Representative Robert Witherspoon Hemphill

Robert Witherspoon Hemphill (May 10, 1915 – December 25, 1983) was a United States Representative from South Carolina and later a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, he served four terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1957 to 1965, and subsequently held several key judicial positions on the federal bench in South Carolina.

Hemphill was born on May 10, 1915, in Chester, South Carolina, where he attended the public schools. He was part of a prominent South Carolina political family: he was the great-great-grandson of Robert Witherspoon, a former member of Congress; the great-great-nephew of United States Senator John Hemphill; and the great-nephew of Representatives John J. Hemphill and William Huggins Brawley. He enrolled at the University of South Carolina, receiving an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1936. While at the university, he was a member of the Euphradian Society, one of the institution’s historic literary and debating societies. He continued his studies at the University of South Carolina School of Law, earning a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1938.

Admitted to the bar in 1938, Hemphill commenced the practice of law in Chester, South Carolina, where he maintained his legal practice until 1964. With the onset of World War II, he volunteered in 1941 as a flying cadet in the United States Army Air Corps. He served as a bomber pilot until December 1945, contributing to the Allied war effort before returning to his legal and political career in his home state. In 1942 he married Forrest Isabelle, with whom he had three children: Forrest, Harriet, and Robert Jr.

After the war, Hemphill quickly became active in Democratic Party politics. He served as chairman of the Chester County Democratic conventions in 1946 and 1947, helping to organize and lead local party affairs during the early postwar period. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1946 and served from 1947 to 1948. Building on his legislative experience, he then became solicitor of the Sixth South Carolina Judicial Circuit, holding that prosecutorial office from 1950 to 1956 and gaining a reputation as an able trial lawyer and public official.

Hemphill was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-fifth Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving in the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 1957, until his resignation on May 1, 1964, to accept a federal judicial appointment. Representing South Carolina during a significant period in American history marked by the civil rights movement and Cold War tensions, he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his constituents over four terms in office. During his congressional service, he also took part in international parliamentary affairs as a delegate to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Congress in London in 1959.

On April 15, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Hemphill to a joint seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina and the United States District Court for the Western District of South Carolina, filling the vacancy created by the departure of Judge George Bell Timmerman Sr. The United States Senate confirmed his nomination on April 30, 1964, and he received his commission the same day. Hemphill served as Chief Judge of the Eastern District from 1964 to 1965. On November 1, 1965, when the Eastern and Western Districts were recombined into a single United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, he was reassigned by operation of law to a new seat authorized by 79 Stat. 951. He later served as Chief Judge of the unified District of South Carolina from 1979 to 1980, and he assumed senior status on May 10, 1980.

Hemphill continued to hear cases as a senior judge until his death. His service on the federal bench terminated on December 25, 1983, when he died in Chester, South Carolina. He was interred in Hopewell Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Chester, reflecting his enduring ties to his birthplace and community.