Prentice Cooper | |
|---|---|
 Cooper circa 1940 | |
| United States Ambassador to Peru | |
| In office July 1, 1946 – June 29, 1948 | |
| President | Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | William Pawley |
| Succeeded by | Harold H. Tittmann, Jr. |
| 39th Governor of Tennessee | |
| In office January 16, 1939 – January 16, 1945 | |
| Preceded by | Gordon Browning |
| Succeeded by | Jim Nance McCord |
| Member of theTennessee Senate from the 18th district | |
| In office 1936–1939 | |
| Preceded by | Leighton Ewell |
| Succeeded by | Lem Motlow |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Prentice Cooper Jr. (1895-09-28)September 28, 1895 |
| Died | May 18, 1969(1969-05-18) (aged 73) Rochester, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Resting place | Jenkins Chapel Cemetery,Shelbyville, Tennessee |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Hortense Powell (m. 1950)[1] |
| Children | 3, includingJim andJohn |
| Alma mater | Princeton University (BA) Harvard Law School (LLB) |
| Profession | Attorney |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1917–1919 |
| Rank | Second Lieutenant |
| Unit | 307th Field Artillery |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
William Prentice Cooper Jr. (September 28, 1895 – May 18, 1969) was an American politician and diplomat. Aconservative Democrat,[2][3] he served as the 39thgovernor of Tennessee from 1939 to 1945. He led the state's mobilization efforts forWorld War II, when over 300,000 Tennesseans joined the armed forces, and numerous defense-related facilities were established across the state. He later served asUnited States Ambassador to Peru (1946–1948) and chaired Tennessee's 1953 constitutional convention.[4]
Cooper was born at the home of his maternal grandparents,River Side Farmhouse,[5] along theDuck River inBedford County, Tennessee. He was the son ofWilliam Prentice Cooper, an attorney and businessman, and Argentine (Shofner) Cooper. He attended private schools in nearbyShelbyville and graduated in 1913 from theWebb School inBell Buckle, where he was president of the debate team.[4]
In 1914, Cooper enrolled inVanderbilt University, where he was a member ofPhi Delta Theta and vice president of the freshman class. After two years, he transferred toPrinceton University, from which he graduated in 1917 with aBachelor of Arts.[4] Following the U.S. entry intoWorld War I, he enlisted in the Army, initially serving with the 307th Field Artillery before being transferred toFort Monroe in Virginia. He was discharged in January 1919 with the rank ofsecond lieutenant.[1]
Cooper enrolled inHarvard Law School in February 1919 and graduated with anLL.B in 1921.[4] He was admitted to thebar in 1922 and began practice in Shelbyville. That same year he was elected to theTennessee House of Representatives, where he secured passage of the state's Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act.[4]
Cooper left the house after one term and was electeddistrict attorney of the state's Eighth Judicial District in 1925. He later served as acity attorney for Shelbyville.[1] In the 1930s, he helped organize the Duck River Electric Membership Corporation, anelectric cooperative.[4]
In 1936 Cooper was elected to theTennessee Senate, representing Bedford,Coffee, andMoore counties.[1] In 1938, he ran for his party's nomination for governor with the support ofMemphis political bossE. H. Crump. Crump was at the height of his power in state politics and had had a falling out with the incumbent,Gordon Browning, over state appointments. He spent thousands of dollars on ads to boost Cooper's image and assail Browning, and Cooper won the nomination, 231,852 votes to 158,854.[6] In the general election, he defeated the Republican candidate,Howard Baker, Sr., 210,567 votes to 83,031.[7]
In the 1940 governor's race, Cooper defeated Knoxville inventorGeorge Roby Dempster in the Democratic primary, and he defeated C. Arthur Bruce by a more than 2-to-1 margin in the general election.[6] In the 1942 race, Judge J. Ridley Mitchell, who despised Crump, sought the party's nomination for governor but was defeated by Cooper, 171,259 votes to 124,037.[6] Cooper easily defeated Republican candidate C.N. Frazier in the general election. Constitutional term limits prevented Cooper from seeking reelection in 1944.
