Joseph Carlton Loser (October 1, 1892 – July 31, 1984) was an American politician and a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from Tennessee.

Biography

Loser (pronounced "low-ser") was born in

Davidson County, Tennessee Davidson County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in the heart of Middle Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 715,884, making it the second most populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Nashville ...

, son of Henry James and Willie May McConnico Loser. He attended public schools and the former

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

Law School (now Nashville School of Law). He was secretary to the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Nashville from 1917 to 1920 and was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar ( ...

in 1922. In 1923 he completed the requirements for the LL. B. degree at

Cumberland University Cumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee. It was founded in 1842. The campus's current historic buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896. History 1842-1861 The university was founded by the Cumberlan ...

Lebanon, Tennessee Lebanon is the county seat of Wilson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 38,431 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in Middle Tennessee, approximately east of downtown Nashville. Lebanon is part of the Nashville Metropoli ...

Career

In 1923 Loser became assistant city attorney for Nashville, and in 1929 he became an assistant

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a ...

. He became district attorney for the former 10th Circuit, a position he held from 1934 until 1956. He was a delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

in 1944, 1956, and 1960. He was a member of the United States Coast Guard Reserve in 1944; a presidential elector in 1956; and secretary of the Democratic Executive Committee of Tennessee from 1954 to 1958. In 1956, 5th District Congressman

Percy Priest James Percy Priest (April 1, 1900 – October 12, 1956) was an American teacher, journalist and politician who represented Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives from 1941 until his death. Background Priest was born in Carte ...

died a month before the election. A special primary was held to replace Priest on the ballot, and Loser won the nomination. This was tantamount to victory a month later, as no Republican had been elected to Congress from Nashville since

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology * Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

. He was re-elected in 1958 and 1960, and served from January 3, 1957, to January 3, 1963. In August 1962 Loser had seemingly been renominated for a fourth term. However, an investigation into the

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

revealed serious irregularities. Loser's major opponent in this contest was

Richard Fulton Richard Harmon Fulton (January 27, 1927 – November 28, 2018) was an American Democratic politician who served as a member of the Tennessee State Senate and of the United States House of Representatives, and the second mayor of the Metropolit ...

. However, it was largely the instigation of a minor candidate, iron worker and

labor union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

activist Raymond Love, that caused a re-examination of the primary by the ''

Nashville Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett ...

''. The ''Tennessean'' ran stories on its front page indicating a pattern of serious

voter fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

, and a lawsuit was filed. The number of votes in question would not have in any event been adequate to have caused the election of Love, but could possibly have been enough to have thrown the election to Fulton. Love, stating that his only desire was one for a clean, honest election in any case, withdrew from the primary, which was rerun by court order. In the second primary, conducted under close scrutiny, Fulton defeated Loser decisively and went on to be elected that fall and to seven subsequent terms. Loser withdrew from public life after his defeat.

Personal life and death

Loser's father-in-law, William Gupton, served as the mayor of Nashville from 1917 to 1921. Loser died on July 31, 1984 (age 91 years, 304 days) in Nashville. He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

at Woodlawn Memorial Park, Nashville, Tennessee.

References

External links

*
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loser, Joseph Carlton 1892 births 1984 deaths Politicians from Nashville, Tennessee Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee 20th-century American politicians