{{Short description|American politician (1897–1978)}} {{Other people|John Butler}} {{Infobox officeholder |name=John Marshall Butler |image=johnmbutler.jpg |jr/sr=United States Senator |state=Maryland |party=Republican |alma_mater=Johns Hopkins University<br/>University of Maryland Law School |term_start=January 3, 1951 |term_end=January 3, 1963 |preceded=Millard Tydings |succeeded=Daniel Brewster |birth_date={{birth date|1897|7|21}} |birth_place=Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|1978|3|14|1897|7|21}} |death_place=Rocky Mount, North Carolina, U.S. |spouse= |branch=United States Army |service_years=1917–1919 |unit= |battles=World War I }}
'''John Marshall Butler''' (July 21, 1897{{spaced ndash}}March 14, 1978) was an American lawyer and politician. A Republican, he served as a United States Senator from Maryland from 1951 to 1963.
==Early life and career== Born in Baltimore, Maryland, to John Harvey and Eunice West (née Riddle) Butler,<ref name=national>{{cite book|editor1-first=James Terry|editor1-last=White|title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography|volume=61|year=1982|publisher=J.T. White & Company|location=Clifton, NJ}}</ref> he received his early education at public schools in his native city. He worked as a paperboy and later an employee at a mattress factory.<ref name=mayer>{{cite book|title=The Eisenhower Years|last=Mayer|first=Michael S.|year=2010|publisher=Facts On File, Inc.|location=New York}}</ref> During World War I, he served as a private in 110th Field Artillery (29th Division) of the US Army from 1917 to 1918.<ref name=congress>{{cite news|work=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|title=Butler, John Marshall, (1897–1978)|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B001180}}</ref>
After his military service, he returned to Baltimore and attended Johns Hopkins University (1919-1921) before joining his father's real estate business.<ref name=mayer/> He studied nights at the University of Maryland School of Law, where he received his law degree in 1926.<ref name=congress/> After his admission to the bar, he joined the Baltimore law firm of Venable, Baetjer & Howard, where he worked until 1950.<ref name=national/> He served as a member of City Service Commission of Baltimore from 1947 to 1949.<ref name=congress/>
==Political career== In 1950, Butler was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate from Maryland.<ref name=congress/> In the Republican primary, he lost the popular vote to D. John Markey by a margin of 51%-49%, but won the nomination after receiving a larger unit vote count at the state convention.<ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|date=1978-03-17|work=The New York Times|title=John M. Butler, 80; M'Carthy Supporter}}</ref> In the general election, he faced four-term Democratic incumbent Millard Tydings. Butler received strong support from Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, whose accusations of Communist infiltration into the State Department had been rejected by the Tydings Committee.<ref name=mayer/> During the campaign, McCarthy's staff distributed a pamphlet that featured a falsified photograph showing Tydings with Communist leader Earl Browder.<ref name=nytimes/> Butler eventually defeated Tydings by a margin of 53%-46%.<ref name=election>{{cite news|work=Clerk of the United States House of Representatives|title=Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 1950|url=http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1950election.pdf}}</ref>
Following the election results, Tydings petitioned the Senate to disqualify Butler due to McCarthy's campaign tactics.<ref name=mayer/> The Senate subsequently convened a special subcommittee, which declared that Butler's campaign used "despicable methods" against Tydings and fined one of his aides $5,000, but refused to expel Butler.<ref name=mayer/> Butler admitted to paying the printer of the pamphlet and described the falsified photograph as "a product of enthusiastic but ill-advised friends."<ref name=nytimes/>
During his tenure in the Senate, Butler established himself as a staunch conservative. He sponsored the Communist Control Act of 1954, which outlawed the Communist Party and authorized the prosecution of Communist-infiltrated organizations.<ref name=national/> When the federal courts blocked some prosecutions, Butler submitted a constitutional amendment in 1955 to limit the courts' jurisdiction and an omnibus bill in 1958 for the same purpose.<ref name=nytimes/> He was one of the twenty-two Senators who voted against the censure of Senator McCarthy in 1954.<ref name=mayer/> He supported returning offshore oil lands to the states, and voted in favor of the non-interventionist Bricker Amendment.<ref name=mayer/>
In 1956, Butler was re-elected to a second term after defeating Democrat George P. Mahoney by a margin of 53%-47%.<ref name=results>{{cite news|work=Clerk of the United States House of Representatives|title=Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 1956|url=http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1956election.pdf}}</ref> Former Senator Tydings had originally won the Democratic nomination, but later dropped out of the race due to poor health.<ref name=nytimes/> Butler decided not to seek re-election to a third term in 1962. Butler did not sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto, and voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/s75|title=HR. 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957.|work=GovTrack.us}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/86-1960/s284|title=HR. 8601. PASSAGE OF AMENDED BILL.}}</ref> but did not vote on the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/87-1962/s226|title=S.J. RES. 29. APPROVAL OF RESOLUTION BANNING THE POLL TAX AS PREREQUISITE FOR VOTING IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS.|work=GovTrack.us}}</ref> In 1959 he was the lone Republican senator to vote against Hawaiian statehood.
==Later life== After retiring from the Senate, Butler returned to Baltimore. At 80, he died from a heart attack in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, as he and his wife were returning from a vacation on St. Simons Island in Georgia.<ref name=nytimes/> He is buried at Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville.<ref name=congress/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.95935|name=Longines Chronoscope with John M. Butler}}
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Blanchard Randall, Jr.}} {{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Maryland<br>(Class 3)|years=1950, 1956}} {{s-aft|after=Edward Tylor Miller}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box |before = Millard Tydings |state=Maryland|class=3 |years = 1951–1963 |after = Daniel Brewster |alongside=Herbert O'Conor, James Glenn Beall}} {{s-bef|before=Andrew Frank Schoeppel}} {{s-ttl|title=Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee|years=1962–1963}} {{s-aft|after=Norris Cotton}} {{s-end}}
{{USSenMD}} {{USCongRep-start|congresses= 81st–87th United States Congresses |state=Maryland}} {{USCongRep/MD/82}} {{USCongRep/MD/83}} {{USCongRep/MD/84}} {{USCongRep/MD/85}} {{USCongRep/MD/86}} {{USCongRep/MD/87}} {{USCongRep-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, John Marshall}} Category:1897 births Category:1978 deaths Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:United States Army personnel of World War I Category:American United Methodists Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni Category:Lawyers from Baltimore Category:Maryland Republicans Category:Military personnel from Baltimore Category:Politicians from Baltimore Category:Republican Party United States senators from Maryland Category:United States Army soldiers Category:University of Maryland, Baltimore alumni Category:20th-century Methodists Category:American anti-communists Category:20th-century United States senators