0.1%
|}

'''1948 Alabama United States Senatorial Election'''
{|
|'''John Sparkman (D) (inc.) 84%'''
|-
|John G. Parsons (R) 16%
|}

'''1946 Alabama United States Senatorial Special Election'''

'''John Sparkman (D) Unopposed'''

== References ==
{{Reflist|1=30em}}

==Writings by Sparkman==
* Sparkman, John. "Checks and balances in American foreign policy." Ind. LJ 52 (1976): 433. [http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3239&context=ilj online]
* Sparkman, John. "The Problems of Multi-State Taxation of Interstate Commerce Income." American Bar Association Journal (1960): 375–378.
* Sparkman, John. "Multinational Corporation and Foreign Investment, The." Mercer L. Rev. 27 (1975): 381.

==External links==
{{Commons category|John Sparkman}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{CongBio|S000701|ref=none}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051113141818/http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/sparkman/sparkbio.htm John Sparkman and the History Of Redstone Arsenal]
* {{cite web|url=http://www.archives.alabama.gov/famous/academy/j_spark.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629063441/http://www.archives.alabama.gov/famous/academy/j_spark.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 29, 2007|title=John Sparkman |website=Alabama Academy of Honor|access-date=31 Oct 2014}}
*{{Find a Grave|7145162}}
* {{Internet Archive film clip|id=gov.archives.arc.95937|description="Longines Chronoscope with John J. Sparkman"}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparkman, John Jackson}}
[[Category:1899 births]]
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[[Category:Methodists from Alabama]]
[[Category:Democratic Party (United States) vice presidential nominees]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Alabama]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Alabama]]
[[Category:People from Hartselle, Alabama]]
[[Category:Politicians from Huntsville, Alabama]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Alabama]]
[[Category:1952 United States vice-presidential candidates]]
[[Category:University of Alabama School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Huntsville, Alabama]]
[[Category:Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations]]
[[Category:Signatories of the Southern Manifesto]]
[[Category:20th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:20th-century United States representatives]]