Arthur Thomas Stewart Passes Away

Today in Masonic History Arthur Thomas Stewart passes away in 1972.

Arthur Thomas Stewart was an American politician.

Stewart, who commonly went by “Tom”, was born on January 11th, 1892 in Dunlap Tennessee. He attended a private school called Pryor Institute before going on to Emory College, which is now Emory University, in Georgia. After graduating from Emory, Stewart returned to Tennessee and attended the Cumberland School of Law in Cumberland, Tennessee. He was admitted to the bar in 1913. After passing the bar he briefly moved to Alabama where he set up a law practice, before returning to Tennessee in 1915.

In 1923, Stewart was elected as the district attorney of the 18th Circuit. In 1925 Stewart was given the role of Chief Prosecutor in the Scopes Trial, more commonly referred to as the Scopes Monkey Trial. The trial revolved around the Butler Act which prevented public school teachers from teaching any material denied by the Biblical account of man’s origin. John T. Scopes, who was a substitute teacher in Tennessee, was the defendant in the case.

Stewart designed the prosecution's argument to preserve political control over the schools exclusively within the state legislature. This prevented the defense from turning the argument into a scientific one. In the end because of Stewart’s strategy for Prosecuting the case, the defense had no choice but to ask the jury to convict Scopes, so they could seek an appeal. The Tennessee Supreme Court did overturn the conviction, not on scientific grounds, on a legal technicality.

In 1938, Stewart entered a special election for the United States Senate when the sitting Senator passed away in office. Stewart was able to defeat George L. Berry, who had been appointed by the Governor of Tennessee to fill the office until a special election could be held. When Stewart won the election in November of 1938, instead of being seated immediately, he waited until January 1939 when his term as a District Attorney expired.

Stewart was typical of the Southern Democrats of the time. The one exception, he was a pro-Roosevelt New Deal Democrat. By defeating his Democratic opponent, Berry, Stewart was the only Senator to win a primary and defeat an incumbent Senator who Roosevelt had targeted during the mid-term election “purge” as it came to be known.

After winning reelection in 1942, Stewart introduced a bill revoking citizenship for American-born citizens of Japanese descent. This came just after the beginning of Japanese interment.

In 1948, Stewart failed to win reelection. After leaving the Senate he returned to private practice.

Stewart passed away October 10th, 1972.

Stewart was raised in Winchester Lodge No. 158 in Winchester, Tennessee.