List of United States Senators in the 81st Congress by seniority

This is a classification of United States Senators by seniority during the 81st Congress, from January 3, 1949 to January 3, 1951.

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.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Senators who were sworn in in the middle of the two-year Congressional term (up until the last senator who was not sworn in early after winning the November 1950 election) are listed at the end of the list with no number.

U.S. Senate Seniority
Rank	Name	Seniority Date	Other Factors
1	Kenneth McKellar (D-TN)	March 4, 1917
2	Walter F. George (D-GA)	November 22, 1922
3	Carl Hayden (D-AZ)	March 4, 1927	Former Rep (15 Years), Maryland
4	Alben W. Barkley^[5] (D-KY)		Former Rep (14 Years)
5	Elmer Thomas^[6] (D-OK)		Former Rep (4 Years), Oklahoma 21st Population (1920)
6	Millard Tydings^[6] (D-MD)		Former Rep (4 Years), Maryland 28th Population (1920)
7	Robert F. Wagner^[7] (D-NY)
8	Arthur H. Vandenberg (R-MI)	March 31, 1928
9	Tom Connally (D-TX)	March 4, 1929
10	Elbert D. Thomas^[6] (D-UT)	March 4, 1933
11	Richard Russell, Jr. (D-GA)	January 12, 1933
12	Harry F. Byrd Sr. (D-VA)	March 4, 1933	Former Governor
13	Pat McCarran (D-NV)	March 4, 1933
14	Joseph C. O'Mahoney (D-WY)	January 1, 1934
15	James Murray (D-MT)	November 7, 1934
16	Dennis Chavez (D-NM)	May 11, 1935
17	Claude Pepper^[6] (D-FL)	November 4, 1936
18	Edwin C. Johnson (D-CO)	January 3, 1937	Former Governor, Colorado 33rd Population (1930)
19	Theodore F. Green (D-RI)		Former Governor, Rhode Island 37th Population (1930)
20	Styles Bridges (R-NH)		Former Governor, New Hampshire 41st Population (1930)
21	Allen J. Ellender (D-LA)
22	Joseph Hill (D-AL)	January 11, 1938
23	Scott W. Lucas^[6] (D-IL)	January 3, 1939	Former Rep (4 Years)
24	Charles W. Tobey (R-NH)		Former Rep (2 Years), Former Governor
25	Clyde M. Reed^[8] (R-KS)		Former Governor
26	Robert A. Taft (R-OH)		Ohio 4th Population (1930)
27	Sheridan Downey^[6] (D-CA)		California 6th Population (1930)
28	Alexander Wiley (R-WI)		Wisconsin 13th Population (1930)
29	John Chandler Gurney^[6] (R-SD)		South Dakota 36th Population (1930)
30	Ralph Owen Brewster (R-ME)	January 3, 1941	Former Governor, Maine 35th Population (1930)
31	William Langer (R-ND)		Former Governor, North Dakota 38th Population (1930)
32	Harley M. Kilgore (D-WV)		West Virginia 27th Population (1930)
33	Hugh A. Butler (R-NE)		Nebraska 32nd Population (1930)
34	Ernest McFarland (D-AZ)		Arizona 43rd Population (1930)
35	George Aiken (R-VT)	January 10, 1941
36	Burnet R. Maybank (D-SC)	November 5, 1941
37	Eugene D. Millikin (R-CO)	December 20, 1941
38	James Eastland (D-MS)	January 3, 1943	Previously A Senator
39	Homer S. Ferguson (R-MI)		Michigan 7th Population (1940)
40	John Little McClellan (D-AR)		Arkansas 25th Population (1940)
41	Kenneth S. Wherry (R-NE)		Nebraska 32nd Population (1940)
42	Guy Cordon (R-OR)	March 4, 1944
43	Howard A. Smith (R-NJ)	December 7, 1944
44	Warren G. Magnuson (D-WA)	December 14, 1944
45	Francis J. Myers^[6] (D-PA)	January 3, 1945	Former Rep (6 Years)
46	J. William Fulbright (D-AR)		Former Rep (2 Years)
47	Clyde R. Hoey (D-NC)		Former Governor
48	Homer E. Capehart (R-IN)		Indiana 12th Population (1940)
49	Bourke B. Hickenlooper (R-IA)		Former Governor, Iowa 20th Population (1940)
