Background
John Frost Nugent was born on June 28, 1868 in LaGrande, Oregon, United States. He was the son of Edward and Agnes P. (Frost) Nugent. He grew up at Silver City, Idaho.
John Frost Nugent was born on June 28, 1868 in LaGrande, Oregon, United States. He was the son of Edward and Agnes P. (Frost) Nugent. He grew up at Silver City, Idaho.
Nugent attended public schools until the age of fifteen. He studied law.
Nugent entered the mines and soon became a superintendent, having charge of several different workings in Idaho and, for a time, a mine in Australia. Returning to Idaho, he became court reporter for the third judicial district, of which his father was judge.
Nugent was admitted to the bar in 1898, and began practice at Silver City. He was elected prosecuting attorney for Owyhee County for four terms, and was chairman of the county Democratic central committee for two terms.
He was associated with Clarence S. Darrow in 1907 in the defense of William D. Haywood, George A. Pettibone, and Charles H. Moyer, officials of the Western Federation of Miners, against the charge of complicity in the assassination of former Governor Frank Steunenberg. These defendants were accused in a confession of Harry Orchard (Alfred E. Horsley), the slayer, but were acquitted. Idaho political control, at the time Nugent began his public career, was in the hands of Fred Thomas Dubois, who had been territorial representative in Congress, and later became the first senator from Idaho. Dubois was first a Republican, and opposed the Mormons and espoused free coinage of silver. He bolted the party in 1896 on the latter issue, and became a Democrat after election to the Senate for the term 1901-07. This shift in allegiance lost him strength in Idaho, and Nugent, as chairman of the state Democratic central committee, fought to oust him from leadership, completing the work by opposing Dubois' proposed anti-Mormon plank in the Democratic National Convention in 1908.
Governor Moses Alexander, in whose election Nugent had been most instrumental, appointed him United States senator in January 1918, to fill the unexpired term of James H. Brady. In the election of November 1918, the Non-Partisan League routed the Democrats in Idaho, but Nugent defeated former Governor Frank R. Gooding for the Senate for the remainder of the term, receiving much League support. He defended the reconstruction policies of President Wilson and espoused American adherence to the League of Nations.
Nugent resigned from the Senate, effective January 14, 1921, President Wilson having appointed him, December 20, 1920, a member of the Federal Trade Commission. In 1926 he ran unsuccessfully for the Senate. Retiring from the Federal Trade Commission in 1927, he practised law in Washington, D. C. , until his death, which occurred in that city.
Nugent was a handsome man, with regular features and forceful presence. He was an excellent public speaker, took an active interest in fraternal organizations, and used his aptitudes to acquire an enthusiastic political following.
On May 15, 1895 Nugent married Adelma Ainslie, by whom he had one son.
