Joshua B. Lee: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|American politician}}

{{more citations needed|date=October 2012}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Joshua Lee

| image = Oklahoma senator. Washington, D.C., Dec. 13. United States Senator Josh Lee, Democrat of Oklahoma. He is considered one of the best orators in the Senate. 12-13-37 LCCN2016872732 (cropped).jpg

| office = [[United States Senate Democratic Conference Secretary|Secretary of the Senate Democratic Conference]]

| leader = [[Alben W. Barkley]]

| term_start = 1937

| term_end = 1943

| predecessor = [[Hugo Black]]

| successor = [[Francis T. Maloney]]

| jr/sr1 = United States Senator

| state1 = [[Oklahoma]]

| term_start1 = January 3, 1937

| term_end1 = January 3, 1943

| predecessor1 = [[Thomas Gore]]

| successor1 = [[Edward H. Moore]]

| state2 = [[Oklahoma]]

| district2 = {{ushr|OK|5|5th}}

| term_start2 = January 3, 1935

| term_end2 = January 3, 1937

| predecessor2 = [[Fletcher B. Swank]]

| successor2 = [[Robert P. Hill]]

| birth_name = Joshua Bryan Lee

| birth_date = {{birth date|1892|1|23}}

| birth_place = {{nowrap|[[Childersburg, Alabama]], [[United States|U.S.]]}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|1967|8|10|1892|1|23}}

| death_place = [[Norman, Oklahoma]], [[United States|U.S.]]

| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]

| education = [[Oklahoma Baptist University]]<br>[[University of Oklahoma]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Columbia University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])<br>[[Cumberland University]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])

| allegiance = {{flag|United States|1912}}

| branch = {{flag|United States Army}}

| serviceyears = 1917–1918

| unit = [[135th Infantry Regiment (United States)|135th Infantry]], [[34th Infantry Division (United States)|34th Division]]

'''Joshua Bryan Lee''' (January 23, 1892{{spaced ndash}}August 10, 1967) was a [[United States representative]] and [[United States Senate|Senator]] from [[Oklahoma]].

Lee was born in [[Childersburg, Alabama]] on January 23, 1892. He moved to [[Pauls Valley, Oklahoma]] (then [[Indian Territory]]), and [[Kiowa County, Oklahoma]] (near [[Hobart, Oklahoma]]) in 1901. He attended the public schools of Hobart and [[Rocky, Oklahoma]] and the [[Oklahoma Baptist University]] at [[Shawnee, Oklahoma|Shawnee]]. He was a teacher in the public schools of Rocky from 1911 to 1913 and was a coach of athletics and teacher of public speaking at the Oklahoma Baptist University, 1913–1915; he graduated from the [[University of Oklahoma]] at [[Norman, Oklahoma|Norman]] in 1917, and received a graduate degree in [[political science]] from [[Columbia University]] in 1924, and a law degree from [[Cumberland School of Law]] at [[Cumberland University]] (Tennessee) in 1925. He was initiated into the Mu chapter of [[Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia]] music fraternity in 1917.

Besides the rhymes there is enough commentary to illuminate the circumstances in which the rhymes were written. The 1948 version was ill-trimmed and the pages were not separated in twenty four instances. It is made up of soldier rhymes, with no effort to make them poems. Josh called them "the jottings of a doughboy." One sample of his authentic jottings is this passage contributed by a man reporting for help at sick call. "Are you sick, soldier?" And the trooper says, "No sir, I ain't sick, but I feels powful unnecessary down around my mess kit." Illustrations for the book were contributed by Ruth Monro Augar—from sketches she did during The First World War while serving as an El Paso Herald reporter—from scenes observed on the Texas border, near Fort Bliss.

During the latter part of the war, Lee joined the entertainment troop and soon became a favorite of battle-sick doughboys. He knew how they felt because he had been there, slogging through the same mud. By 1948, he owned and operated a ranch in western Oklahoma and a farm near Norman. His reputation in the neighborhood was that of just an all around good guy. Left in his personal papers were pictures of himself and FDR, about 100 copies of his "Cognac" book with the covers intact, and the pages still unopened. There were several recordings of material gleaned from his course in public speaking. There was also a picture of a painting of an early MacArthur, as well as pictures of himself at various functions.

There were three duffel bags full of correspondence and clippings of his public career that made the news. He and Will Rogers were close friends at one time. "Josh Lee never met a man he didn't like either," said Leroy Bridges, the Director of Outreach Political Communication Center, Department of Communication, at the University of Oklahoma. He is a treasure trove of information on the subject of Josh Lee and the times and people of the times.

From 1919 to 1934, Lee was head of the public speaking department of the University of Oklahoma, and was also an author and lecturer; he owned and operated a ranch in western Oklahoma and a farm near Norman.

He was elected as a [[USDemocrat|Democrat]] to the Seventy-fourth Congress (January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1937) and was not a candidate for renomination in 1936; he was then [[1936 United States Senate election in Oklahoma|elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate]] and served from January 3, 1937, to January 3, 1943. He was an unsuccessful candidate [[1942 United States Senate election in Oklahoma|for reelection in 1942]], and was a member of the [[Civil Aeronautics Board]] from 1943 to 1955. He returned to Norman and practiced law; he died there in 1967 and was interred in the I. O. O. F. Cemetery.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

{{CongBio|L000198}}

*[https://arc.ou.edu/repositories/3/resources/21 Josh B. Lee Collection] and [https://arc.ou.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/541706 Photograph Collection] at the [[Carl Albert Center]]

==External links==

* {{Commons category-inline|Joshua B. Lee}}

|-

{{s-ppo}}

{{s-bef|before=[[Thomas Gore]]}}

{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[United States Senator|U.S. Senator]] from [[Oklahoma]]<br>([[Classes of United States Senators|Class 2]])|years=[[1936 United States Senate election in Oklahoma|1936]], [[1942 United States Senate election in Oklahoma|1942]]}}

{{s-aft|after=[[Robert S. Kerr]]}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=[[Hugo Black]]}}

{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Senate Democratic Conference Secretary|Secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus]]|years=1937–1943}}

{{s-aft|after=[[Francis T. Maloney]]}}

|-

{{s-ttl|title=[[List of United States Senators from Oklahoma|U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Oklahoma]]|years=1937–1943|alongside=[[Elmer Thomas]]}}

[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma]]

[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Oklahoma]]

[[Category:20th-century American legislators]]

[[Category:University of Oklahoma alumni]]

[[Category:Oklahoma Baptist University alumni]]

[[Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]

[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War I]]

[[Category:United States Army soldiers]]