Quick Facts
LeoBiography
Samuel Morgan Shortridge (August 3, 1861 – January 15, 1952) was a Republican Senator from California.
Early years
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.
Career
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.". Shortridge's claims in 1924 were remarkably similar to some of the justifications made for Japanese internment during World War II.. Even some senators who wanted to favor northern and western European immigrants found Shortridge's anti-Japanese position unnecessary.
Shortridge served as a special attorney for the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. from 1939 to 1943.
Family
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.
Death
He died in Atherton, California and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose.
