John (Jackson) Sparkman

US representative and senator, born in Hartselle, Alabama, USA. A farmer's son and a lawyer, he represented Alabama in Congress (Democrat, 1937–46) before being elected to the Senate (1946–79). A Southern conservative in the matter of civil-rights issues, he was moderate enough to be the Democrat candidate for vice-president (1952), and he chaired the Foreign Relations Committee (1975–9).

Sparkman was chairman of the Select Committee on Small Business (Eighty-first, Eighty-second, and Eighty-fourth through Ninetieth Congresses), co-chairman, Joint Committee on Inaugural Arrangements (Eighty-sixth Congress), chairman, Committee on Banking and Currency (Ninetieth and Ninety-first Congresses), co-chairman, Joint Committee on Defense Production (Ninety-first and Ninety-third Congresses), Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (Ninety-second and Ninety-third Congresses), and a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations (Ninety-fourth and Ninety-fifth Congresses).

Also Senator Sparkman founded the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at the University of Alabama

This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Preceded by: George R. Swift	U.S. Senator from Alabama 1946 – 1979	Succeeded by: Howell T. Barkley	Democratic Party Vice Presidential candidate 1952 (lost)	Succeeded by: Estes Kefauver
Preceded by: J. William Fulbright	Chair of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 1975–1979	Succeeded by: Frank Church

United States Democratic Party Vice Presidential Nominees

Calhoun • Van Buren • R Johnson • Dallas • Butler • King • Breckinridge • H Johnson/Lane(SD), Pendleton • Blair • Brown • Hendricks • English • Hendricks • Thurman • Stevenson • Sewall • Stevenson • Davis • Kern • Marshall • Roosevelt • Bryan • Robinson • Garner • Wallace • Truman • Barkley • Sparkman • Kefauver • L Johnson • Humphrey • Muskie • Eagleton/Shriver • Mondale • Ferraro • Bentsen • Gore • Lieberman • Edwards

Majority Whips of the United States House of Representatives
Tawney • Watson • Dwight • Bell • Knutson • Vestal • McDuffie • Greenwood • Boland • Ramspeck • Sparkman • Arends • Priest • Arends • Albert • Boggs • O'Neill • McFall • Brademas • Foley • Coelho • Gray • Bonior • DeLay • Blunt • Clyburn