
Ernest McFarland (9 October 1894 – 8 June 1984) was a US Senator from Arizona (D) from 3 January 1941 to 3 January 1953 (succeeding Henry F. Ashurst and preceding Barry Goldwater), and Governor of Arizona from 3 January 1955 to 5 January 1959 (succeeding John Howard Pyle and preceding Paul Fannin).
Biography[]
Ernest McFarland was born in Earlsboro, Oklahoma in 1894, and he worked as a teacher, served stateside in the US Navy at the time of World War I, and became a law clerk and lawyer in Arizona. He briefly worked as a prosecutor before tiring of prosecuting criminals on behalf of the state; afterwards, he became a state judge. In 1940, McFarland was elected to the US Senate as a Democrat, and he was one of the fathers of the GI Bill, which ensured that returning World War II veterans could go to college, own homes, start families, and be rewarded for their service. From 1951 to 1953, he served as Senate Majority Leader, and he served as Governor of Arizona from 1955 to 1959, as an Associate Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court from 1965 to 1971, and as Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court in 1968. He died in Phoenix in 1984 at the age of 89.