Cooper was Tennessee's governor duringWorld War II. In 1940, anticipating the U.S. entry into the war, he organized the Tennessee State Defense Council, which many other states would later imitate.[1] He also coordinated the establishment ofdraft boards, organized a state guard to replace the National Guard (which had been called up to active service), and established a model Home Food Supply Program.[4] Large defense-related facilities were built throughout the state, includingFort Campbell, most of which is in Tennessee despite its Kentucky address, a naval training base inMillington, andSewart Air Force Base inSmyrna.[1] Defense-related plants, employing thousands of Tennesseans, were also built, among them a gunpowder plant at Millington, a shell-loading factory inMilan, and an aircraft factory in Nashville.[1]
In 1942, the federal government appropriated land in what is nowOak Ridge, Tennessee, for the top secretManhattan Project which was developing the world's firstatomic bomb. Cooper was not informed of the purpose of the project. WhenAnderson Countians complained to Cooper of land appropriations, Cooper accused the federal government of stealing the land for a "socialist" project. When officially notified in July 1943 by an Army lieutenant of the presidential proclamation making the area a military district not subject to state control, he angrily ripped it to pieces. The new MED District Engineer Lieutenant ColonelKenneth Nichols had to placate him.[8][9]
Along with defense mobilization, Cooper increased funding for state schools and implemented a program that provided free textbooks for children in grades 1 through 3.[4] He increased aid to the elderly, established a system oftuberculosis hospitals, and acquired land for state parks and state forests.[1] He cut the state payroll and placed taxes on alcohol, and he managed to reduce the state debt by $21 million.[4] In January 1941, a Cooper-supported bill calling for a repeal of the state'spoll tax was introduced in the state legislature but was defeated. In 1943, the repeal passed but was thrown out by theTennessee Supreme Court.[4][dead link]
Cooper was among 12 nominated at the1944 Democratic National Convention to serve asFranklin D. Roosevelt's running mate in thepresidential election that year, receiving 26 votes.[10] In 1946, Cooper was appointed U.S. Ambassador toPeru by PresidentHarry Truman. He convinced Peru to repay an outstanding loan to the United States and had a reputation as a frugal entertainer.[4] An Argentine newspaper accused Cooper of inciting a rebellion byAPRA members inCallao in October 1948 (the rebellion took place several months after Cooper had left office), but Cooper adamantly denied any involvement.[4]
Cooper was chairman of the limited state constitutional convention of 1953 which proposed eight amendments to theTennessee State Constitution, all of which were subsequently adopted by voters. The most notable of these amendments included the repeal of the poll tax and the extension of the gubernatorial term from two years to four years.[4]
Encouraged by pro-segregation interests, Cooper challenged freshman U.S. SenatorAlbert Gore Sr., in the 1958 Democratic primary but lost handily, with Gore taking about 60% of the vote. Cooper remained an active participant in Democratic Party events until his death from cancer on May 18, 1969, at theMayo Clinic inRochester, Minnesota.[1]
Cooper married Hortense Hayes Powell (1919–2017) in 1950. They had three sons: William Prentice Cooper, III,Jim Cooper,John Cooper. Since Cooper was a bachelor during his tenure as governor, his mother served as the state's first lady.[1] Jim is a former U.S. congressman, while John was mayor ofMetro Nashville.[11]
Prentice Cooper State Forest, located west ofChattanooga, is named for Cooper. Most of the land for the forest was acquired during Cooper's tenure as governor.[12] Residence halls atTennessee Tech and theUniversity of Tennessee at Martin have also been named for Cooper.[13][14] Cooper's house stands in Shelbyville and is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Tennessee 1938,1940,1942 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Tennessee 1939–1945 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Peru July 1, 1946 – June 29, 1948 | Succeeded by |
| Chargé d'Affaires | |
|---|---|
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | |
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
