Ingram Stainback

2025-09-14T15:30:58Z

2601:902:C180:5800:1FA0:A2BD:A415:5292:

{{Short description|American judge}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Ingram Stainback
|image = Ingram Stainback.jpg
|image_size =
|caption =
|office = 9th [[Territorial Governor of Hawaii]]
|term_start = August 24, 1942
|term_end = May 8, 1951
|appointer = [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
|predecessor = [[Joseph Poindexter]]
|successor = [[Oren E. Long]]
|office2 = Judge of the [[United States District Court for the District of Hawaii|United States District Court for the Territory of Hawaii]]
|appointer2 = [[List of federal judges appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
|term_start2 = 1940
|term_end2 = 1943
|predecessor2 = Seba Cormany Huber
|successor2 = [[Joseph Frank McLaughlin]]
|office3 =
|term_start3 =
|term_end3 =
|predecessor3 =
|successor3 =
|party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|birth_name = Ingram Macklin Stainback
|birth_date = {{birth date|1883|5|12}}
|birth_place = [[Somerville, Tennessee]], US
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1961|4|12|1883|5|12}}
|death_place = [[Honolulu]], [[Hawaii]], US
|spouse =
|children =
|alma_mater = [[Princeton University]] <br /> [[University of Chicago]]
|occupation =
|nationality =
}}
'''Ingram Macklin Stainback''' (May 12, 1883{{spaced ndash}}April 12, 1961) was an American politician. He served as the ninth [[Governor of Hawaii|Territorial Governor of Hawaii]] from 1942 to 1951.

==Early life==
Stainback was born in 1883 in [[Somerville, Tennessee]]. His father, Charles A. Stainback Sr, was a lawyer and his brother, [[Charles A. Stainback]], was a Democratic member of the [[Tennessee Senate]].<ref name="morton60">{{cite book |last1=Morton |first1=Dorothy Rich |editor-last1=Crawford |editor-first1=Charles W. |title=Tennessee County History Series: Fayette County |date=1989 |publisher=Memphis State University Press |location=Memphis, Tennessee |isbn=9780878701322 |page=[https://archive.org/details/fayettecounty00mort_0/page/60 60] |url=https://archive.org/details/fayettecounty00mort_0/page/60 |via=[[Internet Archive]] }}</ref>
The tombstone of Charles A. Stainback (1878-1961), is located in Somerville Cemetery, Somerville, Tennessee.

Stainback received his undergraduate degree from [[Princeton University]] and his [[Juris Doctor]] from the [[University of Chicago]].<ref name="morton60"/>

[[File:OahuCemetery-IngramStainback-tombstone.JPG|thumb|right|Tombstone of Ingram Macklin Stainback, Oahu Cemetery]]

==Career==
Stainback, a well-connected Democrat, came to [[Hawaii]] shortly after graduation and was appointed by Democratic Governor [[Lucius E. Pinkham]] in 1914 to the post of Territorial Attorney General.<ref name="state">{{cite web |url=http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASHd608/652d49fc.dir/Stainback,%20Ingram%20Macklin.jpg |title=Stainback, Ingram Macklin office record |work=state archives digital collections |publisher=state of Hawaii |access-date=2009-11-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007003332/http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASHd608/652d49fc.dir/Stainback,%20Ingram%20Macklin.jpg |archive-date=2011-10-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He resigned in 1917 to join the Army and rose to the rank of major. When the war ended he returned to private practice in Hawaii.

Previous to his administration, Stainback was a United States District Attorney and then a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Territory of Hawaii. He was appointed to the office by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. It is likely that his friendships with then-Secretary of State [[Cordell Hull]] and Senator [[Kenneth McKellar (politician)|Kenneth McKellar]], both Tennesseans, played a role in his appointment. However, Stainback was essentially powerless for the first two years of his term since Gov. [[Joseph B. Poindexter]] had allowed the military to take over the government after the December 1941 [[Attack on Pearl Harbor]] by [[Imperial Japan]]. During that time, Hawaii was governed by Army generals [[Walter Short]], [[Delos Emmons]], and [[Robert C. Richardson, Jr.]]

A conservative Democrat, Stainback, whose full powers were restored on April 13, 1944, played a significant role in the lifting of [[martial law]] in wartime Hawaii. Stainback believed [[Communism|Communists]] were plotting to take over the [[Hawaiian Islands]]. He also provided a genesis for Hawaii's [[Democratic Revolution of 1954 (Hawaii)|Democratic Revolution of 1954]] by decrying the land monopolies in Hawaii and calling for land reform. Upon resigning his post on May 8, 1951, Stainback had served eight years, eight months and six days, the longest of any appointed governor up to that point.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://hawaii.gov/gov/office/pastgovernors.html |title= Past Governors |publisher= State of Hawaii office of the Governor |access-date=2009-11-19 }}</ref>

On September 26, 1951, he was appointed by President [[Harry S. Truman]] as an associate judge to the [[Hawaii Supreme Court]].