50	Olin D. Johnston (D-SC)		Former Governor, South Carolina 26th Population (1940)
51	Brien McMahon (D-CT)		Connecticut 31st Population (1940)
52	Wayne Morse (R-OR)		Oregon 34th Population (1940)
53	Glen H. Taylor^[6] (D-ID)		Idaho 42nd Population (1940)
54	Leverett Saltonstall (R-MA)	January 10, 1945	Former Governor, Massachusetts 8th Population (1940)
55	Forrest C. Donnell^[6] (R-MO)	January 10, 1945	Former Governor, Missouri 10th Population (1940)
56	Milton Young (R-ND)	March 12, 1945
57	William F. Knowland (R-CA)	August 26, 1945
58	Spessard Holland (D-FL)	September 24, 1946
59	Ralph Flanders (R-VT)	November 1, 1946
60	A. Willis Robertson (D-VA)	November 6, 1946	Former Rep (13 Years, 10 Months)
61	John Sparkman (D-AL)	November 6, 1946	Former Rep (9 Years, 10 Months)
62	Harry P. Cain (R-WA)	December 26, 1946
63	Raymond E. Baldwin^[9] (R-CT)	December 27, 1946
64	Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (R-MA)	January 3, 1947	Previously a Senator (7 Years, 1 Month)
65	William E. Jenner (R-IN)		Previously a Senator (2 Months)
66	Edward Martin (R-PA)		Former Governor, Pennsylvania 2nd Population (1940)
67	John W. Bricker (R-OH)		Former Governor, Ohio 4th Population (1940)
68	Edward John Thye (R-MN)		Former Governor, Minnesota 18th Population (1940)
69	Herbert O'Conor (D-MD)		Former Governor, Maryland 28th Population (1940)
70	Irving Ives (R-NY)		New York 1st Population (1940)
71	James P. Kem (R-MO)		Missouri 10th Population (1940)
72	Joseph McCarthy (R-WI)		Wisconsin 13th Population (1940)
73	J. Howard McGrath^[10] (D-RI)		Rhode Island 36th Population (1940)
74	Zales Ecton (R-MT)		Montana 39th Population (1940)
75	Arthur Vivian Watkins (R-UT)		Utah 40th Population (1940)
76	John J. Williams (R-DE)		Delaware 47th Population (1940)
77	George W. Malone (R-NV)		Nevada 48th Population (1940)
78	John C. Stennis (D-MS)	November 17, 1947
79	Karl Mundt (R-SD)	December 31, 1948	Former Rep (9 Years)
80	J. Melville Broughton^[11] (D-NC)		Former Governor
81	Russell B. Long (D-LA)
82	Matthew M. Neely (D-WV)	January 3, 1949	Previously a Senator (twice) (total tenure 15 Years, 10 Months)
83	Guy Mark Gillette (D-IA)		Previously a Senator (8 Years, 2 Months)
84	Virgil Chapman (D-KY)		Former Rep (24 Years)
85	Lyndon Johnson (D-TX)		Former Rep (12 Years)
86	Estes Kefauver (D-TN)		Former Rep (10 Years)
87	Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME)		Former Rep (8 Years, 7 Months)
88	Clinton Anderson (D-NM)		Former Cabinet Secretary
89	Robert S. Kerr (D-OK)		Former Governor, Oklahoma 22nd Population (1940)
90	Andrew F. Schoeppel (R-KS)		Former Governor, Kansas 29th Population (1940)
91	Lester C. Hunt (D-WY)		Former Governor, Wyoming 46th Population (1940)
92	Paul Douglas (D-IL)		Illinois 3rd Population (1940)
93	Robert C. Hendrickson (R-NJ)		New Jersey 9th Population (1940)
94	Hubert Humphrey (D-MN)		Minnesota 18th Population (1940)
95	Bert H. Miller^[12] (D-ID)		Idaho 42nd Population (1940)
96	Joseph Frear, Jr. (D-DE)		Delaware 47th Population (1940)
	Garrett L. Withers^[6] (D-KY)	January 20, 1949
	Frank Porter Graham^[6] (D-NC)	March 29, 1949
	John Foster Dulles^[6] (R-NY)	July 8, 1949
	Edward L. Leahy^[6] (D-RI)	August 24, 1949
	Henry Dworshak (R-ID)	October 14, 1949
	Herbert H. Lehman (D-NY)	November 9, 1949
	William Benton (D-CT)	December 17, 1949
	Harry Darby^[6] (R-KS)	December 2, 1949

