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{{short description|American judge}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Frank S. Tavenner Jr.
| image = 
| alt =
| caption =
| office = [[United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia]]
| term_start = 1940
| term_end = 1948
| president = {{ubl|[[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]|[[Harry S. Truman]]}}
| predecessor = Joseph H. Chitwood
| successor = [[Howard C. Gilmer Jr.]]
| birth_name = Frank Stacy Tavenner Jr.
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1895|7|12}}
| birth_place = [[Woodstock, Virginia]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1964|10|21|1895|7|12}}
| death_place = Woodstock, Virginia, U.S.
| other_names =
| father = [[Frank S. Tavenner]]
| education = {{ubl|[[Roanoke College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|AB]])|[[Princeton University]] ([[Master of Arts|AM]])|[[University of Virginia]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])}}
| occupation = Lawyer
| known_for = Counsel for the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]]
| notable_works =
| branch = [[United States Army]]
| battles = [[World War I]]
}}

'''Frank Stacy Tavenner Jr.''' (July 12, 1895 – October 21, 1964) was an American lawyer who was [[United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia]], along with other high-profile government legal positions, particularly as chief counsel to the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC).<ref name=NYTobit>
{{cite news
| title = F.S. Tavenner Jr. House Panel Aide
| work = New York Times
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/22/f-s-tavenher-jr-house-panel-aide.html?mcubz=1
| date = 22 October 1964
| accessdate = 15 September 2017}}</ref><ref name=UVAlaw>
{{cite web
| title = Mr. Frank Stacy Tavenner Jr.
| publisher = University of Virginia Law: The Tokyo War Crimes Trial
| url = http://imtfe.law.virginia.edu/contributors/frank-stacy-tavenner
| date = 22 October 1964
| accessdate = 15 September 2017}}</ref>

==Background==
Frank Stacy Tavenner Jr. was born in [[Woodstock, Virginia]] on July 12, 1895. His father, [[Frank S. Tavenner|F. S. Tavenner Sr.]], was a lawyer, member of the [[Senate of Virginia]], and judge. The elder Tavenner held the same Senate seat later occupied by [[Harry Byrd Sr.]] and [[Harry Byrd Jr.]] He earned an A.B. degree at [[Roanoke College]] in 1916. He served in World War I as an Army lieutenant. He received an A.M. at [[Princeton University]] in 1917 and an LL.B at the [[University of Virginia Law School]] in 1927.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=UVAlaw />

==Career==

Shortly after graduating, Tavenner began to practice law in his home town.

In 1931, he became Assistant U.S. Attorney in Roanoke, Virginia. In 1933, Tavenner was appointed assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of Virginia. In 1938, he along with [[A.C. Buchanan]] were the choices of Virginia Senators [[Carter Glass]] and [[Harry Byrd Sr.]] to a vacancy on the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia]], to which [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] named instead [[Floyd H. Roberts]]. In 1940, Tavenner became [[United States attorney|U.S. attorney]] for the Western District of Virginia, nominated by Roosevelt.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=UVAlaw />

Following World War II, he was assigned by the Department of the Army to be Counsel under [[Joseph B. Keenan]] and later Acting Chief of Counsel of the International Prosecution Section for the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East]] from late 1945 to the end of the trial in 1948.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=UVAlaw />

From May 1949 until the mid-1950s, Tavenner served as Chief Counsel for the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]], where he replaced [[Robert E. Stripling]]. During this period, HUAC conducted more than 100 hearings that resulted in 35 volumes and 11 reports. Among its documents was a first-ever "Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications."<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=UVAlaw />

==Death==

Tavenner died of a heart attack, aged 69, on October 21, 1964, in Woodstock, Virginia, and was buried in the Massanutten Cemetery in Woodstock.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=UVAlaw />

==Legacy==

Dartmouth College law professor Robert K. Carr wrote of Tavenner that in him HUAC had "obtained perhaps the best qualified and most dispassionate assistant it ever had."<ref name=NYTobit />

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://lib.law.virginia.edu/imtfe/ INVENTORY OF THE PERSONAL PAPERS AND OFFICIAL RECORDS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL FOR THE FAR EAST, created and collected by Frank S. Tavenner] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304024212/http://lib.law.virginia.edu/imtfe/ |date=2016-03-04 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tavenner, Frank S.}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1964 deaths]]
[[Category:Virginia lawyers]]
[[Category:University of Virginia School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:Roanoke College alumni]]
[[Category:People from Woodstock, Virginia]]
[[Category:United States attorneys for the Western District of Virginia]]
[[Category:20th-century American judges]]
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:Members of the House Un-American Activities Committee]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War I]]

Frank S. Tavenner Jr. - Revision history

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