J. Lister Hill

Joseph Lister Hill (December 27, 1894 – December 20, 1984) was an American attorney and Democratic Party politician who represented Alabama in the United States House of Representatives from 1923 to 1938 and the United States Senate from 1938 to 1969.

As Senator, Hill was active on health-related issues and served as Senate Majority Whip from 1941 to 1947. He also served as the Chair of the Senate Committee on Labor from 1955 to 1969. At the time of his retirement, Hill was the fourth-most senior Senator. Hill was succeeded by fellow Democrat James Allen.

Hill was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 27, 1894 along with his twin sister, Amelie, to the surgeon Dr. Luther Leonidas Hill Jr. and his wife Lilly. Lister Hill was named after Dr. Joseph Lister, the father of antiseptic surgery. Following his graduation from the Starke University School in Montgomery, he entered the University of Alabama at the age of sixteen and graduated four years later with a BA and law degree and a Phi Beta Kappa key. While a student at the University of Alabama, he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon. He also founded the Student Government Association (SGA) and was its first president, the Jasons Senior Men's Honorary (which the university ceased recognizing in 1976 for its all-male policy, but which still taps forty men each spring on the Franklin Mound), and The Machine (the local chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon).

He also studied law at the University of Michigan Law School at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and at Columbia Law School in New York City. He was admitted to the Alabama bar in 1916 and commenced practice in Montgomery and also served as the president of the Montgomery Board of Education from 1917 to 1922.

Hill was elected on August 14, 1923, as U.S. representative from Alabama's 2nd congressional district to fill the vacancy created by the death of John R. Tyson. He served as Chairman of the House Committee on Military Affairs. On January 10, 1938, Hill was appointed to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Dixie Bibb Graves for the term ending January 3, 1939; he was subsequently elected on April 26, 1938 to fill the remaining months of the term.

During World War II, Hill supported the interventionist side of America's foreign policy arguments and took an outspokenly "pro-British" stance, both speaking and voting in favor of the Lend-Lease program. On October 23, 1941 he voted in favor of supplemental lend-lease funding to help the British Army. On November 7, 1941 he voted in favor of legislation to amend several sections of the neutrality acts which was intended to make it easier for the United States to provide direct military aid to the United Kingdom during World War II. The British privately described him as "reliably pro-British." He was elected to a full term in November 1938 and re-elected in 1944, 1950, 1956, and 1962. He did not seek re-election in 1968 and retired in January 1969.

A moderate-to-liberal^{[better source needed]} populist Democrat, Hill distinguished himself in a number of fields, but was best known for the Hospital and Health Center Construction Act of 1946, better known as the Hill-Burton Act. He also sponsored the Hill-Harris Act of 1963, providing for assistance in constructing facilities for the intellectually disabled and mentally ill. Additionally, he was recognized as the most instrumental man in Congress in gaining greatly increased support for medical research at the nation's medical schools and other research institution.

He sponsored other important legislation, including the Rural Telephone Act, the Rural Housing Act, the Vocational Education Act, and the National Defense Education Act of 1958. "Hill also used his position and his persistence in improving conditions in rural areas to allot federal funds for rural libraries. For a decade, he worked to provide library service to those with no or inadequate facilities" and was instrumental in passing the Library Services Act which ensured federal funding to support development of libraries in rural areas and dramatically changed the landscape of libraries in terms of viability, sustainability, and quality.