# List of United States senators in the 78th Congress

This is a complete list of members of the United States Senate during the 78th United States Congress listed by seniority, from January 3, 1943, to January 3, 1945.
Order of service is based on the commencement of the senator's first term. Behind this is former service as a senator (only giving the senator seniority within his or her new incoming class), service as vice president, a House member, a cabinet secretary, or a governor of a state. The final factor is the population of the senator's state.
Senators who were sworn in during the middle of the two-year congressional term (up until the last senator who was not sworn in early after winning the November 1944 election) are listed at the end of the list with no number.
In this Congress, the most senior junior senator was Robert Reynolds. The most junior senior senator was James Tunnell, until the death of W. Warren Barbour, after which Albert Hawkes held the distinction.

## Terms of service

| Class | Terms of service of senators that expired in years |
| Class 3 | Terms of service of senators that expired in 1945 (AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MD, MO, NC, ND, NH, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, UT, VT, WA, and WI.) |
| Class 1 | Terms of service of senators that expired in 1947 (AZ, CA, CT, DE, FL, IN, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, PA, RI, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, and WY.) |
| Class 2 | Terms of service of senators that expired in 1949 (AL, AR, CO, DE, GA, IA, ID, IL, KS, KY, LA, MA, ME, MI, MN, MS, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WV, and WY.) |

