Sparkman was born on a farm near Hartselle, Alabama. He attended the rural schools and helped on the family farm; during World War I, Sparkman was a member of the Students Army Training Corps. He graduated from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in 1921 and from its law school in 1923. He was admitted to the bar in 1925 and commenced practice in Huntsville, Alabama. He was an instructor at Huntsville (Ala.) College 1925-1928.
Sparkman was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fifth and to the five succeeding Congresses and served from January 3, 1937 to November 5, 1946, when he resigned. He was majority whip in 1946, was reelected to the Eightieth Congress on November 5, 1946, and at the same time was elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John H. Bankhead II for the term ending January 3, 1949. Following the election he resigned from the House of Representatives and began duties in the Senate November 6, 1946 and served to January 3, 1979. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1978.
Sparkman was chairman of the Select Committee on Small Business (Eighty-first, Eighty-second, and Eighty-fourth through Ninetieth Congresses), co-chairman, Joint Committee on Inaugural Arrangements (Eighty-sixth Congress), chairman, Committee on Banking and Currency (Ninetieth and Ninety-first Congresses), co-chairman, Joint Committee on Defense Production (Ninety-first and Ninety-third Congresses), Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (Ninety-second and Ninety-third Congresses), and a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations (Ninety-fourth and Ninety-fifth Congresses).
He was a representative of the United States to the Fifth General Assembly of the United Nations in 1950. He died in Huntsville, Alabama.
Adapted from Congressional biographical Directory