View source for Jere Cooper

{{Short description|American lawyer and politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name        = Jere Cooper
| image       = Jere Cooper (Tennessee Congressman).jpg
|office1= Member of the <br> [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] <br> from [[Tennessee]]
| term_start1 = March 4, 1929
| term_end1   = December 18, 1957
| preceded1   = [[Finis J. Garrett]]
| succeeded1  = [[Fats Everett]]
|constituency1= [[Tennessee's 9th congressional district|9th District]] (1929-1933) <br> [[Tennessee's 8th congressional district|8th District]] (1933-1943) <br> [[Tennessee's 9th congressional district|9th District]] (1943-1953) <br> [[Tennessee's 8th congressional district|8th District]] (1953-1957)
| birth_date  = {{birth-date|July 20, 1893}}
| death_date  = {{death-date and age|December 18, 1957|July 20, 1893}}
| birth_place = [[Dyer County, Tennessee]], U.S.
| death_place = [[Bethesda, Maryland]], U.S.
| citizenship = {{US}}
| spouse      = Mary Rankley Cooper
| children    = Jere Cooper 
| profession  = [[Lawyer|Attorney]]
politician
| party       = [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]]
| alma_mater  = [[Cumberland School of Law]]
<!--Military service-->
|nickname           = 
|allegiance         = {{flagicon|United States of America}} [[United States|United States of America]]
|branch             = [[United States Army]]
|serviceyears       = 1917 - April 2, 1919
|rank               = [[File:US-O2 insignia.svg|10px]] [[First Lieutenant#United States|First Lieutenant]]
[[Captain (land)|Captain]](July 9, 1918) 
|unit               = Second Tennessee Infantry, [[United States National Guard|National Guard]]
Co K, 119th Infantry, Thirtieth Division
|commands           = 
|battles            = [[World War I]]
([[France]] and [[Belgium]])
|awards             = 
|}}
'''Jere Cooper''' (July 20, 1893 &ndash; December 18, 1957) was a [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[United States House of Representatives|United States representative]] from Tennessee.

==Biography==
Cooper was born on a [[farm]] near [[Dyersburg, Tennessee|Dyersburg]], [[Dyer County, Tennessee]], son of Joseph W. and Viola May (Cooper) Cooper. He attended [[Public school (government funded)|public schools]] and then was graduated from the [[Cumberland School of Law]] in [[Lebanon, Tennessee]], in 1914. He was admitted to the [[bar (law)|bar]] in 1915 and commenced practice in [[Dyersburg, Tennessee]]. He married Mary Rankley in December 1930; the couple had one son, Leon Jere Cooper, who died as a child.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jere Cooper|url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=311|publisher=Tennessee Historical Society|access-date=6 May 2013}}</ref>

==Career==
Upon the [[United States|U.S.]] entry into [[World War I]] in 1917, Cooper enlisted in the Second Tennessee Infantry, [[United States National Guard|National Guard]], and was commissioned a [[First Lieutenant#United States|first lieutenant]]. Later he was transferred, with his company, to Co K, 119th Infantry, Thirtieth Division, and served in [[France]] and [[Belgium]]. On July 9, 1918, he was promoted to [[Captain (land)|captain]] and served as [[regiment]]al [[adjutant]] until discharged from the army on April 2, 1919. After the war he resumed the practice of law in Dyersburg.

Cooper was a member of the [[city council]] and city attorney from 1920 to 1928, and was elected department commander of the [[American Legion]] of Tennessee in 1921.

Elected as a Democrat to the [[Seventy-first United States Congress|71st]], and to the fourteen succeeding, [[United States Congress|Congress]]es, Cooper served from March 4, 1929, until his death.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jere Cooper|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/jere_cooper/402875|publisher=Govtrack US Congress|access-date=6 May 2013}}</ref> He served as chairman of the [[U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means]] ([[Eighty-fourth United States Congress|84th]] and [[Eighty-fifth United States Congress|85th Congresses]]), and on the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation (Eighty-fifth Congress).<ref>{{cite web|title=Jere Cooper|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000755|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|access-date=6 May 2013}}</ref>

He was a signatory to the 1956 [[Southern Manifesto]] that opposed the desegregation of public schools ordered by the Supreme Court in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''.

==Death==
Cooper died in [[Bethesda, Maryland]], on December 18, 1957 (age 64 years, 151 days). He is [[burial|interred]] at Fairview Cemetery, Dyersburg, Tennessee.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jere Cooper|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/cooper.html#268.15.03|publisher=The Political Graveyard|access-date=6 May 2013}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1950–1999)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==

{{CongBio|C000755}} Retrieved on 2008-02-10
*{{Find a Grave|6908526|access-date=2008-02-10}}

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{{US House succession box
| state=Tennessee
| district=9
| before=[[Finis J. Garrett]]
| after=[[E. H. Crump]]
| years=1929–1933}}
{{US House succession box
| state=Tennessee
| district=8
| before=[[Gordon Browning]]
| after=[[Tom J. Murray]]
| years=1933–1943}}
{{US House succession box
| state=Tennessee
| district=9
| before=[[Clifford Davis (politician)|Clifford Davis]]
| after=Clifford Davis
| years=1943–1953}}
{{US House succession box
| state=Tennessee
| district=8
| before=Tom Murray
| after=[[Fats Everett]]
| years=1953–1957}}
{{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Jere}}
[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1957 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:American Presbyterians]]
[[Category:United States Army officers]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee]]
[[Category:People from Dyer County, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Signatories of the Southern Manifesto]]
[[Category:20th-century United States representatives]]