RightDataUSA


John Sparkman

[Congressional biography]

Born: December 20, 1899 near Hartselle, AL
Died: November 16, 1985 in Huntsville, AL

Education:

  • University of Alabama, 1921, Law School, 1923

Military Service:

  • Students' Army Training Corps, World War I

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Instructor at Huntsville College, 1925-1928

Elected Office:

  • Candidate for U.S. Vice-President, 1952


Election Results for John Sparkman


Click on the Year to see the results of that election.

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1936 36 AL D U.S. House District 08 Primary 2 9,348 28.9%
1936 36 AL D U.S. House District 08 Primary Runoff 1 17,531 51.3%
1936 36 AL D U.S. House District 08 General 1 27,788 99.7%
1938 38 AL D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 25,925 100.0%
1938 38 AL D U.S. House District 08 General 1 10,266 100.0%
1940 40 AL D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 25,801 100.0%
1940 40 AL D U.S. House District 08 General 1 29,020 100.0%
1942 42 AL D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 23,393 100.0%
1942 42 AL D U.S. House District 08 General 1 5,954 100.0%
1944 44 AL D U.S. House District 08 Primary 1 17,816 100.0%
1944 44 AL D U.S. House District 08 General 1 24,023 100.0%
1946 46 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 Special Primary 1 85,049 50.1%
1946 46 AL D U.S. House District 08 General 1 17,624 92.4%
1946 46 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 Special 1 163,217 100.0%
1948 48 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 235,464 75.7%
1948 48 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 185,534 84.0%
1954 54 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 323,877 58.3%
1954 54 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 259,348 82.5%
1960 60 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 335,722 83.1%
1960 60 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 389,196 70.2%
1966 66 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 378,295 57.0%
1966 66 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 482,138 60.1%
1972 72 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 331,818 50.3%
1972 72 AL D U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 654,491 62.3%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this election.



Ideology Data for John Sparkman


Click on the number in the 'Conserv.' column to see all of the key votes for that year.

YearAgeBodyConservative
Coalition		Party UnityPresidential
Support		Vote %LiberalConserv.
P
1937 37 House 86 14 D 100
1938 38 House 81 5 D 90
1939 39 House 86 12 D 97
1940 40 House 78 13 D 88
1941 41 House 83 4 D 88
1942 42 House 85 10 D 92
1943 43 House 81 8 D 86
1944 44 House 63 23 D 82
1945 45 House 96 0 D 93
1946 46 House 61 5 D 49
1947 47 Senate 92 2 D 91 90
1948 48 Senate 80 7 D 85 100
1949 49 Senate 96 3 D 98 69
1950 50 Senate 87 3 D 82 69
1951 51 Senate 78 0 D 74 100
1952 52 Senate 86 4 D 87 100
1953 53 Senate 92 6 R 54 93 77
1954 54 Senate 77 2 R 25 31 58 89
1955 55 Senate 92 8 R 67 25 95 80
1956 56 Senate 86 6 R 42 52 88 77
1957 57 Senate 71 8 R 53 26 80 58
1958 58 Senate 89 9 R 46 50 98 67
1959 59 Senate 37 57 77 13 R 36 51 89 54
1960 60 Senate 52 24 55 17 R 35 37 67 20
1961 61 Senate 37 58 88 7 D 75 19 95 80 15
1962 62 Senate 59 38 80 8 D 72 18 90 36 47
1963 63 Senate 39 39 68 11 D 76 11 85 60 43
1964 64 Senate 73 18 54 37 D 66 28 95 12 57
1965 65 Senate 54 11 41 26 D 49 21 69 27 69
1966 66 Senate 47 10 29 31 D 43 20 63 18 42
1967 67 Senate 50 23 50 28 D 67 16 78 10 62
1968 68 Senate 74 19 56 33 D 49 41 89 0 42
1969 69 Senate 71 12 31 46 R 49 22 73 13 43
1970 70 Senate 64 6 25 41 R 54 21 73 16 80
1971 71 Senate 75 7 39 41 R 52 18 83 19 69
1972 72 Senate 64 5 15 50 R 70 11 62 0 100
1973 73 Senate 76 11 35 48 R 55 31 82 12 70
1974 74 Senate 58 16 32 46 R 43 24 77 25 57
1975 75 Senate 66 8 41 41 R 48 26 86 6* 52
1976 76 Senate 82 15 39 57 R 60 32 96 26 70
1977 77 Senate 61 19 43 38 D 70 17 84 42 36
1978 78 Senate 33 51 71 14 D 68 10 81 53 14
Lifetime conservative rating:   52%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this row.


Conservative Coalition: According to the publication "Congressional Quarterly" (CQ), this is an alliance of Republicans and Southern Democrats (from back when Southern Democrats tended to be conservative or at least moderate) against Northern Democrats in Congress.

This concept had significant meaning perhaps through the 1980's. These statistics stopped being computed after 2000 because conservative Democrats no longer existed except in very rare cases. The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the coalition; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the coalition. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Party Unity: According to CQ, a Party Unity vote in Congress is one in which the parties were split, with a majority of Democrats opposing a majority of Republicans.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with his party; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the party. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Presidential Support: These are votes for which the President has stated his position, either in via a message to Congress, by press conference remarks or other public statements and documents.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the President; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the President. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast. The "P" column indicates the party of the President in each year.


Vote %: The percentage of roll-call votes in which this Representaive or Senator participated by voting "Yes" or "No" (as opposed to "Present" or not voting at all.)


Liberal Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the ultra-liberal advocacy organization called "Americans for Democratic Action" (ADA). They have been rating members of Congress since 1947. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the liberal position on a key issue. The methodology behind the calculation can be found here. Ratings followed by an asterisk were calculated the "ADA way" due to missing data regarding key votes in the ADA source material.


Conservative Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the conservative advocacy organization called the "American Conservative Union" (ACU). They have been rating members of Congress since 1971. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the conservative position on a key issue.

The liberal and conservative ratings are not expected to add to 100% because the two groups use different sets of key votes to determine their ratings. Conservative ratings from 1961 through 1970 (and for 2024) were calculated based on key votes as selected by the creators of this website.