[1] Born in Tullahoma, Tennessee, the son of Vera Seleta (Poe) and Thomas Anderton Wiseman,[2] Wiseman graduated from Tullahoma High School.
He ran for the Democratic Party nomination for Governor in 1974 amid a crowded field of candidates and was badly outspent by both eventual nominee and winner Ray Blanton and runner-up Jake Butcher.
Wiseman then resumed his private practice, this time in Nashville, Tennessee from 1974 to 1978.
[5] On August 1, 1978, Wiseman was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee vacated by Judge Frank Gray Jr. Wiseman was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 11, 1978, and received his commission the same day.
He served as Chief Judge from 1984 to 1991, and assumed senior status on November 3, 1995.