Notes

^ A Chronological List of United States Senators 1789-Present, via www.Senate.gov
^ 1921 U.S Census Report Contains 1920 Census results
^ 1931 U.S Census Report Contains 1930 Census results
^ 1941 U.S Census Report Contains 1940 Census results
^ Senator Barkley Resigned on January 19, 1949 to become Vice President of the United States.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Retired or defeated after 1950 Election
^ Senator Wagner resigned on June 28, 1949
^ Senator Reed died on November 8, 1949.
^ Senator Baldwin resigned on December 16, 1949
^ Senator McGrath resigned on August 23, 1949 to become United States Attorney General.
^ Senator Broughton died on March 6, 1949.
^ Senator Miller died on October 8, 1949.

External links

Senate Seniority List

Lists of United States Senators by Seniority (by Congress) (and years begun)

1 (1789)
2 (1791)
3 (1793)
4 (1795)
5 (1797)
6 (1799)
7 (1801)
8 (1803)
9 (1805)
10 (1807)

11 (1809)
12 (1811)
13 (1813)
14 (1815)
15 (1817)
16 (1819)
17 (1821)
18 (1823)
19 (1825)
20 (1827)

21 (1829)
22 (1831)
23 (1833)
24 (1835)
25 (1837)
26 (1839)
27 (1841)
28 (1843)
29 (1845)
30 (1847)

31 (1849)
32 (1851)
33 (1853)
34 (1855)
35 (1857)
36 (1859)
37 (1861)
38 (1863)
39 (1865)
40 (1867)

41 (1869)
42 (1871)
43 (1873)
44 (1875)
45 (1877)
46 (1879)
47 (1881)
48 (1883)
49 (1885)
50 (1887)

51 (1889)
52 (1891)
53 (1893)
54 (1895)
55 (1897)
56 (1899)
57 (1901)
58 (1903)
59 (1905)
60 (1907)

61 (1909)
62 (1911)
63 (1913)
64 (1915)
65 (1917)
66 (1919)
67 (1921)
68 (1923)
69 (1925)
70 (1927)

71 (1929)
72 (1931)
73 (1933)
74 (1935)
75 (1937)
76 (1939)
77 (1941)
78 (1943)
79 (1945)
80 (1947)

81 (1949)
82 (1951)
83 (1953)
84 (1955)
85 (1957)
86 (1959)
87 (1961)
88 (1963)
89 (1965)
90 (1967)

91 (1969)
92 (1971)
93 (1973)
94 (1975)
95 (1977)
96 (1979)
97 (1981)
98 (1983)
99 (1985)
100 (1987)

101 (1989)
102 (1991)
103 (1993)
104 (1995)
105 (1997)
106 (1999)
107 (2001)
108 (2003)
109 (2005)
110 (2007)

111 (2009)
112 (2011)
113 (2013)
114 (2015)

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List of United States Senators in the 81st Congress by seniority