John A. Matthews

He attended high school in Helena, Montana, graduating as valedictorian of his class, and making a valedictory speech calling for the abolition of capital punishment in the state.

The speech so impressed U.S. District Court Judge Charles Nelson Pray and others that they persuaded Matthews' grandfather to send him to law school.

[1] Matthews ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for a seat on the state supreme court in 1918, losing to Charles H. Cooper by a few hundred votes out of nearly 90,000 votes cast,[4] but in December 1919, Governor Sam V. Stewart appointed him to a seat vacated by the retirement of George Y.

[7][2] In 1933, Montana Senator Thomas J. Walsh, tapped to be the next Attorney General by Franklin D. Roosevelt, planned to seek a federal judicial appointment for Matthews, but Walsh died before being sworn into office, and the appointment never materialized.

[2] During this service, Matthews again ran for a seat on the court in 1944, losing to Edwin K. Cheadle by fewer than a thousand votes out of over 160,000 cast.