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 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 1931 to 1946.

Early life and education

Born in

Warrenton, North Carolina Warrenton is a town in and the county seat of Warren County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 862 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Warrenton, now served by U.S. Route 158, U.S. routes 158 and U.S. Route 401 in North ...

, he grew up in Raleigh and graduated from Wake Forest College (now

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

Career

Before turning to a career in law, Bailey was editor of the '' Biblical Recorder'', a newspaper for North Carolina

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

. He was a presidential elector in 1908. Elected to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

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 Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

and proposing more conservative alternatives. Among other things, the Manifesto called for lower taxes and less spending. 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 Majority Leader Joe Robinson to be definite supporters, to oppose the measure. A segregationist and white supremacist, Bailey filibustered anti-lynching legislation in 1938.Beauchamp, Zack (October 9, 2013)
How Racism Caused The Shutdown
''ThinkProgress''. Retrieved September 4, 2021. 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.

References

Sources

*Finley, Keith M. ''Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938–1965'' (Baton Rouge, LSU Press, 2008).

External links

The "Conservative Manifesto" from the North Carolina History Project
*

by Troy Kickler, December 13, 2006

* ttp://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=bailey&GSfn=josiah&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=8091147& Josiah William Baileyat Find-A-Grave
Josiah Bailey papers
1773–1867. 2" linear. At th
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Josiah 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