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| Affiliation | Republican |
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1942-01-01 |
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| Name | Wellington D. Rankin |
| Address |
Helena, Montana , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
September 16, 1884
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| Died | June 04, 1966
(81 years)
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| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | Juan Croniqueur
Sep 06, 2024 07:40pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | Wellington Duncan Rankin
From a ramshackle, rundown building in Helena's Last Chance Gulch, Wellington D. Rankin managed a law practice and amassed a fortune from real estate, timber, oil and ranch ventures during the first half of the 20th century.
He was a powerful Montanan, whose history and legacy remains somewhat clouded because he rarely gave interviews and burned his memoirs before he died.
While his famous sister, Jeannette, espoused her anti-war sentiments at the U.S. Congress, Rankin was heard in halls of Montana's higher courts and offices. He served as attorney general from 1921 to 1924. He also served as a state Supreme Court associate justice and as U.S. District Attorney for Montana.
Rankin was well-known for his oratory skills and theatrical skills in courtrooms, earning him the reputation as the best trial lawyer in the state. In 1965 he was officially bequeathed the honor when he was named the state's most outstanding trial lawyer by the Montana Bar Association.
Rankin was born in Missoula in 1884 and received undergraduate degrees from the University of Montana (called Montana State University at the time) and Harvard University. Later, he studied at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship and earned a law degree from Harvard in 1909.
Rankin's refined education and his fondness for immaculate, elegant clothes also earned him a reputation as a "dandy," a name he was likely to respond to with a well-placed punch.
"He was a 190-pound dude with a hard fist, ready at any time to accept a physical challenge as he was to accept a court testimony of legal ability," wrote Great Falls Tribune reporter C.T. Sullivan, after Rankin died in 1966 at the age of 81.
A court document from 1917 showed that Rankin pleaded guilty to assaulting a Helena physician and was fined $250 for the offense.
Rankin was die-hard Republican who lost the race for the U.S. Senate in 1942. He was chairman of the executive committee of the Republican Party and also was the Republican National Committeeman for Montana.
The greatest disappointment in his life, he often was heard to say, was his sister's anti-war votes.
With more the 620,000 acres deeded in his name, he was considered one of the nation's largest landowners when he died. He left behind an estate estimated at more than $11 million.
He also was credited with paying the costs of higher education for many young men and women from Helena.
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