Samuel M. Shortridge

{{Infobox officeholder |name = Samuel M. Shortridge |image = SHORTRIDGE, S.M. SENATOR LCCN2016860937 Trim.jpg |caption = Portrait {{circa}} 1921–1933 |jr/sr = United States Senator |state = California |term_start = March 4, 1921 |term_end = March 3, 1933 |predecessor = James D. Phelan |successor = William G. McAdoo |birth_date = {{birth date|1861|8|3}} |birth_place = Mount Pleasant, Iowa, U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|1952|1|15|1861|8|3}} |death_place = Atherton, California, U.S. |resting_place = Oak Hill Memorial Park, San Jose, California, U.S. |party = Republican |relatives = Clara S. Foltz (sister) <br> Charles M. Shortridge (brother) |spouse = {{marriage|Laura Leigh Gashwiler|1889}} |children = {{flatlist| * Samuel Jr. * John }} }}

'''Samuel Morgan Shortridge''' (August 3, 1861{{spaced ndash}}January 15, 1952) was an American attorney and politician who served as a U.S. senator from California from 1921 to 1933.

== Early years == Shortridge was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa and moved to California as a child with his family, settling in San Jose in 1875. He attended school until 1879 and became a teacher in Napa County for four years after. He came to San Francisco in 1883 to practice law.<ref name=wasp>{{cite journal |title=A Man of the People |journal=The Wasp |date=25 December 1896 |volume=XXXVI |issue=25 |page=41 |url=https://archive.org/details/wasp189635unse/page/n1044/mode/1up?q= |access-date=15 October 2025 |location=San Francisco}}</ref>

== Career == thumb|left|Shortridge on the cover of ''The Wave'', April 1, 1893 Shortridge came to prominence as a Republican orator and leading member of the Bar Association of San Francisco.<ref name=wasp/> He acted as Abe Ruef's attorney during the San Francisco graft trials.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bean |first=Walton |author-link= |date=1952 |title=Boss Ruef's San Francisco |url=https://archive.org/details/bossruefssanfran017881mbp/page/n195/mode/1up |location= |publisher=University of California Press |page=178 |isbn=}}</ref>

Shortridge was a presidential elector in 1888, 1900, and 1908.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015078229518&view=1up&seq=333&skin=2021|title=The National Cyclopædia of American Biography|publisher=James T. White & Company|year=1927|volume=B|location=New York, N.Y.|pages=193|language=en|via=HathiTrust}}</ref> He lost the 1914 U.S. Senate Republican primary to veteran congressman Joseph R. Knowland, who was defeated in the general election by James D. Phelan. Shortridge was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1920, riding Warren G. Harding's post World War I "Return to Normalcy" campaign. Defeating Phelan and strong candidates from the Prohibition Party and Socialist Party of America, Shortridge won the general election with 49% of the vote. He was reelected in 1926 with 63% of the vote over Democrat John B. Elliott. He served two full terms before being defeated in a primary in 1932.

Shortridge became a prominent voice for racist anti-Japanese forces in California, declaring that a child of Japanese immigrants would regard "himself or herself as a native of Japan. His heart, his affections go out to the native land of the parent.".<ref>65Cong.Rec.5806 1924</ref> Shortridge's claims in 1924 were remarkably similar to some of the justifications made for Japanese internment during World War II.<ref>Compare, for example, statements quoted in Ronald Takaki, ''Strangers from a Different Shore'', updated and revised edition (Boston: Little, Brown, 1998), pp. 387–8.</ref> Even some senators who wanted to favor northern and western European immigrants found Shortridge's anti-Japanese position unnecessary.<ref>See, for example, comments by a Senate immigration restriction leader, David Reed (R-PA), in 65Cong.Rec.5808–5810 1924</ref>

Shortridge served as a special attorney for the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. from 1939 to 1943.

== Personal life and death == Shortridge died in Atherton, California on January 15, 1952. He was buried at Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose.<ref>{{cite book |author=Joint Committee On Printing, US Congress |date=1961 |title=Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1961 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZeBQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1597 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=US Government Printing Office |page=1597 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

His sister, Clara S. Foltz, became the first female lawyer in California in 1878, and the first female deputy district attorney in the U.S. in 1910. She helped him campaign for the Senate.

His brother, Charles M. Shortridge, was the owner of the San Jose newspaper The ''Daily Mercury'' and purchased ''The San Francisco Call'' in 1895.<ref>{{Cite web|title=San Francisco Call — Browse by title — California Digital Newspaper Collection|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=cl&cl=CL1&sp=SFC|access-date=2021-08-21|website=cdnc.ucr.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=1 Jul 1918, Page 7 - Oakland Tribune at Newspapers.com|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=26816850&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjgyNDIzNTc4LCJpYXQiOjE2Mjk1NTUxNDEsImV4cCI6MTYyOTY0MTU0MX0.6_LNoFSWdkYOuUmtgX6se1hrV7NX2KeTPu4Hp5W7vbc|access-date=2021-08-21|website=Newspapers.com|language=en}}</ref>

He was a member of the Bohemian Club. (Varied Types by Edward F. O'Day)

== References == <references />

== External links == {{Commons category|Samuel M. Shortridge}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Samuel M. Shortridge}} * {{Congbio|S000380}} * [https://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/6523 JoinCalifornia - Samuel M. Shortridge]

{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Joseph R. Knowland}} {{s-ttl|title = Republican nominee for <br> U.S. Senator from California (Class 3)|years = 1920, 1926}} {{s-aft|after = Tallant Tubbs}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{succession box | title=U.S. Senator (Class 3) from California | before=James D. Phelan | after=William Gibbs McAdoo | years=1921–1933}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shortridge, Samuel M.}} Category:1861 births Category:1952 deaths Category:California Republicans Category:Politicians from San Francisco Category:Republican Party United States senators from California Category:Lawyers from San Francisco Category:Burials at Oak Hill Memorial Park Category:1888 United States presidential electors Category:1900 United States presidential electors Category:1908 United States presidential electors Category:20th-century United States senators