{{Short description|American judge (1895–1978)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Arch Newton Bobbitt | office = Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court | birth_place = Eckerty, Indiana | birth_date = {{birth date|1895|09|03}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1978|01|24|1895|09|03}} | profession = Judge, prosecutor, attorney, local government official | term_start = January 2, 1951 | term_end = January 7, 1963 | alma_mater = Benjamin Harrison Law School | state = Indiana | office3 = Crawford County Auditor | office1 = Chief City Attorney, Indianapolis | term_start1 = 1945 | term_end3 = 1925 | term_start3 = 1921 | term_end1 = 1948 | honorific_prefix = Honorable | office2 = Indiana State Auditor | term_start2 = 1928 | term_end2 = 1930 }}
'''Arch Newton Bobbitt''' (September 3, 1895 – January 24, 1978) was a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from January 2, 1951, to January 7, 1963.
Born in Eckerty, Crawford County, Indiana, Bobbit graduated from Birdseye High School,<ref name="Gugin">Linda C. Gugin and James E. St. Clair, ''Justices of the Indiana Supreme Court'' (2011), pp. 323-326.</ref> and attended Central Normal College in Danville, Indiana.<ref name="Browning">Minde C. Browning, Richard Humphrey, and Bruce Kleinschmidt, "[https://www.in.gov/judiciary/supreme/files/browning.pdf Biographical Sketches of Indiana Supreme Court Justices]", ''Indiana Law Review'', Vol. 30, No. 1 (1997), section reproduced in [https://www.in.gov/judiciary/supreme/files/justice-bios.pdf#page=86 Indiana Courts Justice Biographies page].</ref> After working as a school teacher and principal for a year,<ref name="Evans">Daniel F. Evans, ''At Home in Indiana for One Hundred and Seventy-five Years: The History of Meridian Street United Methodist Church, 1821–1996'' (1996), p. 161.</ref> he was elected Crawford County Clerk in 1918, but resigned that office to serve in the United States Navy during World War I.<ref name="Gugin"/><ref name="Browning"/>
Bobbitt was the Crawford County Auditor from 1921 to 1925, and a gasoline tax collector from 1925 to 1929.<ref name="Browning"/> In 1927, he received an LL.B. from the Benjamin Harrison Law School. He was elected State Auditor, "where he uncovered a gasoline bootlegging scheme and recovered evaded taxes".<ref name="Browning"/>
From 1937 to 1942, Bobbitt was chair of the Republican Party in Indiana, which had suffered substantial losses in the national Democratic surge brought on by the Great Depression. Bobbitt discussed the low Republican morale at the time with Homer E. Capehart, and approved Capehart's proposal to hold a massive "cornfield convention" in the state, drawing national participation and attention, and helping to restore the party's fortunes.<ref>Ralph D. Gray, ''Indiana History: A Book of Readings'' (1994), p. 337.</ref>
From 1943 to 1948, Bobbitt was a city attorney for Indianapolis, and was chief city attorney for the last three years of that service. In 1950, Bobbitt was elected to the Indiana Supreme Court, assuming office on January 1, 1951, and immediately commencing a rotation as chief justice. Bobbit was defeated in his 1963 bid for re-election, thereafter returning to private practice.<ref name="Browning"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | title=Indiana State Auditor | before=Lewis S. Bowman | after=Floyd E. Williamson | years=1928–1930 }} {{succession box |title=Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court |before=Howard Young Sr. |after=Walter Myers Jr. |years=1951–1963}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bobbitt, Arch}} Category:Justices of the Indiana Supreme Court Category:People from Crawford County, Indiana Category:Military personnel from Indiana Category:1895 births Category:1978 deaths Category:Canterbury College (Indiana) alumni Category:Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law alumni Category:Chief justices of the Indiana Supreme Court Category:20th-century Indiana state court judges
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