Name Thomas Fairchild | Role Judge | |
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Died February 12, 2007, Madison, Wisconsin, United States Education Princeton University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University | ||
Thomas Edward Fairchild (December 25, 1912 – February 12, 2007) was an American judge, attorney, and politician who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Fairchild also served as Chief Judge of the Seventh Circuit from 1975 to 1981.
Life and career
Thomas Fairchild was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His educational background included a B.A. from Cornell University, a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and additional studies conducted at Princeton University and Deep Springs College in California.
Following graduation from law school in 1938, he practiced law in Portage, Wisconsin until 1942, when he became an attorney with the Office of Price Administration, specializing in consumer rationing issues. He returned to private practice in 1945, working out of the Milwaukee law office of Foley & Lardner for three years. In 1948, he was elected as Attorney General of Wisconsin. During his tenure as state attorney general, he shut down "Stop the Music", a popular radio quiz show, which thereafter made the first successful leap from radio to the television era triggering a wave of quiz show scandals throughout the 1950s. His decision to halt the radio show in the pre-TV era may have contributed to his loss in the 1950 U.S. Senate race against incumbent Alexander Wiley. In 1951, President Harry S. Truman appointed him U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. A year later, he resigned to run against U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. Following his defeat in the 1952 Senate race, he resumed private law practice in Milwaukee. In 1956, he represented alleged Communists before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Later that year, he was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, serving until 1966, when President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He served as the Court's Chief Judge from 1975 to 1981, and held senior status from 1981 until his death. His father was Edward T. Fairchild, who swore his son in, when he took office in 1957 on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Judge Fairchild died on February 12, 2007 in Madison.