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Tim Lee Carter | |
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromKentucky's5th district | |
| In office January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1981 | |
| Preceded by | Eugene Siler |
| Succeeded by | Hal Rogers |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1910-09-02)September 2, 1910 Tompkinsville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | March 27, 1987(1987-03-27) (aged 76) Glasgow, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Resting place | Oak Hill Cemetery Tompkinsville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | Western Kentucky State College University of Tennessee |
Tim Lee Carter (September 2, 1910 – March 27, 1987) was an American politician serving as aRepublican member of theUnited States House of Representatives for theCommonwealth ofKentucky from 1965 until 1981.
Congressman Carter was born inTompkinsville, Kentucky. He attendedWestern Kentucky State College (now Western Kentucky University) inBowling Green, having pursued a pre-med curricula. Carter went on to earn his medical degree from theUniversity of Tennessee in 1937. He served in theUnited States Army Medical Corps inWorld War II, traveling with theThirty-Eighth Infantry for over three and a half years.[1] He became a captain. Later Carter returned to practice medicine in Tompkinsville.
In 1964, Carter sought the Republican nomination for Congress, following the retirement of RepresentativeEugene Siler. Carter won the election overDemocratFrances Jones Mills and served in the U.S. House of Representatives until his retirement in 1981. He was one of the few bright spots in a disastrous year for the GOP. However, he represented one of the few ancestrally Republican districts south of theOhio River. Voters in this region identified with the Republicans after the Civil War, and continued to support the GOP through both favorable and challenging times. Carter often joked that his congressional district stretched from "Fountain Run to Kingdom Come," a state park in Harlan County, at the eastern end of his district.[citation needed]
In 1966, Carter was sent byPresident Johnson toVietnam along with ten other war-veteran congressmen on a "Speaker's Committee." Upon his return, he was asked by Johnson about his opinion of the state of the war. Carter went against the nine other delegates, stating: "No, Mr. President, you are not winning the war,". Carter later came to be known as the first Republican Congressman to call for the end of theVietnam War. Rising before the U.S. House of Representatives on August 28, 1967, Carter stated "Let us now, while we are yet strong, bring our men home, every man jack of them. The Vietcong fight fiercely and tenaciously because it is their land and we are foreigners intervening in their civil war. If we must fight, let us fight in defense of our homeland and our own hemisphere."
Carter was considered as a moderate-progressive Republican in Washington.[dubious –discuss] Carter voted in favor of theVoting Rights Act of 1965 and theCivil Rights Act of 1968.[2][3] In 1971, Carter was the sole Republican in the state's congressional delegation to vote for theEqual Employment Opportunity Act.[4] As reported in a 1977 issue of Time magazine, Carter put forth the first Republican plan for national health insurance. Carter was appointed byPresident Nixon to theShafer Commission, charged with making policy recommendations concerning drug abuse. The Shafer Commission recommended decriminalizing simple marijuana possession, a policy that President Nixon flatly refused.
Tim Lee Carter's sister,Pearl Carter Pace was the first elected womansheriff in Kentucky. Pearl's and Tim Lee's father, James C. Carter Sr., served for 48 years asCircuit Judge in four counties of South Central Kentucky. His son, James C. Carter Jr., served for 46 years as judge following his father. Numerous other Carters have served in a wide range of public offices, both elective and appointive.
Pearl's son, Stanley Carter Pace, was captured as aprisoner of war by theGerman Army during World War II. He later rose to the Chairmanship ofTRW, and, came out of retirement to return the giant defense contractorGeneral Dynamics to viability. The extended Carter family is still active in state and local politics in Monroe County, Kentucky.
In 1980, Carter did not seek re-election. On his retirement, he returned to live inTompkinsville, Kentucky, and remained active in local, state, and national politics until his death in 1987.
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| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromKentucky's 5th congressional district 1965–1981 | Succeeded by |
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