Miles Poindexter is Born

Today in Masonic History Miles Poindexter is born in 1868.

Poindexter was born in Memphis Tennessee April 22, 1868. His father was a Civil War veteran in the Confederate States Army. Miles was raised in Virgina where he attended Fancy Hill Academy in Rockbridge County, Virginia. After, he went on to Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia graduating with a LL.B degree in 1891. He immediately headed west settling in Walla Walla, at the time eastern Washington’s largest city. He was quickly admitted to the Washington Bar. By 1892 he had become prosecuting attorney for Walla Walla County.

Five years later, in 1897, he moved north to Spokane which was becoming the new major eastern Washington city as Walla Walla was bypassed by the new northern transcontinental rail lines. There he again set up a law practice. He simultaneously became the Spokane County prosecuting attorney serving from 1898 to 1904 serving an additional four years as a superior court judge.

He was elected to one term in the Sixty-First US Congress, March 4, 1909 to March 3, 1911 representing the new third congressional district. He was elected again in 1910 but resigned because the State Legislature elected him to the U. S. Senate. He served two senatorial terms, [March 11, 1911 to March 3, 1923]. But he was unsuccessful for reelection in 1922.

He had been a progressive during his early political career, in fact from 1913 to 1915 he was a Progressive Party member. He returned to the Republican Party in 1916 but during WWI he led several efforts to keep German-American military members from being officers in leadership positions questioning their patriotism. In one instance he accused a distinguished Army officer who had served in the US Army since 1881 of being pro-German. Even though he was supported by General John H. Pershing and other high Army officials including the Secretary of War Newton Baker, Poindexter using legislative processes, was able to block the promotion of German-born Colonel Carl Reichmann to brigadier general. Poindexter was also involved in instigating the First Red Scare. He accused the Wilson administration of teeming with Bolshevism. He even charged the great Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis, was a communist. Because of the change in his political positions, he became a full-sized target of progressives, reformers and the Democrats. In the 1922 election he was defeated by fellow Mason, Democrat Representative Clarence Dill.

He aspired to be the nominee for president at the 1920 Republican convention losing to Brother Warren Harding on the 10th ballot. Poindexter received 20 delegate votes on the first ballot. Being from a small western state he was not considered a viable candidate. Following his senatorial defeat, the new President Harding appointed him to serve as the Ambassador to Peru from 1923 to 1928 when he resigned. He returned to Washington State running again for the US Senate in 1928. After this unsuccessful attempt, he returned to his home in 'Elk Cliff,' in Greenlee in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He died there, September 21, 1946. His body was returned to Spokane for internment at Fairmount Memorial.

He was raised in Oriental Lodge #74 {Spokane} December 4, 1920.

This article provided by Brother Coe Tug Morgan – Honorary Grand Secretary, Past Grand Historian Grand Lodge F. & A. M. of Washington.