Clarence J. Brown

circa 1920

Clarence J. Brown, Sr. (July 14, 1893 - August 23, 1965) was an American newspaper publisher who represented Ohio as a Republican in the United States House of Representatives from 1939 to 1965.

Life and career

Brown was born in Blanchester, Clinton County, Ohio^[1] or West Union, Clermont County, Ohio,^[2] the son of Owen and Ellen Barerre (McCoppin) Brown. His middle name is "J" and does not stand for anything. He attended the Blanchester public schools. He went to law school at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, from 1913 to 1915.

On his twenty-first birthday he married Ethel McKinney. He was state statistician in 1915 and 1916 in the Ohio Secretary of State's office. Brown was engaged in newspaper work at Blanchester, Ohio, in 1917 and was publisher of several country newspapers. He then was president of the Brown Publishing Company, Blanchester, Ohio and also owned and operated several large farms. In 1918, he was elected the 36th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, serving from 1919 to 1923, the youngest man ever to hold the office. In 1926, he was elected Ohio Secretary of State and served 1927 to 1933. He ran for governor twice. In 1932, he lost the primary. In 1934, he won the Republican nomination but lost the general election. Brown was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1936, 1940, 1944, and 1948 and a member of the Republican National Committee beginning in 1944.

Brown was elected as a Republican to the Seventy-sixth and the thirteen succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1939 until his death in 1965. While in Congress, he was chairman of the Select Committee on Newsprint in the Eightieth Congress and was very close to Speaker Sam Rayburn of Texas.

In the 1930s, he was a staunch isolationist and opposed Franklin D. Roosevelt's policies. When Harry S. Truman became president, he opposed his Fair Deal. He was co-sponsor of legslation to create the Hoover Commission to study the Federal government and served on the commission, formally the Commission on the Organization of the Executive Branch of Government. By the 1950s, he was the ranking minority member of the Rules Committee and worked with its chairman, Howard W. Smith of Virginia to block liberal leglsation sought by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. At the end of his life, however, Brown broke with the ardent segregationist Smith, checking himself out of the hospital to help shepherd the Voting Rights Act of 1965 through Smith's Rules Committee, and earning the lasting gratitude of the civil rights movement.

Brown died at Bethesda Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland on August 23, 1965, and was buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Blanchester, Ohio.

His son Clarence J. "Bud" Brown Jr. won the special election in 1965 to fill his father's seat in Congress. His grandson is Clancy Brown the actor. He was no relation to the film director of the same name.

See also

• Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 7th District
• List of United States Representatives from Ohio

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Notes

1. ^ Bioguide
2. ^ ANB

External links

• Clarence J. Brown at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Preceded by: Earl D. Bloom	Lieutenant Governor of Ohio 1919-1923	Succeeded by: Earl D. Bloom
Preceded by: Thad H. Brown	Ohio Secretary of State 1927-1933	Succeeded by: George S. Myers

Persondata
Name	Brown, Clarence J.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 14, 1893
Place of birth
Date of death	August 23, 1965
Place of death