Josiah Bailey
Template:Short description Template:Infobox officeholder Josiah William Bailey (September 14, 1873 – December 15, 1946) was an American politician who served as a U.S. senator from the state of North Carolina from 1931 to 1946. Bailey moved back and forth. He was a leading reformer in the 1910s, promoting education and Wilsonian programs. As Senator he supported the early New Deal but by 1938 was a leader of the anti-New Deal faction of Southern Democrats. When war loomed in 1939, he moved to support Roosevelt's interventionist foreign policy. Likewise he supported Roosevelt's wartime domestic program, while opposing labor unions.<ref>John Robert Moore, Senator Josiah William Bailey of North Carolina: A Political Biography (Duke UP, 1968).</ref>
Early life and education
Born in Warrenton, North Carolina, he grew up in Raleigh and graduated from Wake Forest College (now Wake Forest University).
Career
Before turning to a career in law, Bailey was editor of the Biblical Recorder, a newspaper for North Carolina Baptists. He was a presidential elector in 1908.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Elected to the United States Senate in 1930, defeating longtime incumbent Furnifold McLendel Simmons, Bailey earned a reputation as a conservative while in office. In 1937, he coauthored the bipartisan Conservative Manifesto, a document criticizing President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and proposing more conservative alternatives. Among other things, the Manifesto called for lower taxes and less spending.<ref>Kickler, Troy L. The Conservative Manifesto Template:Webarchive. The North Carolina History Project.</ref>
That same year, Bailey gave a rousing floor speech against President Roosevelt's court-packing bill, which convinced at least three freshman Republicans, thought by Senate Majority Leader Joseph T. Robinson to be definite supporters, to oppose the measure.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
A segregationist and white supremacist, Bailey filibustered anti-lynching legislation in 1938.<ref>Beauchamp, Zack (October 9, 2013). How Racism Caused The Shutdown. ThinkProgress. Retrieved September 4, 2021.</ref>
During his time in office, he served as chairman of the Committee on Claims and Committee on Commerce.
Death
Bailey died in office in 1946.
See also
References
Sources
- Finley, Keith M. Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938–1965 (Baton Rouge, LSU Press, 2008).
Further reading
- Moore, John Robert. Senator Josiah William Bailey of North Carolina: A Political Biography. Durham: Duke University Press, 1968.
External links
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- The "Conservative Manifesto" from the North Carolina History Project Template:Webarchive
- Template:Webarchive
- "Taking on FDR: Senator Josiah Bailey and the 1937 Conservative Manifesto" by Troy Kickler, December 13, 2006
- Raleigh News & Observer Column on Bailey's Friendship with Huey Long Template:Dead link
- Josiah William Bailey at Find-A-Grave
- Josiah Bailey papers. 1773–1867. 2" linear. At the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections.
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- 1873 births
- 1946 deaths
- American anti-communists
- American segregationists
- Democratic Party United States senators from North Carolina
- North Carolina Democrats
- Burials at Historic Oakwood Cemetery
- Wake Forest University alumni
- Baptists from North Carolina
- 1908 United States presidential electors
- Old Right (United States)
- 20th-century United States senators