Franklin Swift Billings Jr. (June 5, 1922 – March 9, 2014) was an American politician and judge from the state of

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. Billings served as

Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives The Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives is the Speaker or presiding officer of the Vermont House of Representatives, the lower house of the Vermont Legislature. The Speaker presides over sessions of the Houses, recognizes members s ...

, Chief Justice of the

Vermont Supreme Court The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont. Unlike most other states, the Vermont Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial courts, as Vermont has no intermediate appeals court. The Court ...

and Chief United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the District of Vermont The United States District Court for the District of Vermont (in case citations, D. Vt.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose jurisdiction is the federal district of Vermont. The court has locations in Brattleboro, ...

Early life

Franklin S. "Bill" Billings was born in

Woodstock, Vermont Woodstock is the shire town (county seat) of Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,005. It includes the villages of Woodstock, South Woodstock, Taftsville, and West Woodstock. History Cha ...

on June 5, 1922, the son of

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Franklin S. Billings and grandson of Franklin Noble Billings. He was raised in Woodstock and

Milton, Massachusetts Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States and an affluent suburb of Boston. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 census. Milton is the birthplace of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and architect Buckminster Fuller. ...

, graduated from Cardigan Mountain School and

Milton Academy Milton Academy (also known as Milton) is a highly selective, coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered ...

, and received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1943.

World War II

Billings completed the

Reserve Officer Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

program at Harvard and received his commission as a second lieutenant. He was slated for training at Fort Sill when an Army physical uncovered a heart condition that disqualified him from military service. He then moved to

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

to work on a

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

radar project for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. Billings then joined the

American Field Service AFS Intercultural Programs (or AFS, originally the American Field Service) is an international youth exchange organization. It consists of over 50 independent, not-for-profit organizations, each with its own network of volunteers, professional ...

as a volunteer ambulance driver. He served with the British Eighth Army and the 6th Armoured Division, and earned the British Empire Medal. He was wounded at the Battle of Monte Cassino in Southern Italy in May 1944, requiring five months of recovery and recuperation at a United States Army hospital in Italy, then four months stateside. In 2010 he was awarded the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

Early career

Billings attended

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

for a year, and then transferred to the University of Virginia School of Law, from which he received a Juris Doctor in 1947. He then practiced law in Woodstock. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, he held several elected and appointed offices, including Village Trustee, Town Selectman, Town Meeting Moderator, Assistant Secretary and Secretary of the

Vermont State Senate The Vermont Senate is the upper house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The senate consists of 30 members. Senate districting divides the 30 members into three single-member districts, six two-m ...

, Executive Clerk to Governor Joseph Johnson, and Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs (chief assistant) to Governor

Robert Stafford Robert Theodore Stafford (August 8, 1913 – December 23, 2006) was an American politician from Vermont. In his lengthy political career, he served as the 71st governor of Vermont, a United States representative, and a U.S. Senator. A Republi ...

. Billings also served as Judge of the

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

Municipal Court from 1955 to 1962.

Later career

Elected to the Vermont House of Representatives as a

in 1960, Billings served from 1961 to 1965. In the House Billings was one of the "Young Turks," a group of relatively junior members who pursued progressive policies regardless of party affiliation. The effort to end conservative Republican dominance of Vermont had gone on since the early 1900s with limited success. The Young Turks attained more success, including the election of fellow Young Turk

Philip H. Hoff Philip Henderson Hoff (June 29, 1924 – April 26, 2018) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Vermont. He was most notable for his service as the List of Governors of Vermont, 73rd governor of Vermont from 1963 to 1969, the state's ...

, a

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

liberal, as Vermont's first Democratic

since the founding of the Republican Party in the 1850s. He was

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

in his final term. During his speakership, Vermont conformed to federal proportional representation requirements, moving the state House from a "one town, one vote" body of over 240 members to 150 members elected by district. Billings became a Judge of the Superior Court in 1966. He was an associate justice of the

from 1975 to 1983. In 1983, he was nominated for Chief Justice; he was succeeded as an associate justice by Ernest W. Gibson III, and served until 1984.

Federal judicial service

Billings was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on May 25, 1984, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

James Stuart Holden James Stuart Holden (January 29, 1914 – November 18, 1996) was an American attorney and judge. He served as an associate justice and chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court and later as a judge of the United States District Court for the Dis ...

. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on June 15, 1984, and received commission on June 15, 1984. He served as Chief Judge from 1988 to 1991. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on September 9, 1994. His service terminated on March 9, 2014, due to death.

Retirement and death

In retirement Billings continued to reside in Woodstock. He died in Woodstock on March 9, 2014, at the age of 91.

Family

Billings married Pauline (Polly) Richardson Gillingham in 1951, the granddaughter of Frank Henry Gillingham, founder of F. H. Gillingham & Sons at 16 Elm Street in Woodstock. The general store remains in the family and is operated by their two sons, Frank and Jireh Billings. They had four children: Franklin Swift Billings III, Jireh Swift Billings, Elizabeth Preudhomme Billings and Ann Billings Suokko; and eight grandchildren: Jireh Swift Billings, Jr., Nathaniel Swift Billings, Calder Swift Billings, Isaac Billings Sacca, Susanna Sacca Billings, Mario Billings Sacca, Gertrude Sofia Suokko and Alden Southworth Curtis Suokko.

Legacy

Billings was a member of the Vermont family that

Billings, Montana Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Met ...

, and the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...

Billings Library The Billings Memorial Library is located on the campus of the University of Vermont in Burlington. Built in 1883, it was designed by American architect Henry Hobson Richardson to resemble the Winn Library in Woburn, Massachusetts, United States ...

were named.Former Vermont Judge Franklin Billings Jr. dies at 91
/ref>

* Franklin S. Billings * Franklin Noble Billings * Frederick H. Billings * F. H. Gillingham & Sons *

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont. The park preserves the Marsh-Billings House, as well as the site where Frederick Billings established a managed forest and a p ...

* Woodstock Railway *

References

External links

*
Franklin S. Billings Jr.
a
''The Political Graveyard''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Billings, Franklin Swift Jr. 1922 births 2014 deaths People from Woodstock, Vermont Military personnel from Vermont United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army officers Recipients of the British Empire Medal Milton Academy alumni Harvard College alumni University of Virginia School of Law alumni Vermont lawyers Republican Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives Speakers of the Vermont House of Representatives Vermont state court judges Chief Justices of the Vermont Supreme Court Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan 20th-century American judges Justices of the Vermont Supreme Court Superior court judges in the United States British Army personnel of World War II American Field Service personnel of World War II