Warren Austin

Warren Austin
United States Senator from Vermont
In office April 1, 1931 – August 2, 1946
Preceded by	Frank C. Partridge
Succeeded by	Ralph E. Flanders
2nd United States Ambassador to the United Nations
In office 1946–1953
President	Harry S. Truman
Preceded by	Herschel Johnson (Acting)
Succeeded by	Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Personal details
Born	November 12, 1877 Franklin County, Vermont
Died	December 25, 1962(1962-12-25) (aged 85) Burlington, Vermont
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Mildred Marie Lucas
Religion	Congregationalist

Warren Robinson Austin (November 12, 1877 – December 25, 1962) was an American politician and statesman; among other roles, he served as Senator from Vermont and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Born in Highgate Center in Franklin County, Vermont, he attended public schools, Bakersfield Academy¹, and then the University of Vermont, from which he graduated in 1899. He then studied law and entered practice in 1902. In 1904 he was appointed State's attorney of Franklin County, a position he held for two years.

In his first few years in politics, he served in a number of roles, including chairman of the Vermont Republican State Convention in 1908, Mayor of St. Albans in 1909, a delegate to the Congress of the Mint in 1912, and a member of the United States Court for China in 1917. During this period, he also served as a commissioner for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1907 to 1915.

His rising prominence led to his appointment as a trustee of the University of Vermont in 1914, a position he would retain until 1941.

He also served as a special counsel for Vermont in a dispute over the exact border between Vermont and the neighboring state of New Hampshire from 1925 to 1937.

He was elected to the Senate on March 31, 1931, in a special election called upon the death of former Senator Frank L. Greene, and took his seat the next day. He went on to win re-election twice (in 1934 and 1940). In the Senate, Austin championed internationalist causes—standing with President Franklin D. Roosevelt on issues such as neutrality and Lend-Lease. He resigned on August 2, 1946, near the end of his last term, in order to accept appointment as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, a position he held until January 25, 1953, when he retired to Burlington.

He was a member of a number of organizations and societies, professional and otherwise, including the American Bar Association, the American Judicature Society, the Loyal Legion, the Society of the Cincinnati, the Freemasons, the Shriners, the Odd Fellows, the Rotary Club, and Kappa Sigma. In religion he was a Congregationalist Christian. Austin received an LL.D. from Bates College in 1947. Austin is memorialized in a marble tablet in the Vermont State House's hall of Inscriptions at Montpelier, Vermont.

External links

• Warren Austin at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Warren Austin at Find-A-Grave
• Ambassador to the World TIME magazine article
• Warren Austin papers in Congressional Papers collection, Center for Digital Initiatives, University of Vermont Library
• Inventory of the Warren R. Austin Collection, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library

United States Senate
Preceded by Frank C. Partridge	United States Senator (Class 1) from Vermont 1931 – 1946 Served alongside: Porter H. Dale, Ernest W. Gibson, Sr., Ernest W. Gibson, Jr., George Aiken	Succeeded by Ralph E. Flanders
Political offices
Preceded by Charles L. McNary	Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate Acting 1940	Succeeded by Charles L. McNary
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Herschel Johnson	U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations 1946 – 1953	Succeeded by Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.