Jere Cooper

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Jere Cooper

| image = Jere Cooper (Tennessee Congressman).jpg

|office1= Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee

| term_start1 = March 4, 1929

| term_end1 = December 18, 1957

| preceded1 = Finis J. Garrett

| succeeded1 = Fats Everett

|constituency1= 9th District (1929-1933)
8th District (1933-1943)
9th District (1943-1953)
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 = Attorney

politician

| party = Democrat

| alma_mater = Cumberland School of Law

|nickname =

|allegiance = {{flagicon|United States of America}} United States of America

|branch = United States Army

|serviceyears = 1917 - April 2, 1919

|rank = 10px First Lieutenant

Captain(July 9, 1918)

|unit = Second Tennessee Infantry, National Guard

Co K, 119th Infantry, Thirtieth Division

|commands =

|battles = World War I

(France and Belgium)

|awards =

|}}

Jere Cooper (July 20, 1893 – December 18, 1957) was a Democratic United States Representative from Tennessee.

Biography

Cooper was born on a farm near Dyersburg, Dyer County, Tennessee, son of Joseph W. and Viola May (Cooper) Cooper. He attended public schools and then was graduated from the Cumberland School of Law in Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1914. He was admitted to the 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.{{cite web|title=Jere Cooper|url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=311|publisher=Tennessee Historical Society|access-date=6 May 2013}}

Career

Upon the U.S. entry into World War I in 1917, Cooper enlisted in the Second Tennessee Infantry, National Guard, and was commissioned a 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 and served as regimental 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 71st, and to the fourteen succeeding, Congresses, Cooper served from March 4, 1929, until his death.{{cite web|title=Jere Cooper|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/jere_cooper/402875|publisher=Govtrack US Congress|access-date=6 May 2013}} He served as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means (84th and 85th Congresses), and on the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation (Eighty-fifth Congress).{{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}}

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 interred at Fairview Cemetery, Dyersburg, Tennessee.{{cite web|title=Jere Cooper|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/cooper.html#268.15.03|publisher=The Political Graveyard|access-date=6 May 2013}}