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175 Makers of History: Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar

Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, 1845C
Senator; Supreme Court Associate Justice

In 1857, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar won election to the U.S. House of Representatives where he advocated "Southern rights" and justified slavery. After the Civil War, Lamar supported the Reconstruction policies of the Grant administration.

A combination of patriotic nationalism and partisan objectives became the hallmark of Lamar's career in the House and later in the Senate after 1877. In 1885, Grover Cleveland appointed him secretary of the interior. After two years, Cleveland elevated him to the U.S. Supreme Court where Lamar served as associate justice until his death in 1893.

He is the only person from the Southeast in John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage.