COOPER, John Sherman (1901-1991)

Republican of Kentucky

0th congressional district

Served in Senate 1947-1949 , 1953-1955 , 1957-1972

View all members

Biography

a Senator from Kentucky; born in Somerset, Pulaski County, Ky., August 23, 1901; attended the public schools at Somerset and Centre College, Danville, Ky.; graduated from Yale College 1923; attended Harvard Law School 1923-1925; admitted to the bar in 1928 and commenced practice in Somerset, Ky.; member, Kentucky house of representatives 1928-1930; judge of Pulaski County, Ky., 1930-1938; member of the board of trustees of the University of Kentucky 1935-1946; served during the Second World War in the United States Army 1942-1946, attaining the rank of captain; elected circuit judge of the twenty-eighth judicial district of Kentucky in 1945 and served until his resignation in November 1946; elected on November 5, 1946, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Albert B. Chandler and served from November 6, 1946, to January 3, 1949; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1948; resumed the practice of law; delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1949 and alternate delegate in 1950 and 1951; served as adviser to the Secretary of State at the London and Brussels meetings of the Council of Ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1950; elected on November 4, 1952, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Virgil M. Chapman and served from November 5, 1952, to January 3, 1955; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1954; Ambassador to India and Nepal 1955-1956; delegate, United Nations General Assembly 1968; elected on November 6, 1956, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Alben W. Barkley; reelected in 1960, and again in 1966, and served from November 7, 1956, to January 3, 1973; was not a candidate for reelection in 1972; Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic 1974-1976; resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C., and was a resident of Somerset, Ky., and Washington, D.C., until his death in Washington, D.C., February 21, 1991; interment in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.
Courtesy of Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Selected Votes