## U.S. Senate seniority list

U.S. Senate seniority :
| Rank | Senator (party-state) | Seniority date | Other factors |
| 1 | Ellison D. Smith (D-SC) | March 4, 1909 | |
| 2 | Kenneth McKellar (D-TN) | March 4, 1917 | |
| 3 | Hiram Johnson (R-CA) | March 16, 1917 | |
| 4 | Charles L. McNary (R-OR) | December 18, 1918 | |
| 5 | Arthur Capper (R-KS) | March 4, 1919 | |
| 6 | Carter Glass (D-VA) | February 2, 1920 | |
| 7 | Walter F. George (D-GA) | November 22, 1922 | |
| 8 | Henrik Shipstead (R-MN) | March 4, 1923 | Minnesota 17th in population (1920) |
| 9 | Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT) | March 4, 1923 | Montana 39th in population (1920) |
| 10 | Robert M. La Follette Jr. (WP-WI) | September 30, 1925 | |
| 11 | Gerald Nye (R-ND) | November 14, 1925 | |
| 12 | David I. Walsh (D-MA) | December 6, 1926 | |
| 13 | Carl Hayden (D-AZ) | March 4, 1927 | Former representative (15 years) |
| 14 | Alben W. Barkley (D-KY) | March 4, 1927 | Former representative (14 years) |
| 15 | Elmer Thomas (D-OK) | March 4, 1927 | Former representative (4 years), Oklahoma 21st in population (1920) |
| 16 | Millard Tydings (D-MD) | March 4, 1927 | Former representative (4 years), Maryland 28th in population (1920) |
| 17 | Robert F. Wagner (D-NY) | March 4, 1927 | |
| 18 | Arthur H. Vandenberg (R-MI) | March 31, 1928 | |
| 19 | Tom Connally (D-TX) | March 4, 1929 | |
| 20 | James J. Davis (R-PA) | December 2, 1930 | |
| 21 | Wallace H. White Jr. (R-ME) | March 4, 1931 | Former representative |
| 22 | Josiah W. Bailey (D-NC) | March 4, 1931 | North Carolina 12th in population (1930) |
| 23 | John H. Bankhead II (D-AL) | March 4, 1931 | Alabama 15th in population (1930) |
| 24 | Warren Austin (R-VT) | April 1, 1931 | |
| 25 | Hattie Caraway (D-AR) | November 13, 1931 | |
| 26 | Robert R. Reynolds (D-NC) | December 5, 1932 | |
| 27 | Richard Russell Jr. (D-GA) | January 12, 1933 | |
| 28 | Bennett Champ Clark (D-MO) | February 4, 1933 | |
| 29 | John H. Overton (D-LA) | March 4, 1933 | Former representative |
| 30 | Harry F. Byrd Sr. (D-VA) | March 4, 1933 | Former governor |
| 31 | Frederick Van Nuys (D-IN) | March 4, 1933 | Indiana 11th in population (1930) |
| 32 | Homer T. Bone (D-WA) | March 4, 1933 | Washington 30th in population (1930) |
| 33 | Elbert D. Thomas (D-UT) | March 4, 1933 | Utah 40th in population (1930) |
| 34 | Pat McCarran (D-NV) | March 4, 1933 | Nevada 48th in population (1930) |
| 35 | Carl Hatch (D-NM) | October 10, 1933 | |
| 36 | Joseph C. O'Mahoney (D-WY) | January 1, 1934 | |
| 37 | James Murray (D-MT) | November 7, 1934 | |
| 38 | Peter G. Gerry (D-RI) | January 3, 1935 | Previously a senator |
| 39 | George L. P. Radcliffe (D-MD) | January 3, 1935 | Former representative |
| 40 | Theodore G. Bilbo (D-MS) | January 3, 1935 | Former governor |
| 41 | Joseph F. Guffey (D-PA) | January 3, 1935 | Pennsylvania 2nd in population (1930) |
| 42 | Harry S. Truman (D-MO) | January 3, 1935 | Missouri 10th in population (1930) |
| 43 | Francis T. Maloney (D-CT) | January 3, 1935 | Connecticut 29th in population (1930) |
| 44 | Dennis Chavez (D-NM) | May 11, 1935 | |
| 45 | Guy Mark Gillette (D-IA) | November 4, 1936 | Former representative |
| 46 | Charles O. Andrews (D-FL) | November 4, 1936 | "A" 1st in alphabet |
| 47 | Claude Pepper (D-FL) | November 4, 1936 | "P" 16th in alphabet |
| 48 | Edwin C. Johnson (D-CO) | January 3, 1937 | Former governor, Colorado 33rd in population (1930) |
| 49 | Theodore F. Green (D-RI) | January 3, 1937 | Former governor, Rhode Island 37th in population (1930) |
| 50 | Styles Bridges (R-NH) | January 3, 1937 | Former governor, New Hampshire 41st in population (1930) |
| 51 | Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (R-MA) | January 3, 1937 | Massachusetts 8th in population (1930) |
| 52 | Allen J. Ellender (D-LA) | January 3, 1937 | Louisiana 22nd in population (1930) |
| 53 | Joseph L. Hill (D-AL) | January 11, 1938 | |
