John Garibaldi Sargent (October 13, 1860March 5, 1939) was an American lawyer and government official. He served as United States Attorney General during the administration of President Calvin Coolidge.
Biography John G. Sargent was born in Ludlow, Vermont on October 13, 1860, the son of John Henmon Sargent and Ann Eliza Hanley.Volney Sewall Fulham, The Fulham Genealogy, 1910, page 260 He graduated from Black River Academy, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts College in 1887.E. Thompson Company, Law Notes, Volume 29, 1925, page 16Funk & Wagnalls, The Literary Digest, Volume 75, 1925, page 44 Sargent was married to the former Mary Lorraine Gordon on August 4, 1887.William Henry Smith, History of the Cabinet of the United States of America, 1925, pages 355-356 They had a daughter, Gladys Gordon Sargent.Robert I. Vexler, The Vice-Presidents and Cabinet Members, Volume 2, 1975, page 544
Sargent studied law at a firm in Ludlow, was admitted to the bar in 1890, and became a partner in the firm of William W. Stickney, a cousin of Calvin Coolidge.James Terry White, The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 25, 1967, page 337 Among the prospective attorneys who studied under Sargent and Stickney were Julius A. Willcox, who later served as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, and Joseph F. Radigan, who served as Vermont's United States Attorney from 1961 to 1969.
In addition to practicing law, Sargent was active in the insurance business, served as President of the Ludlow Savings Bank, and was a member of the board of directors of several railroads and other corporations.Vexler, The Vice-Presidents and Cabinet MembersStandard Publishing, The StandardBoston and Maine Railroad, Annual Report, 1919, page 4
A Republican, he served as Windsor County State's Attorney from 1898 to 1900.William Richard Cutter, American Biography: A New Cyclopedia, Volume 24, 1926, page 137 Sargent was Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs (chief assistant) for Stickney during Stickney's term as Governor of Vermont from 1900 to 1902.Robert Sobel, Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch, 1774-1989, 1990, page 320
From 1908 to 1912 Sargent was Vermont Attorney General.Vermont Attorney General, Past Vermont Attorneys General , retrieved January 31, 2014 In 1912, Sargent received an honorary master's degree from Tufts.Vermont Bar Association, Report of Proceedings of the Annual Meeting, Volume 33, 1939, page 39The Green Bag magazine, The Academic Roll of Honor, July 1912, page 375
In 1925, President Coolidge's nominee for Attorney General, Charles B. Warren, was rejected by the United States Senate.Joseph Pratt Harris, The Advice and Consent of the Senate, 1953, page 260 Coolidge then nominated Sargent, whom he had known since childhood.Federal Writers' Project, Vermont; a Guide to the Green Mountain State, 1934, page 255 Sargent was confirmed unanimously, and served until March 4, 1929.Meenekshi Bose, Rosanna Perotti, editors, From Cold War to New World Order: The Foreign Policy of George H.W. Bush, 2002, page 373Phyllis Raybin Emert, Attorneys General: Enforcing the Law, 2005, page 155
After leaving office, Sargent returned to practicing law; he brought into the firm as a partner Paul A. Chase, who had served as his special assistant while he was U.S. Attorney General. He was also Chairman of the Vermont Commission on Uniform State Laws, and a trustee of the Black River Academy.Standard Publishing, The Standard, Volume 124, 1939, page 292U.S. Government Printing Office, Congressional Record, 1929, page 3817
Sargent died in Ludlow on March 5, 1939, and was buried at the Pleasant View Cemetery in Ludlow, Vermont.Newsweek magazine, Deaths: John G. Sargent, Volume 13, 1939, page 57
John G. Sargent's honors included honorary LL.D. degrees from Tufts, Norwich University, Middlebury College, and Dartmouth College.George Jean Nathan, Henry Louis Mencken, editors, The American Mercury, Volume 12, 1927, page 477
References
External links
DOJ biography John Garibaldi Sargent at The Political Graveyard John Garibaldi Sargent at Black River Academy Museum