Representative Joseph Scofield Ammerman

Joseph Scofield Ammerman (July 14, 1924 – October 14, 1993) was an American lawyer, judge, and Democratic politician who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania for one term from 1977 to 1979. Over the course of a varied public career, he held local, state, and federal offices, including service as district attorney, United States attorney, state senator, and judge of the court of common pleas.

Ammerman was born on July 14, 1924, in Curwensville, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. He grew up in central Pennsylvania and came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War, experiences that shaped his later commitment to public service. During World War II, he served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946, joining the millions of Americans in uniform during the global conflict. His military service preceded and informed his subsequent legal and political career.

Following his discharge from the Army, Ammerman pursued higher education under the postwar expansion of educational opportunities for veterans. He attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1948. He then enrolled at the Dickinson School of Law, also in Carlisle, where he received his Juris Doctor degree in 1950. After law school, he entered the practice of law in Pennsylvania, establishing himself as an attorney and beginning to participate actively in Democratic Party politics.

Ammerman’s formal political career began in the early 1950s. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1952, reflecting his growing prominence within the party at both the county and state levels. In 1953, he was elected district attorney of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, a position in which he was responsible for prosecuting criminal cases and representing the county in legal matters. His performance in that office led to further responsibilities in federal law enforcement: from 1961 to 1963 he served as the United States attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, acting as the chief federal prosecutor for that region during the early 1960s.

After his federal prosecutorial service, Ammerman continued his political ascent within Pennsylvania. He was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate and served as a state senator from 1970 to 1977. In the Senate, he represented his district in Harrisburg during a period of significant social and economic change, participating in the legislative process at the state level and building a record that would support his later bid for national office.

In 1976, Ammerman was elected as a Democrat to the 95th Congress, winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. He served one term in Congress from 1977 to 1979. As a member of the House of Representatives, Joseph Scofield Ammerman participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his constituents during a significant period in American history marked by post-Watergate reforms, economic challenges, and evolving domestic and foreign policy debates. A member of the Democratic Party, he contributed to the legislative process during his single term in office. In 1978, he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection, concluding his service in the House at the end of the 95th Congress.

After leaving Congress, Ammerman returned to Pennsylvania and continued his public service in the judiciary. He served as a judge of the court of common pleas in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, from 1986 to 1993. In that capacity, he presided over civil and criminal cases in the county’s trial court, drawing on his extensive background as a lawyer, prosecutor, legislator, and former member of Congress.

Joseph Scofield Ammerman died on October 14, 1993. His long career in public life—spanning military service, legal practice, local and federal prosecutorial roles, state legislative office, a term in the U.S. House of Representatives, and judicial service—left a lasting imprint on his home region. In 2009, a portrait of Ammerman was hung in the portrait gallery of the Clearfield County Courthouse, commemorating his decades of service to Clearfield County, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the United States.