===Views on statehood===
Stainback had supported statehood until as late as 1946 but vocally opposed it from 1947.<ref name=JSW>{{cite journal |author1=John S. Whitehead |title=Anti-Statehood Movement and the Legacy of Alice Kamokila Campbell |journal=[[Hawaiian Journal of History]] |date=1993 |volume=27 |pages=43-63}}</ref>{{rp|44}} In testimony to the [[United States House Committee on Territories|House Committee on Territories]] hearings on statehood for Hawaii in January 1946, Stainback was pro-statehood, saying "I think it is a fundamental principle that no people can govern another people better than they can govern themselves. In other words, we are governed from Washington in a great many things relating to our national affairs".<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Abraham Chapman |title=Hawaii Seeks Statehood |journal=[[Far Eastern Survey]] |date=17 July 1946 |volume=15 |issue=14 |pages=209-213 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3023059 |access-date=4 February 2024|url-access=subscription}}</ref> He supported Hawaii's admission based on the fact that, as Hawaii took on "all the burdens of a State", it should also be afforded the privileges of statehood such as voting members of Congress.<ref>{{cite web |author1=US Government Printing Office |author1-link=United States Government Publishing Office |title=Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee on the Territories |url=https://law-hawaii.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=49695644#page=15 |website=[[William S. Richardson School of Law]] |access-date=4 February 2024 |date=1946}}</ref>{{rp|10}} In March 1946, Stainback still seemed supportive of statehood at further congressional hearings in [[Washington D.C.|Washington]], but Roger Bell suggests that this was in order to not seem out of step with Hawaiians at a time when his reappointment as governor was pending.<ref name=Bell5 />{{rp|125-126}}

By the middle of the year, statehood campaigners had become openly critical of Stainback because of his seemingly ambivalent attitude to pursuing the issue.<ref name=Bell5>{{cite book |author1=Roger Bell |title=Last Among Equals: Hawaiian Statehood and American Politics |date=1984 |publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]] |location=[[Honolulu]] |pages=120-179 |chapter=5 - Issues Confused, 1946-1950: Civil Rights, Party Politics and Communism}}</ref>{{rp|122}} By 1947, it was clear that Stainback was reluctant to support immediate statehood or further fund the Statehood Committee.<ref name=Bell5 />{{rp|123}} Instead, the [[Hawaii Territorial Legislature|Territorial Legislature]] became the major proponent of statehood, establishing and funding its own Statehood Commission.<ref name=Bell5 />{{rp|122-123}}

Stainback claimed he changed his mind on statehood upon being briefed by the [[US Army]] about Communist activity on the islands.<ref name=JSW />{{rp|44}} Stainback argued for [[Commonwealth (U.S. insular area)|Commonwealth]] status similar to [[Puerto Rico]] instead of statehood,<ref name=JSW />{{rp|44}} suggesting that Hawaii would benefit from the federal tax exemption which would stimulate economic growth.<ref name=Bell7>{{cite book |author1=Roger Bell |title=Last Among Equals: Hawaiian Statehood and American Politics |date=1984 |publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]] |location=[[Honolulu]] |pages=192-233 |chapter=7 - Politics of Nonaction, 1951-1956}}</ref>{{rp|198}}

==Death and legacy==
Stainback died in 1961 in [[Honolulu, Hawaii|Honolulu, Hawai{{okina}}i]] and is buried at [[Oahu Cemetery]].

Stainback is memorialized on the [[Hawaii (island)|island of Hawaii]] by the Stainback Highway, a little-used 18-mile road that leads from the [[Hawaii Belt Road]] near [[Hilo]] at {{coord |19|39|49|N| 155|3|40|W| type:landmark_region:US-HI| display=inline| name= Stainback Highway}} to Kulani Correctional Facility, a minimum security state prison at {{coord |19|33|0|N| 155|18|4|W| type:landmark_region:US-HI| display=inline| name= Kulani}}.<ref>{{cite web |title= Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: Kulani Correctional Facility |url=https://dcr.hawaii.gov/about/divisions/corrections/about-corrections/kcf/ |access-date=2025-03-05 |publisher=Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation }}</ref> His son, [[Macklin Fleming]], was an associate justice of the [[California Court of Appeal]] and an early opponent of [[affirmative action]].<ref>{{cite web |title= The black quota at Yale Law School |url= http://www.nationalaffairs.com/doclib/20080522_197001904theblackquotaatyalelawschoolmacklinfleming.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170305001909/http://www.nationalaffairs.com/doclib/20080522_197001904theblackquotaatyalelawschoolmacklinfleming.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2017-03-05 |publisher= [[The Public Interest]] |date= 1969 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=California Appellate Court Legacy Project – Interviewee Biography: Justice Macklin Fleming |url=https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/Fleming_Macklin_Biography.pdf}}</ref>

==References==
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{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box|title=[[Governor of Hawaii|Territorial Governor of Hawaii]]|before=[[Joseph Poindexter]]|after=[[Oren E. Long]]|years=1942–1951}}
{{s-legal}}
{{succession box
| title= [[United States District Court for the District of Hawaii|United States District Court]] Judge
| before= Seba Cormany Huber
| years= 1940–1943
| after= [[Joseph Frank McLaughlin]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Governors of Hawaii}}
{{Attorneys General of Hawaii}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stainback, Ingram Macklin}}
[[Category:Governors of the Territory of Hawaii]]
[[Category:Territory of Hawaii judges]]
[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Chicago Law School alumni]]
[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1961 deaths]]
[[Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Hawaii]]
[[Category:Hawaii Democrats]]
[[Category:American anti-communists]]
[[Category:20th-century American judges]]
[[Category:Burials at Oahu Cemetery]]
[[Category:People from Somerville, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the Territory of Hawaii]]

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Ingram Stainback