Joe L. Evins

Joe L. Evins

Joseph Landon "Joe" Evins (born October 24, 1910 in DeKalb County , Tennessee, † March 31, 1984 in Nashville , Tennessee) was an American politician ( Democratic Party ). He represented the state of Tennessee between 1947 and 1977 in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Evins graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1933 and from the Cumberland School of Law in Lebanon in 1934 . After he was admitted to the bar that same year, he began practicing in Smithville . Evins was elected to the Bar of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 1935 . He worked there until 1938 when he was promoted to Assistant Secretary of the FTC. He held this position until 1940.

When the United States entered World War II, he enlisted in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army . He worked there until after the war. In 1946 he resumed work in his Smithville law practice. Shortly after his return, he was elected chairman of the Democratic Party in DeKalb County. He even won the Democratic nomination for the 5th Congressional District seat that same year. He easily won the vote, as did the re-elections for the next 14 terms. This generally happened with little or no opposition.

When Tennessee lost a congressional district, its district was renamed the 4th District after the 1950 Census . Evins became an influential figure in Congress. He chaired the House Select Committee on Small Business for six years and served in subsequent congressional sessions of the United States House Committee on Small Business and the House Committee on Appropriations . He used his influence to ensure that his district, a mostly rural area east and south of Nashville, was well supplied.

Smithville was the smallest city selected to participate in the Model Cities Program and renamed its main thoroughfare Congressional Boulevard . Like most of his constituency, Evins was a moderately conservative Democrat. It was also difficult for him to accept the desegregation, not because of an ingrained personal narrow-mindedness, but because of the change in what had been accepted as the old order. However, he was one of three Tennessee Democratic MPs who did not sign the Southern Manifesto . It was a letter of protest against racial integration in public schools.

Evins decided to resign in 1976 after a total of 15 terms. In a hotly contested primary election for his successor, Al Gore won and so began his political career. Joe Evins died on March 31, 1984 in Nashville and was buried in Town Cemetery , Smithville.

family

Evins' family was and is very prominent in central Tennessee. His grandfather is the namesake of a neighboring city park, one of his nephews worked at the local bank, another was the man behind the creation of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant chain . One great niece, Karlen Evins, was a prominent radio personality in Nashville for years.

Web links

• Joe L. Evins in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)