Thomas E. Fairchild was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on December 25, 1912 to Mr. and Mrs. Edward E. Fairchild. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1934 and graduated from the University of Wisconsin law school in 1938. In 1937, he married Eleanor Dahl with whom he eventually had four children: Edward (Tim), Susan, Jennifer, and Andrew. On March 12, 1938, he was admitted to the bar. He then practiced law with the firm of Daniel H. Grady in Portage (1938-1941), was a chairman of the Young Progressives of Wisconsin and chairman of the Columbia County Progressive Club (1938-1941), served as attorney for the Office of Price Administration in Milwaukee (1942-1945), and practiced law with the Milwaukee firm of Miller, Mack & Fairchild (1945-1948).
In 1948, he joined others working to revitalize the state Democratic Party. On November 2, 1948, at the age of 35, Thomas Fairchild was elected Attorney General of Wisconsin. It was his first try for elective office, and he polled 622,312 votes--the greatest total ever recorded by a Wisconsin Democrat. In 1950 he ran for the office of U.S. Senator against Alexander Wiley but lost. President Harry S. Truman appointed Fairchild as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin in 1951. In 1952, Fairchild resigned and ran against U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, again unsuccessfully. He then returned to private practice in Milwaukee.
Fairchild was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in April 1956 and was sworn in by his father. In 1966 Fairchild was appointed by President Johnson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit where he sat on the appeal for the Chicago Seven conspiracy trial. In this highly controversial trial, Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale were charged with violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968 in demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention. A mistrial was declared for Bobby Seale because of his courtroom outbursts and the Chicago Eight became the Chicago Seven. Due to their actions during proceedings, all seven defendants and their attorneys, William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass, were held in contempt of court following the trial. Froines and Weiner were acquitted of charges of violation of the Anti-Riot Act of 1968, the remaining five were convicted and sentenced in 1970. In 1972 the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the contempt convictions of the Chicago Seven and their two defense attorneys. The convictions of Hoffman, Rubin, Dellinger, Davis, and Hayden were also reversed.
Fairchild continued to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals until his retirement in 1981 at the age of 68. Judge Fairchild died on February 12, 2007 in Madison, Wisconsin, at the age of 94.
