Joe C. Carr
Encyclopedia
Joseph Cordell Carr, Sr. (June 20, 1907 - October 12, 1981), commonly known as "Joe C. Carr," was a Democratic Party
politician
in the state
of Tennessee
who served almost 27 years as Tennessee Secretary of State
.
. His father, Sidney Forrest Carr, worked for nine years as a clerk in the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office and was a one-term member of the Tennessee General Assembly
, representing Putnam County
from 1919 to 1921. He also was a campaign manager
for U.S. Congressman Cordell Hull
.
The Carr family moved to Nashville in 1918, and Joe Carr was educated at Montgomery Bell Academy
and the Peabody Demonstration School
in Nashville. His first experience in state government was serving as a page in the Tennessee State Senate in 1923, when he was 16. His first experience in a political campaign
came in 1924, when he was an office boy in the campaign headquarters for U.S. Senate candidate Nathan Bachman. In 1925 he served as a page in the Tennessee House of Representatives
. He continued to work on the staff of the state legislature in subsequent years, holding positions as assistant bill clerk, assistant chief clerk, and chief clerk of the Tennessee House of Representatives.
Edward Crump
: Governor Prentice Cooper
, U.S. Senator Kenneth McKellar
, and Commissioner of Railroads and Public Utilities
Porter Dunlap.
His service to the party having earned him Crump's support, on January 8, 1941, the Tennessee General Assembly elected Carr to the position of Secretary of State by a unanimous vote. He was to serve in that office longer than any other Tennessee Secretary of State, serving on three different occasions for a total of almost 27 years. His first term in the position ended in May 1944, when he voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II
. Governor Cooper appointed Carr's wife, Mary Hart Carr, to fill her husband's unexpired term, making her the first woman to serve as a state constitutional officer in Tennessee. After Carr's four-year term ended in January 1945, Mrs. Carr was elected to a new four-year term by the General Assembly. When Joe Carr returned home in the summer of 1945, Mrs. Carr resigned the seat, and Governor Jim Nance McCord
appointed him to take up the job again beginning August 1.
In 1948, incumbent governor Jim Nance McCord lost his bid for renomination to Gordon Browning
, a former governor who campaigned for the Democratic nomination as an opponent of Crump. After Browning and his allies gained control of the Tennessee state government, Carr, who was allied with Crump, was replaced as Secretary of State in January 1949, when the General Assembly elected James Cummings to the office.
After losing his position in state government, Carr embarked on a short career in the private sector
, establishing an insurance
business in Nashville. In 1952 he joined Frank G. Clement
's gubernatorial campaign as an advisor and staff member. In January 1953, following Clement's election as governor, Carr became chief clerk of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Four years later, in January 1957, the General Assembly returned him to the position of Secretary of State. He held the office for the next 20 years, retiring in January 1977.
s in the state, Joe Carr was the nominal defendant
in the famous 1962 U.S. Supreme Court
case Baker v. Carr
, in which the Supreme Court held that Congressional
and legislative districts had to be of substantially equal populations in order to comply with the "equal protection" provision of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
(the so-called "one man one vote" decision). Carr's name on the case as defendant was merely ex officio; the General Assembly, not the secretary of state, was responsible for setting the district boundaries. His responsibility was to publish the resulting map and conduct elections accordingly.
bust
of him was placed in the Tennessee State Capitol
at the direction of the General Assembly and Governor Ray Blanton
. He was the first person to be honored in that way during his lifetime.
Carr died from cancer
in Nashville on October 12, 1981. He was buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville.
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
in the state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
who served almost 27 years as Tennessee Secretary of State
Tennessee Secretary of State
The Tennessee Secretary of State is the state secretary of state for the State of Tennessee.The office is created by the Tennessee State Constitution. The Secretary of State is responsible for many of the administrative aspects of the operation of state government of Tennessee...
.
Early life
Joseph Carr was born June 20, 1907, in Cookeville, TennesseeCookeville, Tennessee
Cookeville is a city in Putnam County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 23,923 at the 2000 census. of Cookeville's population was 30,435, and the combined total of those living in Cookeville's in 2010 was 65,014. It is the county seat of Putnam County and home to Tennessee...
. His father, Sidney Forrest Carr, worked for nine years as a clerk in the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office and was a one-term member of the Tennessee General Assembly
Tennessee General Assembly
The Tennessee General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional structure:According to the Tennessee State Constitution of 1870, the General Assembly is a bicameral legislature and consists of a Senate of thirty-three members and a House of Representatives of...
, representing Putnam County
Putnam County, Tennessee
Putnam County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 62,315, a 21 percent increase from 1990. The was 72,321, an increase of 16.1% since 2000...
from 1919 to 1921. He also was a campaign manager
Campaign manager
A campaign manager is a paid or volunteer individual, whose role is to coordinate the campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote , and other activities supporting the effort, directly.Apart from the candidate, they are often a campaign's most visible leader...
for U.S. Congressman Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during much of World War II...
.
The Carr family moved to Nashville in 1918, and Joe Carr was educated at Montgomery Bell Academy
Montgomery Bell Academy
Montgomery Bell Academy is a preparatory day school for boys in grades 7 through 12 in Nashville, Tennessee.The school ideal is "Gentleman, Scholar, Athlete." Montgomery Bell Academy is noted for a large number of National Merit and other scholarship winners...
and the Peabody Demonstration School
University School of Nashville
University School of Nashville is a private K-12 school located in Nashville, Tennessee.-History:Referred to colloquially as USN, the school was founded in 1888 by the Peabody Board of Trustees. The school was first founded as Winthrop Model School; in 1915, it became Peabody Demonstration School ,...
in Nashville. His first experience in state government was serving as a page in the Tennessee State Senate in 1923, when he was 16. His first experience in a political campaign
Political campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...
came in 1924, when he was an office boy in the campaign headquarters for U.S. Senate candidate Nathan Bachman. In 1925 he served as a page in the Tennessee House of Representatives
Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional requirements:...
