Joe McDonald Ingraham

Who was Joe McDonald Ingraham?

Joe McDonald Ingraham was a United States federal judge. He is best known as being the judge who sentenced the then World Heavyweight Champion Muhammed Ali to the maximum 5 year sentence available for refusing to fight in the unpopular Vietnam War.

Born in Pawnee County, Oklahoma, Ingraham received an LL.B. from National University Law School, Washington, D.C., in 1927. He was then in private practice in Stroud, Oklahoma until 1928, then in Fort Worth, Texas until 1935, and then in Houston, Texas from 1935 to 1942. He was in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, from 1942 to 1946. After the war, he returned to private practice in Houston until 1954.

On May 10, 1954, Ingraham was nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas vacated by Thomas M. Kennerly. Ingraham was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 6, 1954, and received his commission the same day.

On December 2, 1969, President Richard Nixon nominated Ingraham for elevation to a new seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit created by 82 Stat. 184. Again confirmed by the United States Senate on December 17, 1969, Ingraham received his commission the following day. He assumed senior status on July 31, 1973, serving in that capacity until his death, in 1990, in Houston.