Samuel M. Shortridge
Samuel M. Shortridge | |
|---|---|
 Portrait c. 1921–1933 | |
| United States Senator from California | |
| In office March 4, 1921 – March 3, 1933 | |
| Preceded by | James D. Phelan |
| Succeeded by | William G. McAdoo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 3, 1861 |
| Died | January 15, 1952 (aged 90) |
| Resting place | Oak Hill Memorial Park, San Jose, California, US[1] |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Laura Leigh Gashwiler
(m. 1889) |
| Children |
|
| Relatives | Clara S. Foltz (sister) Charles M. Shortridge (brother) |
Samuel Morgan Shortridge (August 3, 1861 – January 15, 1952) was a Republican Senator from California.
Early years
[edit]Shortridge was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa and moved to California as a child with his family, who settled in San Jose in 1875. He attended school until 1879 and became a teacher in Napa County for four years after. He came to San Francisco in 1883 to practice law.[2]
Career
[edit]
Shortridge came to prominence as a Republican orator and leading member of the Bar Association of San Francisco.[2] He acted as Abe Ruef's attorney during the San Francisco graft trials.[3]
Shortridge was a presidential elector in 1888, 1900, and 1908.[4] He lost the 1914 U.S. Senate Republican primary to veteran congressman Joseph R. Knowland, who was defeated in the general election by James D. Phelan. Shortridge was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1920, riding Warren G. Harding's post World War I "Return to Normalcy" campaign. Defeating Phelan and strong candidates from the Prohibition Party and Socialist Party of America, Shortridge won the general election with 49% of the vote. He was reelected in 1926 with 63% of the vote over Democrat John B. Elliott. He served two full terms before being defeated in a primary in 1932.
Shortridge became a prominent voice for racist anti-Japanese forces in California, declaring that a child of Japanese immigrants would regard "himself or herself as a native of Japan. His heart, his affections go out to the native land of the parent.".[5] Shortridge's claims in 1924 were remarkably similar to some of the justifications made for Japanese internment during World War II.[6] Even some senators who wanted to favor northern and western European immigrants found Shortridge's anti-Japanese position unnecessary.[7]
Shortridge served as a special attorney for the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. from 1939 to 1943.
Family
[edit]His sister, Clara S. Foltz, became the first female lawyer in California in 1878, and the first female deputy district attorney in the U.S. in 1910. She helped him campaign for the Senate.
His brother Charles M. Shortridge (1858–1918) was the owner of the San Jose newspaper The Daily Mercury and purchased The San Francisco Call in 1895.[8][9]
He was a member of the Bohemian Club. (Varied Types by Edward F. O'Day)
Death
[edit]He died in Atherton, California.
References
[edit]- ^ Joint Committee On Printing, US Congress (1961). Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1961. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. p. 1597 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b "A Man of the People". The Wasp. XXXVI (25). San Francisco: 41. 25 December 1896. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
- ^ Bean, Walton (1952). Boss Ruef's San Francisco. University of California Press. p. 178.
- ^ The National Cyclopædia of American Biography. Vol. B. New York, N.Y.: James T. White & Company. 1927. p. 193 – via HathiTrust.
- ^ 65Cong.Rec.5806 1924
- ^ Compare, for example, statements quoted in Ronald Takaki, Strangers from a Different Shore, updated and revised edition (Boston: Little, Brown, 1998), pp. 387–8.
- ^ See, for example, comments by a Senate immigration restriction leader, David Reed (R-PA), in 65Cong.Rec.5808–5810 1924
- ^ "San Francisco Call — Browse by title — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
- ^ "1 Jul 1918, Page 7 - Oakland Tribune at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
External links
[edit]
- Works by or about Samuel M. Shortridge at the Internet Archive
- United States Congress. "Samuel M. Shortridge (id: S000380)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- JoinCalifornia - Samuel M. Shortridge
| Class 1 |  | |
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| Class 3 |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other |
- 1861 births
- 1952 deaths
- California Republicans
- Politicians from San Francisco
- Republican Party United States senators from California
- Lawyers from San Francisco
- Burials at Oak Hill Memorial Park
- 1888 United States presidential electors
- 1900 United States presidential electors
- 1908 United States presidential electors
- 20th-century United States senators