. He continued to work on the staff of the state legislature in subsequent years, holding positions as assistant bill clerk, assistant chief clerk, and chief clerk of the Tennessee House of Representatives.
Political career
In 1932, Joe Carr was one of the founding members of the Young Democratic Clubs of Tennessee, serving as the organization’s first secretary. In 1934 he was elected state president of the Young Democrats. In 1940, he was manager for the re-election campaigns of the "Coalition Ticket," three Democratic candidates backed by Memphis political bossPolitical boss
A boss, in politics, is a person who wields the power over a particular political region or constituency. Bosses may dictate voting patterns, control appointments, and wield considerable influence in other political processes. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves...
Edward Crump
E. H. Crump
Edward Hull "Boss" Crump was an American politician from Memphis, Tennessee. He was mayor from 1910 through 1915, and again briefly in 1940; in the intervening years he effectively appointed the mayors.-Career:...
: Governor Prentice Cooper
Prentice Cooper
William Prentice Cooper was an American politician and Governor of Tennessee from 1939 to 1945.-Life and career:A native of Bedford County, Tennessee, he attended Vanderbilt University and then Harvard University...
, U.S. Senator Kenneth McKellar
Kenneth McKellar
Kenneth Douglas McKellar was an American politician from Tennessee who served as a United States Representative from 1911 until 1917 and as a United States Senator from 1917 until 1953...
, and Commissioner of Railroads and Public Utilities
Tennessee Public Service Commission
The Tennessee Public Service Commission, also called Tennessee Railroad and Public Utilities Commission, was a three-member elected body which regulated private utilities, trucking firms, and railroads within the state of Tennessee...
Porter Dunlap.
His service to the party having earned him Crump's support, on January 8, 1941, the Tennessee General Assembly elected Carr to the position of Secretary of State by a unanimous vote. He was to serve in that office longer than any other Tennessee Secretary of State, serving on three different occasions for a total of almost 27 years. His first term in the position ended in May 1944, when he voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Governor Cooper appointed Carr's wife, Mary Hart Carr, to fill her husband's unexpired term, making her the first woman to serve as a state constitutional officer in Tennessee. After Carr's four-year term ended in January 1945, Mrs. Carr was elected to a new four-year term by the General Assembly. When Joe Carr returned home in the summer of 1945, Mrs. Carr resigned the seat, and Governor Jim Nance McCord
Jim Nance McCord
Jim Nance McCord was an American journalist and politician who served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms as Governor of Tennessee ....
appointed him to take up the job again beginning August 1.
In 1948, incumbent governor Jim Nance McCord lost his bid for renomination to Gordon Browning
Gordon Browning
Gordon Weaver Browning was an American politician who represented Tennessee in the United States Congress and was later Governor of Tennessee from 1937 to 1939 and again from 1949 to 1953.-Biography:...
, a former governor who campaigned for the Democratic nomination as an opponent of Crump. After Browning and his allies gained control of the Tennessee state government, Carr, who was allied with Crump, was replaced as Secretary of State in January 1949, when the General Assembly elected James Cummings to the office.
After losing his position in state government, Carr embarked on a short career in the private sector
Private sector
In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state...
, establishing an insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
business in Nashville. In 1952 he joined Frank G. Clement
Frank G. Clement
Frank Goad Clement served as Governor of Tennessee from 1953 to 1959, and again from 1963 to 1967.-Early life:...
's gubernatorial campaign as an advisor and staff member. In January 1953, following Clement's election as governor, Carr became chief clerk of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Four years later, in January 1957, the General Assembly returned him to the position of Secretary of State. He held the office for the next 20 years, retiring in January 1977.
U.S. Supreme Court case
As secretary of state, and thus the official responsible for conducting electionElection
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
s in the state, Joe Carr was the nominal defendant
Defendant
A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute...
in the famous 1962 U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
case Baker v. Carr
Baker v. Carr
Baker v. Carr, , was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that retreated from the Court's political question doctrine, deciding that redistricting issues present justiciable questions, thus enabling federal courts to intervene in and to decide reapportionment cases...
, in which the Supreme Court held that Congressional
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
and legislative districts had to be of substantially equal populations in order to comply with the "equal protection" provision of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
(the so-called "one man one vote" decision). Carr's name on the case as defendant was merely ex officio; the General Assembly, not the secretary of state, was responsible for setting the district boundaries. His responsibility was to publish the resulting map and conduct elections accordingly.
Final years
After Carr's retirement, a bronzeBronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
bust
Bust (sculpture)
A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, as well as a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual...
of him was placed in the Tennessee State Capitol
Tennessee State Capitol
The Tennessee State Capitol, located in Nashville, Tennessee, is the home of the Tennessee legislature, the location of the governor's office, and a National Historic Landmark. Designed by architect William Strickland, it is one of Nashville's most prominent examples of Greek Revival architecture...
at the direction of the General Assembly and Governor Ray Blanton
Ray Blanton
Leonard Ray Blanton was the 44th Governor of Tennessee from 1975 to 1979. Blanton's administration was rife with corruption.-Early life and Congress:...
. He was the first person to be honored in that way during his lifetime.
Carr died from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in Nashville on October 12, 1981. He was buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville.