Brazilla Carroll Reece

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Brazilla Carroll Reece

Brazilla Carroll Reece (born December 22, 1889 in Butler , Johnson County , Tennessee , † March 19, 1961 in Bethesda , Maryland ) was an American politician who represented the state of Tennessee in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Brazilla Carroll Reece was born on a farm near Butler, Tennessee. He attended Watauga Academy , Carson-Newman College , New York University and the University of London . He then successfully opened a law firm in Johnson City and also worked as a banker and publisher.

Reece was an assistant secretary and teacher at New York University between 1916 and 1917. He then enlisted in the US Army during World War I in May 1917 and served in the American Expeditionary Forces from October 1917 to July 1919. In the course of his service, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross , the Distinguished Service Medal , the Purple Heart and the French croix de guerre with palm trees . After the war, he returned to the United States and served between 1919 and 1920 as the director of the School of Business Administration at New York University.

Reece won the Republican nomination for Tennessee's first congressional district in 1920 , established in the tri-city area in the northeastern part of the state. This part of the country did not take part in the vote on the secession of the state in 1861. Also, the area was heavily Republican - in fact, the Republicans held the district for four years since 1859, and it was one of the few areas in the former Confederate States where Republicans won regularly. Reece won the eventual election in November and was re-elected four more times before being defeated in 1930 by Oscar Lovette on a new nomination. After that, Reece defeated Lovette in 1932 and returned to Congress. He served there until 1947, when he had decided to step down and devote his full attention to chairing the Republican National Committee , a position he had held since 1946.

As a member of the conservative "Old Guard" faction of the Republican Party, Reece was a staunch supporter of Ohio's Senator Robert A. Taft , the head of the conservative party wing. In 1948 and 1952, Reece was a strong supporter of Taft's candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. However, Taft lost both nominations to moderate Republicans. In 1956 he refused to sign the Southern Manifesto , which opposed racial integration.

Reece served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944 and 1948. He was also a member of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution in 1945 and 1946.

Reece was the Republican candidate for an open Senate seat in the 1948 election but lost to Democratic MP Estes Kefauver . However, two years later he ran against Dayton E. Phillips , the man who succeeded him in his old MP, and defeated him in the Republican primary. All of this ensured his return to the heavily republican congressional district. He was then re-elected five more times. When the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives after the 1952 election, Reece became chair of the Special Committee on Tax Exempt Foundations , but lost that post to the Democrats after the 1955 election when they regained control won. During his tenure in Congress, he was seen as a socially and financially conservative who supported isolationism and civil rights legislation.

Brazilla Carroll Reece died on March 19, 1961 in Bethesda, Maryland, two months after being sworn in for his 18th term. He was buried in the Monte Vista Memorial Park in Johnson City.

Reece has served longer in the House of Representatives than any other politician in Tennessee's history (although Jimmy Quillen , who ultimately succeeded him as the First District MP, set the record for longest uninterrupted tenure as Tennessee's House of Representatives), with Kenneth McKellar longer in both Houses served. He was a rarity in politics at the time - a considerably older Republican MP from a former Confederate state.

Brazilla Carroll Reece was married to Louise Goff , daughter of US Senator Guy D. Goff from West Virginia . After the death of her husband, she was appointed to serve the remainder of his unexpired term in Congress.

International controversy

During the Cold War, Reece's statement, "The citizens of Danzig are Germans because they always have been," provoked a response to communist-Polish propaganda.

literature

  • Hicks, John H. "Congressional Career of B. Carroll Reece, 1920-1948." Master's thesis, East Tennessee State University, 1968.

swell

  1. ↑ Jędrzej Giertych, Poland and Germany : A Reply to Congressman B. Carrol Reece of Tennessee, 1958, p. 15 [1]

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Reece, Brazilla Carroll
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 22, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Butler , Tennessee
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1961
Place of death Bethesda , Maryland