Wall Doxey

Wall Doxey was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi on August 8, 1892, a son of John Sanford Doxey and Sarah Corrolla (Jones) Doxey.{{cite book |author=Joint Committee On Printing, United States Congress |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JrXYvgrwkM0C&q=Wall+Doxey&pg=PA667 |title=Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 |date=1950 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=US Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0-598-68615-2 |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |date=1942 |title=Who's Who In The East |volume=I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPP4MvNnc_QC&q=%22john+s.+doxey%22+wall+sarah |location=Chicago |publisher=Larkin, Roosevelt & Larkin |page=775 |via=Google Books}} He was raised and educated in Holly Springs, and graduated from the University of Mississippi with an A.B. in 1913. In 1914, he received his LL.B. from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

Doxey was admitted to the bar in 1914 and practiced in Holly Springs. In 1916, he married Myrtle Frances Johnson of Jackson, Tennessee.{{cite book |author=Joint Committee On Printing, United States Congress |date=1940 |title=Official Congressional Directory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6l-XtZRNuXQC&pg=PA58 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=US Government Printing Office |page=58 |via=Google Books}} They were the parents of a son, Wall Doxey Jr. Ralph H. Doxey, who served in the Mississippi House of Representatives and Mississippi Senate, is Doxey's grandson.{{cite news |last=Kanengiser |first=Adam |date=September 19, 2004 |title=Republicans Welcome Sen. Ralph Doxey |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/clarion-ledger-republicans-welcome-sen/103207754/ |work=The Clarion-Ledger |location=Jackson, Mississippi |page=2G |via=Newspapers.com}}

A Democrat, Doxey served as prosecuting attorney of Marshall County from 1915 to 1923. From 1923 to 1929, he was district attorney for Mississippi's Third Judicial District.

In addition to membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Doxey was active in Freemasonry and the Shriners. He also belonged to the Elks, Rotary Club, Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity and Omicron Delta Kappa college fraternity.

In 1928, Doxey was elected to represent Mississippi's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He was reelected six times, and served from 1929 to 1941. Doxey was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1932, 1936, and 1940.{{cite book |author=Joint Committee On Printing, United States Congress |date=1971 |title=Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WgWeWBMrSbgC&pg=PA879 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=US Government Printing Office |page=879 |via=Google Books}}

Throughout his political career, Doxey represented a district with a black-majority population.{{cite book |last=Busbee |first= Westley F. Jr. |date=2015 |title=Mississippi: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5rzlBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA236 |location=Malden, Massachusetts |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |page=236 |isbn=978-1-1187-5590-7 |via=Google Books}} Black voters were largely affiliated with the Republican Party in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but they were effectively excluded from Mississippi's political system by the state constitution and legal restrictions that prevented them from registering to vote.{{cite book |last=Katznelson |first= Ira |date=2014 |title=Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EtBX0jBwgCQC&pg=PT154 |location=New York |publisher=Liveright Publishing Corporation |pages=153‒154 |isbn=978-0-8714-0660-6 |via=Google Books}}

After the death of U.S. Senator Pat Harrison, Doxey won a special election to fill the seat,[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=267835 MS US Senate - Special Election Race - Sep 23, 1941]. Our Campaigns. Retrieved November 21, 2021. and served in the United States Senate from 1941 until 1943. He was defeated in the 1942 Democratic primary by James Eastland.[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=384574 MS US Senate - D Runoff Race - Sep 15, 1942]. Our Campaigns. Retrieved November 21, 2021.

Doxey served as United States Senate Sergeant at Arms from February 1, 1943, to January 3, 1947. He is the only former senator to have served in this post.{{cite web |author=Historian of the United States Senate |date=2020 |title=Wall Doxey, Sergeant at Arms, 1943–1947 |url=https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/sergeant-at-arms/SAA-Wall-Doxey.htm |website=Senate.gov |location=Washington, DC |publisher=U.S. Senate |access-date=8 February 2025}} He served for the rest of 1947 as a hearing examiner for the United States Department of Agriculture. Doxey then returned to Holly Springs, where he practiced law until his retirement.

Doxey died in Memphis, Tennessee on March 2, 1962. He was buried at Hillcrest Cemetery in Holly Springs.

Mississippi's Wall Doxey State Park is named for Doxey.{{cite web |title=Historic Resources Inventory: Wall Doxey State Park |url=https://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/public/prop.aspx?id=34137&view=facts&y=732 |website=MDAH.MS.gov |location=Jackson, Mississippi |publisher=Mississippi Department of Archives & History |access-date=8 February 2025}} Construction of the park took place from 1935 to 1938, and it was the eighth of ten Mississippi parks built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Originally named Spring Lake State Park, the site was renamed in 1956. In 1997, the older part of the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Wall Doxey State Park Historic District.

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Category:1892 births

Category:1962 deaths

Category:Sergeants at Arms of the United States Senate

Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Mississippi

Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi

Category:People from Holly Springs, Mississippi

Category:Burials at Hillcrest Cemetery

Category:20th-century United States senators

Category:20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

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