This article is about the former Governor of Pennsylvania. For his father, the former Pennsylvania Attorney General, see John C. Bell (lawyer). For other people named John Bell, see John Bell (disambiguation).
John Cromwell Bell Jr.
Photo used in Bell's 1942 lieutenant governor campaign
a.^ By virtue of their positions as President Pro Tempore of the State Senate, Taylor (from January 3 through January 7) and Heyburn (from January 2 through January 21) served as Acting Lieutenant Governor for the duration of Bell's governorship. b.^ Strickler was the next permanent holder of the lieutenant governorship; he did not assume office until Duff was inaugurated as governor.
After graduating from the Episcopal Academy in 1910, Bell received a Bachelor of Arts degree (1914) and a Bachelor of Laws degree (1917) from the University of Pennsylvania.[1] He played on the varsity soccer and tennis teams during college. At Penn, he was a member of Saint Anthony Hall.[3] He was admitted to the bar in 1917 and commenced private practice, eventually becoming a senior partner of the law firm Bell, Murdoch, Paxson and Dilworth.[1] In 1918, he married Sarah Andrews Baker; the couple had three sons and two daughters.
Political career
In 1919, Bell was appointed assistant city solicitor of Philadelphia, a position he held for three years.[2] He then served as assistant district attorney of Philadelphia from 1922 to 1925.[2] He later earned a reputation as a strong opponent of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies, publishing such booklets as Can We Think and Dare We Speak (1934), What Do You Know About the New Deal? (1935), and New Deal Fairy Tales (1936).[1] He was finance chairman for Arthur H. James in the 1938 gubernatorial election, and later served as vice-chairman of the Republican State Finance Committee. From 1939 to 1942, he was Pennsylvania Secretary of Banking under Governor James.[2]
Appointed by Governor Duff, Bell became a justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1951.[2] He later served as Chief Justice from August 1961 until his retirement in January 1972. During his tenure, he maintained conservative views and often dissented if he felt court decisions were too liberal. He supported having judges nominated by a panel of lawyers and appointed by the governor instead of the current process of being elected by the public.[1] He resigned from the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1965 in protest of their policies, and ordered an investigation of the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court in 1966 for irregularities.[1] After retiring from the court, Bell lived in Wynnewood and served as a special assistant to the local district attorney.
He died on March 18, 1974[4] at age 81, and is buried at St. Asaph Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd.
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