James Edward Doyle

James Edward Doyle Sr. (July 6, 1915 – April 1, 1987) was an American lawyer and jurist from Madison, Wisconsin. He served 22 years as a United States district judge for the Western District of Wisconsin, from 1965 until his death in 1987. Earlier in his life, as a former member of the disbanded Wisconsin Progressive Party, he played an important role in reshaping the Democratic Party of Wisconsin in the 1950s, and was the father of Jim Doyle, the 44th governor of Wisconsin.

Education and career

Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Doyle received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1937 where he had been active in campus politics and was president of the Daily Cardinal Board of Control as well as senior class president. He received a Bachelor of Laws from Columbia Law School in 1940. He was an attorney working in the Criminal Division, United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. from 1940 to 1941. He was a law clerk for Justice James F. Byrnes of the United States Supreme Court from 1941 to 1942. He was a United States Naval Reserve lieutenant from 1942 to 1945. and chairman of the state party from 1951 to 1953. He ran for Governor of Wisconsin in 1954, but lost in the Democratic primary to William Proxmire. He was executive director of the 1960 National Stevenson for President Committee formed to draft Adlai Stevenson as the Democratic nominee in the 1960 Presidential election.

Federal judicial service

Doyle was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 29, 1965,

Personal life

Doyle was married to Ruth Bachhuber Doyle,