Ingram Stainback

Who was Ingram Stainback?

Ingram Macklin Stainback was the ninth Territorial Governor of Hawaii and served from 1942 to 1951.

Born in 1883 in Somerville, Tennessee, he received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago.

Stainback, a well-connected Democrat, came to Hawaii shortly after graduation and was appointed by Democratic Governor Lucius E. Pinkham in 1914 to the post of Territorial Attorney General. He resigned in 1917 to join the Army and rose to the rank of major. When the war ended he returned to private practice in Hawaii.

Previous to his administration, Stainback was a United States District Attorney and then a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Territory of Hawaii. He was appointed to the office by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is likely that his friendships with then-Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Senator Kenneth McKellar, both Tennesseans, played a role in his appointment. However, Stainback was essentially powerless for the first two years of his term since Gov. Joseph B. Poindexter had allowed the military to take over the government on December 7, 1941. During that time, Hawaii was governed by Army generals Walter Short, Delos Emmons, and Robert C. Richardson, Jr.