Samuel M. Shortridge

Samuel M. Shortridge
United States Senator from California
In office March 4, 1921 – March 4, 1933
Preceded by	James D. Phelan
Succeeded by	William G. McAdoo
Personal details
Born	August 3, 1861 Mount Pleasant, Iowa
Died	January 15, 1952 (aged 90) Atherton, California
Political party	Republican

Samuel Morgan Shortridge (August 3, 1861 – January 15, 1952) was a Republican Senator from California.

He was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa and moved to California as a child with his family, which settled in San Jose in 1875. He practiced law in San Francisco, California for most of his life.

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.

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

Shortridge served as a special attorney for the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. from 1939 to 1943. He died in Atherton, California and was buried in Oak Lawn Cemetery in San Jose.

External links

• Works by or about Samuel M. Shortridge at Internet Archive
• United States Congress. "Samuel M. Shortridge (id: S000380)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Samuel M. Shortridge at Find a Grave