US Congressman. He attended several different colleges and the University of Chicago Law School, attained admission to the bar in 1906 and became an attorney in Spartanburg. He served as Spartanburg's City Attorney and Spartanburg County Attorney, and was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1907 to 1908. Nicholls also became active in the South Carolina National Guard when he organized Company I, First Infantry Regiment, which he commanded as a Captain. He also received special appointments to the bench, serving temporarily as Judge of the Circuit Court and a state Supreme Court Justice. In 1915 he was the successful Democratic nominee for the US House of Representatives in a special election for the seat left vacant when Joseph T. Johnson resigned. Nicholls was reelected twice and served from September, 1915 to March, 1921. In May, 1916 he made national news when he was involved in a fistfight with Congressman Frederick Lehlbach, which broke out as they argued over whether the famed 1915 silent film "Birth of a Nation" accurately depicted the treatment of African-Americans in the 1800s South. Nicholls also supported the movement to establish a Jewish homeland in then British-held Palestine or a Jewish protectorate over Jerusalem. A member of the House Military Affairs Committee, he opposed integration of the army and took part in a 1919 post-World War I inspection tour of Army units in France. He did not run for reelection in 1920 and returned to Spartanburg, practicing law in a firm that included James F. Byrnes.
US Congressman. He attended several different colleges and the University of Chicago Law School, attained admission to the bar in 1906 and became an attorney in Spartanburg. He served as Spartanburg's City Attorney and Spartanburg County Attorney, and was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1907 to 1908. Nicholls also became active in the South Carolina National Guard when he organized Company I, First Infantry Regiment, which he commanded as a Captain. He also received special appointments to the bench, serving temporarily as Judge of the Circuit Court and a state Supreme Court Justice. In 1915 he was the successful Democratic nominee for the US House of Representatives in a special election for the seat left vacant when Joseph T. Johnson resigned. Nicholls was reelected twice and served from September, 1915 to March, 1921. In May, 1916 he made national news when he was involved in a fistfight with Congressman Frederick Lehlbach, which broke out as they argued over whether the famed 1915 silent film "Birth of a Nation" accurately depicted the treatment of African-Americans in the 1800s South. Nicholls also supported the movement to establish a Jewish homeland in then British-held Palestine or a Jewish protectorate over Jerusalem. A member of the House Military Affairs Committee, he opposed integration of the army and took part in a 1919 post-World War I inspection tour of Army units in France. He did not run for reelection in 1920 and returned to Spartanburg, practicing law in a firm that included James F. Byrnes.
Bio by: Bill McKern
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