Representative Robert Glenmore Simmons

Robert Glenmore Simmons served as a Representative from Nebraska in the United States Congress from 1923 to 1933. A member of the Republican Party, Robert Glenmore Simmons contributed to the legislative process during 5 terms in office.

Robert Glenmore Simmons’s service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history. As a member of the House of Representatives, Robert Glenmore Simmons participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of constituents.

Robert Glenmore Simmons (December 25, 1891 – December 27, 1969) was a Nebraska Republican politician. Simmons was born on December 25, 1891, near Scottsbluff, Nebraska. He attended Hastings College from 1909 to 1911 and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1915. He was admitted to the bar in 1915 and set up practice in Gering, Nebraska. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Scotts Bluff County in 1916. During the first World War, on October 15, 1917, he enlisted in the army. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Service on March 12, 1918, and was discharged on January 14, 1919. Simmons was elected as a Republican to the 68th through 72nd Congresses (March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1933) to represent Nebraska’s 6th district. When Nebraska lost a district, he ran and lost in the preceding new district in 1932. He ran for the United States Senate in 1934 against Edward R. Burke and in 1936 against George W. Norris, losing both times. He resumed practicing law in Lincoln, Nebraska. Simmons was elected chief justice of the Supreme Court of Nebraska in 1938. He was also a deputy judge in the administrative tribunal of the International Labour Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1955. While serving as Chief Justice, along with the chief justices of New Jersey, Arthur T. Vanderbilt, and Missouri, Laurance M. Hyde, he co-founded the Conference of Chief Justices in 1949. He retired in January 1963 after twenty-four years as the chief justice of Nebraska. He returned to private law in Lincoln, Nebraska. He died in Lincoln on December 27, 1969, and is interred in Fairview Cemetery, Scottsbluff. He was a Congregationalist, a member of the American Bar Association, a member of the Order of the Coif, a member of the American Legion, a Freemason and a Shriner.