Background
Donnell was born on August 20, 1884 in Quitman, a small town in northwestern Missouri. He was the son of John Cary Donnell and Barbara Lee Waggoner. His father operated a general store in Quitman, and then in nearby Maryville.
Donnell was born on August 20, 1884 in Quitman, a small town in northwestern Missouri. He was the son of John Cary Donnell and Barbara Lee Waggoner. His father operated a general store in Quitman, and then in nearby Maryville.
Donnell graduated from Maryville High School (Missouri) in 1900, where his father was once mayor; the Donnells lived in the home that had once belonged to Albert Morehouse, who also served as governor.
At the University of Missouri he was a member of the Kappa Sigma and Phi Delta Phi fraternities. He was also elected as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Theta Kappa Nu and QEBH societies. He was valedictorian of the 1904 class and received a law degree in 1907.
Growing up in the age of William Jennings Bryan, when oratory and forensics rivaled football as prestigious school activities, Donnell early won recognition as an able orator and debater. He was admitted to the bar in 1907 and began a long and successful law practice in St. Louis. He earned the reputation of being a hardworking, public-spirited attorney who was scrupulous about the fees he charged and was determined to represent only clients he knew to be innocent or wronged. He served on the boards of various civic and benevolent organizations, and like his fellow Missourian, Harry Truman, served as grand master of the Missouri Masonic Lodge.
Donnell became well known throughout Missouri, and in 1940 Republican leaders persuaded him to run for governor. The Democrats, the dominant party, were plagued by division and charges of corruption. Donnell proved to be an energetic and persuasive campaigner and was the only Republican on the ballot to win a state office. The victory margin was so narrow - 3, 613 votes out of 1, 819, 447 - that the Democrat-controlled legislature at first refused to certify the victory, alleging fraud.
On January 13, 1941, a writ of mandamus from the state supreme court, backed by irate public opinion, forced Donnell's confirmation as governor, thwarting what the press called the "Missouri governorship steal. " As governor, Donnell alienated many of his own party leaders by avoiding the customary patronage appointment process; thus, they did not support his entry into the senatorial race in 1944. He nevertheless won the primary, and then a generalelection victory (1, 900 votes out of more than 1. 5 million) while the national Roosevelt-Truman ticket and the Democrats easily carried the state. As a constitutional lawyer and consistent strict constructionist, he vigorously opposed all claims to any "inherent powers" of the president. He especially irked Truman by attacking and often delaying presidential nominations he considered "cronyism. " Donnell and Taft cast the two votes against Robert Hannegan to be postmaster general and he voted alone against Washington hostess Perle Mesta's nomination to be minister to Luxembourg. He shared the prevalent fear of Communism but never followed Senator Joseph McCarthy in making undocumented charges.
After one term he was defeated by Thomas Hennings, Jr. , in 1950 and returned to his St. Louis law practice. Donnell was a representative, however untypical, of growing midwestern reaction to the domestic programs of the late New Deal and the Fair Deal. In foreign affairs he never moved much beyond his youthful isolationism.
He died in 1980 at the age of 95 in St. Louis. He is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Donnell held to strict religious and moral ideas learned from his parents and was an active Methodist layman, teaching a men's Sunday School class and holding many church offices over the years.
Donnell's two major accomplishments as governor were a revised, unified tax structure and inclusion of more than half of all state employees in a merit system. Although his father was a Democrat, Donnell early became an active Republican, apparently inspired by Theodore Roosevelt's presidency. By 1916, he was president of the Young Republicans of Missouri. After World War I, he opposed America's entry into the League of Nations but favored a world court and served as president of the St. Louis World Court Committee.
As senator, Donnell allied himself closely with the conservative Robert Taft wing of the party to oppose nearly all of Truman's domestic and foreign policy initiatives. He voted for the Marshall Plan but opposed the NATO treaty as unconstitutional.
In 1917 Donnell was president of the Association of Young Republicans of Missouri; in 1918-1920, a member of the executive committee of the Republican State Committee of Missouri; and in 1919, a president of the 28th Ward Republican Club of St. Louis.
Politeness and a gentlemanly, mild manner characterized Donnell in his personal relationships; but when he took the floor of the Senate, he was an articulate, aggressive advocate for his cause. He came well armed with data, and his powerful voice needed no microphone. Critics considered his speeches tedious, long-winded, and overlegalistic, and joked he was the only senator who could explain at length the difference between a jot and a tittle.
Admirers viewed him as an able constitutional lawyer with high ethical standards. He was never known to drink, smoke, swear, or be touched by any hint of personal or political scandal. A tireless campaigner, he rose to an evangelistic fervor when attacking federal aid to education, "socialized medicine, " and other Fair Deal proposals. He never indulged in personal attacks on his opponents; indeed, he often surprised his audiences by praising them. Thus Donnell remained throughout his Senate career an anomaly in Washington politics. His individualistic political style and extraordinarily strict ethical standards mark Donnell as an unusual and unforgettable figure in Missouri and national history.
Donnell married Hilda Hayes on January 29, 1913; they had two children.