Harold Dunbar Cooley (July 26, 1897 – January 15, 1974) was an American

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

of the Democratic Party. He represented the Fourth Congressional district of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

from 1934 to 1966.

Background

He was born on July 26, 1897, in

Nashville, North Carolina Nashville is a town and the county seat of Nash County, North Carolina, United States. The town was founded in 1780 and features Victorian and Queen Anne–style homes. It is part of the Rocky Mount, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...

. He was a graduate of the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

at Chapel Hill and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Law School.

Career

He was a private practice lawyer and military veteran, serving in the United States Naval Aviation Flying Corps during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He was a member of the Interparliamentary Conferences held at Cairo, Egypt, 1947 and at Rome, Italy, 1948 and served as president of the American group for two four-year terms. On July 7, 1934, he was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-third Congress by special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative

Edward W. Pou Edward William Pou (; September 9, 1863 – April 1, 1934) was an American politician, serving in the United States Congress as a representative from 1901 until his death in Washington, D.C., on April 1, 1934. From March 1933 to April 1934, he wa ...

. He was subsequently reelected 16 times, serving until his resignation on December 30, 1966. Cooley remains the longest-serving Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture in history. In 1947-8, he served on the

Herter Committee The House Select Committee on Foreign Aid, or Herter Committee, was established to study the proposal that had been launched by General George Marshall in his speech at Harvard on June 5, 1947, for a Marshall Plan, in part as Cold War anticommunis ...

. He was one of the few Southern Congressmen not to sign the 1956

Southern Manifesto The Declaration of Constitutional Principles (known informally as the Southern Manifesto) was a document written in February and March 1956, during the 84th United States Congress, in opposition to racial integration of public places. The manife ...

that opposed the desegregation of public schools ordered by the Supreme Court in ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

''. However, Cooley voted against the

Civil Rights Act of 1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights law passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. E ...

, the original version of the

Civil Rights Act of 1960 The Civil Rights Act of 1960 () is a United States federal law that established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote. It dealt primarily wi ...

(while abstaining on the final version), the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

, the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights move ...

. He was nearly defeated in 1964 by Republican

James Carson Gardner James Carson "Jim" Gardner (born April 8, 1933) is an American businessman and politician from North Carolina who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for just one term from 1967 to 1969 and served as the 30 ...

and then lost to Gardner by a stunning 13-point upset in 1966.OurCampaigns: 1966
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Death

He died on January 15, 1974, in Wilson, N.C. and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Nashville, N.C.

Legacy

His home at Nashville, the

Bissette-Cooley House Bissette-Cooley House is a historic home located at Nashville, Nash County, North Carolina. It was built in 1911, and is a two-story, double pile central hall plan Classical Revival frame dwelling. It has a slate covered, steeply pitched hipped ...

, was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1985.

References

External links

Inventory of the Harold Dunbar Cooley Papers
in the

Southern Historical Collection The Southern Historical Collection is a repository of distinct archival collections at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which document the culture and history of the American South. These collections are made up of unique primary mat ...

UNC-Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795 ...

* https://web.archive.org/web/20110829181738/http://www.fff.org/freedom/0498d.asp 1897 births 1974 deaths Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina North Carolina lawyers United States Naval Aviators Yale Law School alumni People from Nashville, North Carolina 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives {{NorthCarolina-politician-stub