| 54 | William Warren Barbour (R-NJ) | November 9, 1938 | Previously a senator |
| 55 | Tom Stewart (D-TN) | November 9, 1938 | |
| 56 | James M. Mead (D-NY) | December 3, 1938 | |
| 57 | Scott W. Lucas (D-IL) | January 3, 1939 | Former representative (4 years), Illinois 3rd in population (1930) |
| 58 | D. Worth Clark (D-ID) | January 3, 1939 | Former representative (4 years), Idaho 42nd in population (1930) |
| 59 | Charles W. Tobey (R-NH) | January 3, 1939 | Former representative (2 years) |
| 60 | Clyde M. Reed (R-KS) | January 3, 1939 | Former governor |
| 61 | Robert A. Taft (R-OH) | January 3, 1939 | Ohio 4th in population (1930) |
| 62 | Sheridan Downey (D-CA) | January 3, 1939 | California 6th in population (1930) |
| 63 | Alexander Wiley (R-WI) | January 3, 1939 | Wisconsin 13th in population (1930) |
| 64 | John A. Danaher (R-CT) | January 3, 1939 | Connecticut 29th in population (1930) |
| 65 | Rufus C. Holman (R-OR) | January 3, 1939 | Oregon 34th in population (1930) |
| 66 | John Chandler Gurney (R-SD) | January 3, 1939 | South Dakota 36th in population (1930) |
| 67 | Albert B. Chandler (D-KY) | October 9, 1939 | |
| 68 | John Thomas (R-ID) | January 27, 1940 | |
| 69 | C. Wayland Brooks (R-IL) | November 22, 1940 | |
| 70 | Monrad C. Wallgren (D-WA) | December 19, 1940 | |
| 71 | Abe Murdock (D-UT) | January 3, 1941 | Former representative (8 years) |
| 72 | Ralph Owen Brewster (R-ME) | January 3, 1941 | Former representative (6 years) |
| 73 | William Langer (R-ND) | January 3, 1941 | Former governor |
| 74 | Harold H. Burton (R-OH) | January 3, 1941 | Ohio 4th in population (1940) |
| 75 | Raymond E. Willis (R-IN) | January 3, 1941 | Indiana 12th in population (1940) |
| 76 | Harley M. Kilgore (D-WV) | January 3, 1941 | West Virginia 24th in population (1940) |
| 77 | Hugh A. Butler (R-NE) | January 3, 1941 | Nebraska 32nd in population (1940) |
| 78 | Ernest McFarland (D-AZ) | January 3, 1941 | Arizona 43rd in population (1940) |
| 79 | James M. Tunnell (D-DE) | January 3, 1941 | Delaware 47th in population (1940) |
| 80 | George Aiken (R-VT) | January 10, 1941 | |
| 81 | W. Lee O'Daniel (D-TX) | August 4, 1941 | |
| 82 | Burnet R. Maybank (D-SC) | November 5, 1941 | |
| 83 | Eugene D. Millikin (R-CO) | December 20, 1941 | |
| 84 | James G. Scrugham (D-NV) | December 7, 1942 | |
| 85 | Joseph H. Ball (R-MN) | January 3, 1943 | Former senator (2 years) |
| 86 | James Eastland (D-MS) | January 3, 1943 | Former senator (1 year) |
| 87 | John Little McClellan (D-AR) | January 3, 1943 | Former representative |
| 88 | Harlan J. Bushfield (R-SD) | January 3, 1943 | Former governor, South Dakota 37th in population (1940) |
| 89 | C. Douglass Buck (R-DE) | January 3, 1943 | Former governor, Delaware 47th in population (1940) |
| 90 | Homer S. Ferguson (R-MI) | January 3, 1943 | Michigan 7th in population (1940) |
| 91 | Albert W. Hawkes (R-NJ) | January 3, 1943 | New Jersey 9th in population (1940) |
| 92 | Edward H. Moore (R-OK) | January 3, 1943 | Oklahoma 22nd in population (1940) |
| 93 | W. Chapman Revercomb (R-WV) | January 3, 1943 | West Virginia 24th in population (1940) |
| 94 | Kenneth S. Wherry (R-NE) | January 3, 1943 | Nebraska 32nd in population (1940) |
| 95 | Edward V. Robertson (R-WY) | January 3, 1943 | Wyoming 46th in population (1940) |
| 96 | George A. Wilson (R-IA) | January 14, 1943 | |
| | Arthur Walsh (R-NJ) | November 26, 1943 | |
| | Samuel D. Jackson (D-IN) | January 28, 1944 | |
| | Sinclair Weeks (R-MA) | February 8, 1944 | |
| | Guy Cordon (R-OR) | March 4, 1944 | |
| | William E. Jenner (R-IN) | November 14, 1944 | |
| | Wilton E. Hall (D-SC) | November 20, 1944 | |
| | Howard A. Smith (R-NJ) | December 7, 1944 | |
| | Warren G. Magnuson (D-WA) | December 14, 1944 | |
The most senior senators by class were Kenneth McKellar (D-Tennessee) from Class 1, Charles L. McNary (R-Oregon) from Class 2, and Ellison D. Smith (D-South Carolina) from Class 3.