serviceyears branch death_date allegiance termstart termend birth_date nominator alma_mater death_place battles image name predecessor birth_place party office state district successor article_title
1943 -- 1945 15px united states army air corps 10 april 1994 united states may 10 , 1985 june 19 , 1976 april 10 , 1994 may 27 , 1985 11 january 1924 ronald reagan college of marshall baylor university baylor law school marshall , texas world war ii sam b. hall , jr.jpg sam b. hall , jr. . joseph j. fisher wright patman marshall , texas democratic judge eastern district of texas of the united states district court for the texas 1st david folsom jim chapman sam b. hall , jr. .

sam b. hall , jr. .

sam blakeley hall , jr. -lrb- january 11 , 1924 -- april 10 , 1994 -rrb- was an american lawyer , politician , and judge .
he was a member of the u.s. house of representatives from texas 's 1st congressional district from 1976 to 1985 and a federal judge of the u.s. district court of the eastern district of texas from 1985 until his death in 1994 .
born and raised in marshall , texas , hall attended the college of marshall where he met his future wife mary madeleine segal .
after graduating from the college of marshall with an associate of arts degree in 1942 , he attended the university of texas before enlisting in the united states army air corps to serve during world war ii .
on returning to marshall after world war ii , he married mary madeleine segal and graduated with a bachelor 's degree from baylor university in 1946 and an ll.b .
from baylor law school in 1948 .
after being admitted to the bar he returned to marshall to practice law , where he was in private practice from 1948 to 1976 .
hall was unsuccessful in an attempt to receive the democratic party nomination for congress in the 1st district in 1962 .
he served as chairman of marshall 's board of education from 1972 to 1976 .
in 1976 hall won a special election for the the u.s. house after the death of incumbent wright patman .
he was reelected five times and served on the judiciary and veterans ' affairs committees .
on april 17 , 1985 , hall was nominated by president ronald reagan to a seat on the u.s. district court for the eastern district of texas vacated by joe j. fisher .
the move was engineered by republican senator phil gramm as a way to demonstrate southern support for reagan 's administration -- with many conservative democratic areas of the southern states trending towards republicans , gramm and other observers assumed a republican would win hall 's seat in a special election .
hall was quickly confirmed by the senate on may 3 , 1985 , and subsequently resigned his seat in congress to be sworn in as judge , receiving his commission on may 10 , 1985 .
-lrb- gramm 's ploy to have hall succeeded by a republican failed when the special election was won by democrat jim chapman , who defeated republican edd hargett . -rrb-
hall served on the bench until his death in marshall on april 10 , 1994 .
he was buried at new grover cemetery in marshall .
the sam b. hall federal courthouse in marshall was later renamed in his honor .
