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Office of the Attorney General

Attorneys General of the U.S., 1789 - Present
HOMER STILLÉ CUMMINGS
Fifty-Fifth Attorney General 1933-1939

Protrait of Homer S. Cummings
Artist: Henry R.  Rittenberg
HOMER CUMMINGS was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 30, 1870. He received his Ph.B. from Yale University in 1891 and his LL.B. in 1893. He was admitted to the Connecticut bar the same year and practiced in Stamford, Connecticut, until March 4, 1933. Cummings was a member of the New York bar, and was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States and a number of Federal district courts. He served as mayor of Stamford for three terms, corporation counsel from 1908 to 1912, and delegate at large to the Democratic National Conventions of 1900, 1904, 1924, 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944. Cummings was a candidate for Congressman at Large from Connecticut in 1902 and for United States Senator in 1916. From July 1, 1914, to November 1, 1924, he was State's attorney for Fairfield County, Connecticut, and in 1930 chairman of the Committee on State Prison Conditions. Cummings was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Roosevelt on March 4, 1933, and served until January 2, 1939. He was a member of many prestigious legal groups and associations. He was responsible for improving the American prison system, and established Alcatraz Island prison in San Francisco Bay in 1934. Cummings died on September 10, 1956.

About the Artist: Henry R.  Rittenberg (1879-1969)

Rittenberg was born in Libau, Russia, and moved to the United States in 1885. He studied under W. M. Chase at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and later in Munich. He was the recipient of many awards from art clubs and academies. His portraits include the "Big Three" of the Potsdam Conference (Atlee, Truman and Stalin), Warren Harding, Alfred E. Smith, Rutherford B. Hayes and James A. Garfield. His works are represented in many galleries and museums.



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