Estes Kefauver

Estes Kefauver
'Estes Kefauver in 1957'
35th President of the United States
In Office January 20, 1957 - January 20, 1961
Vice President	Howard McMurray
Preceded by	Dwight Eisenhower
Succeeded by	Richard Nixon
United States Senator from Tennessee
In Office January 3, 1949 - January 3, 1957
Preceded by	Tom Stewart
Succeeded by	Herbert S. Walters
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 3rd district
In Office September 13, 1939 - January 3, 1949
Preceded by	Sam D. McReynolds
Succeeded by	James B. Frazier Jr.
Personal details
Native name	Carey Estes Kefauver
Date of birth	July 26, 1903
Place of birth	Madisonville, Tennessee, U.S.
Age at start	58 years old
Nationality	American
Role	Former President of the United States
Political party	Democratic Party
Ideology	Dynastic Liberalism

Carey Estes Kefauver (/ˈɛstɪs ˈkiːfɔːvər/; July 26, 1903) is an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949, before running for U.S. Senator for Tennessee, serving for 8 years. Kefauver would run for Presidency in 1957, succeeding Dwight D. Einsenhower as President of the United States.

Biography

Early Life

Carey Estes Kefauver was born in Madisonville, Tennessee, the son of local hardware merchant Robert Cooke Kefauver and his wife Phredonia Bradford Estes. Kefauver was introduced to politics at an early age when his father served as mayor of their hometown. The elder Kefauver would later be an active and enthusiastic helper in his son's campaigns until his death in 1958 at the age of 87.

Kefauver attended the University of Tennessee and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1924. He was a tackle and guard on his college football team. He taught mathematics and coached football at a Hot Springs, Arkansas, high school for a year before going on to Yale Law School, from which he earned an LL.B. cum laude in 1927.

Kefauver practiced law in Chattanooga for the next twelve years, beginning with the firm of Cooke, Swaney & Cooke, and eventually becoming a partner in Sizer, Chambliss & Kefauver.

In 1935, he married Nancy Pigott (born January 21, 1911, in Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire, UK), the daughter of British-American engineer Sir Stephen Pigott, whom he had met during her visit to relatives in Chattanooga. A graduate of the Glasgow School of Art with a budding career as an artist, she changed focus after her marriage and worked diligently and effectively for her husband's campaigns. The couple raised four children, one of them adopted

Moved by his role as attorney for the Chattanooga News, Kefauver became interested in local politics and sought election to the Tennessee Senate in 1938. He lost but in 1939 spent two months as Finance and Taxation Commissioner under the newly elected governor Prentice Cooper. When Congressman Sam D. McReynolds of Tennessee's 3rd congressional district, which included Chattanooga, died in 1939, Kefauver was elected to succeed him in the House.