text: Miles Poindexter
  
  Miles Poindexter (April 22, 1868September 21, 1946) was an American politician and author. As a Republican and later a Progressive, he served as a United States Representative and United States Senator from the state of Washington.  Poindexter also served as United States Ambassador to Peru during the presidential administrations of Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.
  
  A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Poindexter was raised in Virginia, received a law degree from Washington and Lee University in 1891 and moved to Walla Walla, Washington, where he practiced law and entered politics as a Republican.  He served as prosecuting attorney in Walla Walla, and then moved to Spokane, where he was assistant prosecuting attorney and a superior court judge.
  
  In 1908, Poindexter was elected to the U.S. House.  He served one term (1909-1911), and was reelected in 1910.  He resigned before his new term began in March 1911 because the state legislature elected him to the U.S. Senate.  He was reelected in 1916, and served from 1911 to 1923.  Poindexter became a Progressive Party member in 1913, but returned to the Republicans in 1915.  Poindexter was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 1920, and for reelection to the Senate in 1922.  In 1923, Poindexter was appointed Ambassador to Peru.  He served until 1928, when he returned to Washington and waged an unsuccessful campaign for the Senate.
  
  After losing the 1928 election, Poindexter moved to Natural Bridge Station, Virginia.  He died there in 1946, and was buried at Fairmount Memorial Park in Spokane.
  
  Early life
  Poindexter was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Josephine (Anderson) Poindexter and William B. Poindexter.  His parents were residents of Malvern Hill in Henrico County, Virginia, and his father was an American Civil War veteran of the Confederate States Army.  Poindexter was raised in Virginia, and attended the Fancy Hill Academy in Rockbridge County, Virginia.  He then attended Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, from which he graduated with an LL.B. degree in 1891.
  
  Legal career
  After he graduated, he settled in Walla Walla, Washington, where he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law.  In 1892 he became the prosecuting attorney of Walla Walla County.  He moved to Spokane, Washington in 1897 where he continued the practice of law.  He served as the assistant prosecuting attorney for Spokane County from 1898 to 1904, and as a judge of the superior court from 1904 to 1908.
  
  Political life
  He was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-first Congress, and served from March 4, 1909 to March 3, 1911 representing Washington's newly created 3rd congressional district.  He was reelected in 1910, but resigned in 1911 because the Washington State Legislature elected him to the U.S. Senate.  He was reelected in 1916, and served from March 4, 1911 to March 3, 1923. Poindexter left the Republican Party in 1913 to join the Progressive Party, rejoining the Republicans in 1915.  During World War I, Poindexter transited away from progressive causes and led several efforts to exclude German-Americans from leadership positions including falsely accusing Colonel Carl Reichmann, a distinguished Army officer, and then preventing him through legislative means, from being promoted to general.  Reichmann's promotion was supported by General John J. Pershing as well as General Hugh Lennox Scott. Reichmann, in spite of Secretary of War Newton Baker's efforts, was unable to overcome Poindexter.  Additionally, during the First Red Scare, Poindexter alleged the Wilson administration was infested with Bolshevism.  He also accused Justice Louis Brandeis of being a communist.   He was unsuccessful in his candidacy for reelection in 1922.
  
  Committee chairmanships
  During his Senate tenure, Poindexter served as chairman of the following committees:
  
   United States Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Interior Department (Sixty-second Congress)
   United States Senate Committee on Mines and Mining (Sixty-second Congress, Sixty-sixth Congress and Sixty-seventh Congress)
   United States Senate Committee on Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico (Sixty-second Congress)
   United States Senate Committee on Expenditures in the War Department (Sixty-third Congress and Sixty-fourth Congress)
   United States Senate Committee on Indian Depredations (Sixty-fifth Congress)
  
  Later life
  Poindexter ran in the 1920 Republican Party presidential primaries, but was not a serious contender for the party's nomination.   He received the votes of 20 delegates on the first ballot at the 1920 Republican National Convention, and the nomination went to Warren G. Harding on the 10th ballot.   After losing his 1922 campaign for reelection to the Senate, in 1923 Harding appointed Poindexter as United States Ambassador to Peru.  He served until 1928, when he resigned and returned to Washington.  He was an unsuccessful candidate that year for the United States Senate.
  
  Retirement and death
  After the death of his wife, Poindexter returned to his home, "Elk Cliff" in Greenlee, near Natural Bridge Station, Virginia.  He died there on  September 21, 1946, and was buried at Fairmount Memorial Park in Spokane.
  
  Family
  In 1892, Poindexter married Elizabeth Gale Page (1866-1929) of Walla Walla.  They were the parents of a son, Gale Aylett Poindexter (1893-1976).
  
  Poindexter remarried in 1936, becoming the husband of Elinor Jackson Junkin Latane, the widow of John Holladay Latane, a professor at Johns Hopkins University.
  
  Elizabeth Gale Page was the granddaughter of Joseph Gale, the first governor of Oregon.  She and Miles Poindexter were the aunt and uncle of actress Gale Page.
  
  See also
   List of United States Senators who switched parties
  
  References
  
  Sources
  
  Books
  
  Newspapers
  
  Internet
  
  External sources
  
  Archives
   Miles Poindexter Papers. 1897-1940. 189.79 cubic feet (442 boxes).
   Miles Poindexter photograph collection. circa 1910-1920. .12 cubic feet (4 folders). 162 photographic prints.
   Thomas Burke papers. 1875-1925. 24.78 cubic feet (58 boxes).
   Austin E. Griffiths papers. 1891-1952. 11.73 cubic feet (25 boxes). 1 microfilm reel.
  
  Category:1868 births
  Category:1946 deaths
  Category:Washington (state) Republicans
  Category:Candidates in the 1920 United States presidential election
  Category:20th-century American politicians
  Category:United States senators from Washington (state)
  Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Washington (state)
  Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Peru
  Category:Politicians from Memphis, Tennessee
  Category:Politicians from Walla Walla, Washington
  Category:Washington (state) Progressives (1912)
  Category:Republican Party United States senators
  Category:Washington and Lee University School of Law alumni
  Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives