Leverett Atholville Saltonstall (September 1, 1892 – June 17, 1979) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He served three two-year terms as the 55th governor of Massachusetts, and for more than twenty years as a United States senator (1945–1967). Saltonstall was internationalist in foreign policy and moderate on domestic policy, serving as a well-liked mediating force in the Republican Party. He was the only member of the Republican Senate leadership to vote for the censure of Joseph McCarthy.
Contents
Early years
Leverett Saltonstall was born on September 1, 1892 in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to Richard Middlecott Saltonstall, an attorney, and Eleanor Brooks Saltonstall, an heiress to the Peter Chardon Brooks fortune. Saltenstall's parents had a circle of friends which included future President Theodore Roosevelt.
The Saltonstall family had deep colonial roots, as did the Brooks family of his mother. Saltonstall was able to trace his ancestral roots to the Mayflower; his grandfather and great-grandfather were both also named Leverett Saltonstall.