John Coit Spooner (January 6, 1843June 11, 1919) was an American lawyer and Republican politician from Hudson, Wisconsin. He represented Wisconsin as a United States Senator from 1885 to 1891, then again from 1897 to 1907. In his latter stint, he was chairman of the powerful Senate Rules Committee and was considered one of the "Big Four" key Republicans in the Senate who largely controlled its major decisions, the others being Orville H. Platt of Connecticut, William B. Allison of Iowa, and Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island. He is possibly best known for the Spooner Act, which authorized the United States purchase of the Panama Canal Zone.
Politically, Spooner was a conservative (or stalwart) Republican and had a bitter rivalry for supremacy in Wisconsin Republican politics against his progressive Republican contemporary Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette.
Early life
thumb|left|200px|Portrait of Spooner in 1899
Spooner was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, on January 6, 1843, the son of Philip Loring Spooner and Lydia (Coit) Spooner. Philip Spooner was an attorney and judge and served on the bench in both Indiana and Wisconsin. Spooner moved with his parents to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1859. He attended the common schools and graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Philosophy (Philosophiae Baccalaureus, or P.B.) degree in 1864. While in college, Spooner joined the Psi Upsilon fraternity and was admitted to membership in Phi Beta Kappa.
Military service
During the Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army as a private assigned to Company D, 40th Wisconsin Infantry, a three-month unit. After Spooner's 100 days of service were complete, he returned home and recruited a company from his college classmates, Company A, 50th Wisconsin Infantry, which he commanded as a captain.
Start of career
After the war, Spooner served as private secretary to Wisconsin Governor Lucius Fairchild, and then the governor's military secretary with the rank of colonel He later served as quartermaster general of the Wisconsin Militia with the rank of brigadier general. He studied law with his father from 1865 to 1867, and he was admitted to the bar in 1867.
After becoming a lawyer, Spooner was appointed assistant attorney general of Wisconsin and he served from 1869 to 1870. In 1869, Spooner received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from the University of Wisconsin. Spooner moved to Hudson in 1870, and practiced law there from 1870 to 1884.
In 1888 and again in 1892, Spooner was a delegate to the Republican National Convention and was the chairman of Wisconsin's delegation. Spooner was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for governor of Wisconsin in 1892. After his election defeat, he moved to Madison and resumed practicing law in 1893.
In 1897, Spooner was elected to the U.S. Senate, succeeding Vilas. He was reelected in 1903, and served from 1897 until his resignation in 1907. Spooner disagreed with La Follette's progressive policies, which were opposed to his own conservative policies. At the time, party nominees were selected by the party officials, sometimes by party bosses.</blockquote>
Spooner shocked the state of Wisconsin and much of the American political world with his sudden resignation in March 1907. In his letter to the Governor, he explained that he felt the need to return to the legal profession in order to build a financial cushion to provide for his retirement and his heirs. He also noted that he had only two years left in his term and did not plan to seek re-election anyway. Members of the political media also speculated that Spooner had timed his resignation to catch the faction off guard and unprepared for a Senate campaign.
On hearing of his resignation, President Roosevelt remarked, "I can not sufficiently express my regret at Senator Spooner's resignation. We lose one of the ablest, most efficient, most fearless, and most upright public servants that the nation has had."
Later life
After his retirement from the Senate, he practiced law in New York City. In 1910, Spooner and Joseph P. Cotton formed the firm of Spooner & Cotton, where Spooner practiced until his death. following a nervous breakdown. He was interred in Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin. and Columbia University (1909).
Family
In 1868, Spooner married Annie Main of Madison. They were the parents of four children, three of whom lived to adulthood—Charles Philip Spooner (1869–1947), Willet Main Spooner (1871–1928), John C. Spooner (1877–1881), and Philip Loring Spooner (1879–1945).