Background
Joseph Wellington Byrns was born on July 20, 1869 on a farm near Cedar Hill, Robertson County, Tennessee, the eldest of six children of James H. and Mary E. (Jackson) Byrns, who were of Scottish and Irish descent.
Joseph Wellington Byrns was born on July 20, 1869 on a farm near Cedar Hill, Robertson County, Tennessee, the eldest of six children of James H. and Mary E. (Jackson) Byrns, who were of Scottish and Irish descent.
Since Joseph early showed an interest in books, the family moved to Nashville in order that he might attend high school there. After graduation in 1887 he went to Vanderbilt University, where he obtained the LL. B. degree in 1890.
Joseph Byrns was admitted to the bar in the same year and began the practice of law in Nashville in 1891. His entrance into politics occurred in 1894 with his election to the lower house of the Tennessee legislature. He was reelected in 1896 and 1898 and served as speaker during the 1899 session.
In 1900 he was elected to the Tennessee senate. As a candidate for district attorney-general of Davidson County two years later he suffered his first and only political defeat.
Byrns made his first campaign for Congress in 1908 and succeeded in defeating the supposedly invincible incumbent, John Wesley Gaines, in whose office he had earlier begun the practice of law.
He promised the voters a federal appropriation for a lock and dam on the Cumberland River, and as a freshman representative he made good on his promise. He thus began a congressional career which continued without interruption until his death.
In only one other campaign, 1932, did he have any opposition, and then he defeated his opponent by a margin of five to one. Assigned to the important Committee on Appropriations at the beginning of his second term in Congress, Byrns championed economy in government and tariff reduction.
Later, during World War I, as chairman of an appropriations subcommittee, he pushed through the House the enormous appropriations needed to sustain the war effort.
He admired Woodrow Wilson greatly and consistently supported his legislative program throughout both presidential terms. With the return of the Republicans to power after the war Byrns resumed his post as a "watchdog of the Treasury. " By clever manipulation of figures, he attempted to puncture Republican claims of "constructive economy. "
Along with his fellow Tennessean Cordell Hull he criticized the prevailing high-tariff policy as destructive of American trade and contributory to worldwide depression. After the Democrats secured control of the House of Representatives in the mid-term election of 1930, Byrns became chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Two years later, when John N. Garner became vice-president and was succeeded as speaker of the House by Henry T. Rainey, Byrns advanced to the post of majority leader. In this capacity he guided through the lower house all of the basic New Deal legislative measures.
At the adjournment of the 73rd Congress in 1934 he stated with pride that, under his management, "in every single instance the House passed the President's recovery bills. "
After presiding in the House on June 3, 1936, Byrns suffered a heart attack; he died following a cerebral hemorrhage early the next morning. After memorial services at the Capitol, his remains were taken to Nashville, where they were interred in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery.
A Methodist in his church affiliations, Byrns was also a Mason and Shriner.
Using "friendly persuasion" rather than "big stick" methods, Byrns was able to manage successfully the unwieldy Democratic majority. He was credited by the Literary Digest with establishing "the first effective information-service ever attempted in the House"; using fifteen deputy party whips, he was able to learn within half an hour how the membership would vote on any issue.
He made no mention of the extent to which those measures conflicted with his previously expressed views on economy and state rights; he placed party loyalty above personal opinions, as he had already done in accepting the "wet" plank in the Democratic platform. This outstanding loyalty was rewarded in 1935 by election to the speakership following the death of Speaker Rainey, although Roosevelt probably would have preferred either William Bankhead or Sam Rayburn to the easygoing Tennessean.
He was a member of the Civitan International club.
Over six feet tall and spare of frame, he had bushy, black eyebrows and keen brown eyes.
On August 23, 1898, he married Julia E. Woodard of Nashville; they had one son, Joseph Wellington.