B.

Carroll Reece
Brazilla Carroll Reece (December 22, 1889March 19, He was married to Louise Go, daughter of United States
1961) was an American politician from Tennessee. He Senator Guy Despard Go of West Virginia.
served in the United States House of Representatives for
all but six years from 1921 to 1961.

3 Congressional service
1

Early life
In 1920, Reece won the Republican nomination for Tennessees 1st Congressional District, based in the TriCities region in the northeastern part of the state. The
region had voted not to secede at the state convention
in 1861. This region was heavily Republicanin fact,
Republicans had represented this district for all but four
years since 1859, and was one of the few regions in the
former Confederacy where Republicans won on a regular
basis. He won handily in November and was reelected
four more times before being defeated for renomination
in 1930 by Oscar Lovette. However, he defeated Lovette
in 1932 and returned to Congress, serving until 1947,
when he stepped down to devote his full energies to serving as chairman of the Republican National Committee,
a position he had held since 1946. A member of the conservative Old Guard faction of the Republican Party,
Reece was a strong supporter of Ohio Senator Robert A.
Taft, the leader of the GOPs conservative wing. In 1948
and 1952 Reece was a leading supporter of Tafts candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination; however, Taft lost the nomination both times to moderate Republicans from New York.

Reece was born on a farm near Butler, Tennessee as

one of thirteen children of John Isaac and Sarah Maples
Reece. He was named for Brazilla Carroll McBride,
an ancestor who served in the War of 1812, but never
used his rst name.[1] His brother, Raleigh Valentine
Reece, was a reporter for the Nasvhille Tennessean and
the teacher who replaced John Thomas Scopes at Rhea
County High School in Dayton, Tennessee following the
infamous Monkey Trial.
He attended Watauga Academy in Butler, and CarsonNewman College in Jeerson City, Tennessee.[2] At
Carson-Newman he played basketball and football. After graduating from Carson-Newman in 1914 as class
valedictorian, he worked as a high school principal for
one year, then enrolled in New York University, where
he earned a masters degree in economics and nance in
1916.[1] He also studied at the University of London.

Career

Reece served as a delegate to the Republican National

He was an assistant secretary and instructor at New York Conventions in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1940, and
University in 1916 and 1917.
1948. He was a member of the Board of Regents of the
In April, 1917 Reece enlisted for World War I and at- Smithsonian Institution in 1945 and 1946.
tended ocer training in Plattsburg, New York. Dur- Reece was the Republican nominee for an open Senate
ing the war he served initially with the 166th Infantry
seat in 1948, but lost to Democratic Congressman Estes
Regiment, a unit of the 42nd Infantry Division.[3] He Kefauver, who had unseated incumbent Democrat Tom
later transferred to 102nd Infantry Regiment, 26th In- Stewart in the party primary. Kefauver carried the supfantry Division. He commanded a company, then com- port of the inuential editor Edward J. Meeman of the
manded the regiments 3rd Battalion, and attained the since defunct Memphis Press-Scimitar, who had for years
rank of Captain.[4][5] He was discharged in 1919, and fought to topple the Edward Boss Crump political mawas decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross, chine in Memphis. Crump supported Stewart.[8]
Distinguished Service Medal, Purple Heart, and French
In 1950, Reece ran against the man who succeeded him in
Croix de Guerre with Palm.[6][7]
the House, Dayton Phillips, and defeated him in the ReHe was director of the School of Business Administra- publican primary. This all but assured him of a return to
tion of New York University in 1919 and 1920, and also Congress in the heavily Republican district. He was restudied law there.
elected ve more times. When the Republicans gained
He then passed the bar exam and opened a successful law control of the House after the 1952 elections, Reece
practice in Johnson City, where he was also a banker and served as chairman of the Special Committee on Tax Expublisher.
empt Foundations, losing this post after the Democrats
1

EXTERNAL LINKS

regained control in 1955. During his time in Congress, he from Cumberland University and Tusculum College, and
was a social and scal conservative who supported isola- an L.H.D. from Lincoln Memorial University.[13]
tionism and civil rights legislation. He was a rarity in politics at the timea truly senior Republican congressman
from a former Confederate state.
7 References

International controversy

During the Cold War, Reeces statement that The citizens of Danzig are German as they always had been
caused a reply from Jdrzej Giertych, a leading Polish
emigrant in London and writer, publicist, and publisher
of National Democratic background.[9]

Reece Committee

Main article: Reece Committee

Reece led the House Special Committee to Investigate
Tax-Exempt Foundations and Comparable Organizations
which investigated the use of funds by tax-exempt nonprot organizations, and in particular foundations, to determine if they were using their funds to support communism in educational institutions.[10] Reece selected attorney Norman Dodd to lead the investigation, which
lasted eighteen months. Reece would later declare that
The evidence that has been gathered by the sta pointed
to one simple underlying situation, namely that the major foundations, by subsidizing collectivistic-minded educators, had nanced a socialist trend in American
government.[11]

[1] Michael Rogers, "Brazilla Carroll Reece, 1889-1961,

Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
[2] REECE, Brazilla Carroll, (1889 - 1961)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved
September 16, 2012.
[3] Bowers, F. Suzanne (2010). Republican, First, Last, and
Always: A Biography of B. Carroll Reece. Newcastle, UK:
Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 1214.
[4] Winship, A. L. (1919). The Book of Salutation to the
Twenty-sixth (Yankee) Division of the American Expeditionary Forces. Boston, MA: Everett Press. pp. 27, 39.
[5] From the Museum (PDF). Now and Then, Volume 5,
Number 2 (Johnson City, TN: East Tennessee State University): p. 7. 1988.
[6] Biography: B. Carroll Reese. Magazine of Sigma Chi,
Volume 67, Issue 3 (Evanston, IL: Sigma Chi Fraternity):
p. 13. 1948.
[7] Lancaster, Frank H.; Birmingham, Ernest F. (1925).
Congressmans Brother to Teach at Dayton High School.
Fourth Estate: A Weekly Newspaper for Publishers, Advertisers, Advertising Agents and Allied Interests (New York,
NY: Fourth Estate Publishing Company). p. 130.
[8] Edward John Meeman. The Tennessee Encyclopedia.
January 1, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
[9] Jdrzej Giertych, Poland and Germany: A Reply to Congressman B. Carroll Reece of Tennessee. (1958). p. 15

In the wake of the fall of red-baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy, activities such as these smacked of McCarthyism [10] World News Digest: Foundations Probe: Reece Unit vs.
and failed to attract much attention. When they did attract
Foundations; Other Developments (subscription required)
attention, it was often negative, with a recurring criticism
[11] Epperson, Ralph (1985). The Unseen Hand. Publius. p.
that such investigations were chilling free thought.
208.

Death and legacy

Reece died of lung cancer on March 19, 1961 in

Bethesda, Maryland, just two months after being sworn
in for his 18th term.[12] He served in the House longer
than anyone else in Tennessee history (though Jimmy
Quillen, who eventually succeeded him as the 1st Districts congressman, holds the record for the longest unbroken tenure in the House for a Tennessee congressman), and only Kenneth McKellar served in both houses
longer. Reeces wife, Louise, was elected to serve the
remainder of his unexpired term in Congress. Both are
buried at Monte Vista Memorial Park in Johnson City,
Tennessee.
He received several honorary degrees, including LL.D.s

[12] Tennessees Rep. Reece, 71, Dies of Cancer. Chicago

Tribune. March 19, 1960.
[13] Reece, B. Carroll (1965). Peace Through Law: A Basis
for an East-West Settlement in Europe. New Cannan, CT:
The Long House, Inc. p. 6.

8 External links
B. Carroll Reece Archives

B. Carroll Reece at the Biographical Directory of the

United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-07-24
B. Carroll Reece Gravesite

3
The Political Graveyard
B. Carroll Reece. Find a Grave. Retrieved 200902-19.

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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