Oscar Byrd Lovette (December 20, 1871 – July 6, 1934) was a

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Biography

Lovette was born in

Greeneville, Tennessee Greeneville is a town in and the county seat of Greene County, Tennessee, United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 15,479. The town was named in honor of Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene, and it is the second oldest town i ...

and graduated from Parrottsville

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, and, in 1893, from

Tusculum College Tusculum University is a private Presbyterian university with its main campus in Tusculum, Tennessee. It is Tennessee's first university and the 28th-oldest operating college in the United States. In addition to its main campus, the institution ...

. He married Lillie Fowler on December 23, 1897, and they had four children.

Career

In 1894 Lovette was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives, serving from 1895 to 1897. During this period he studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

in Nashville, and was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in 1896. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, he was elected District Attorney for the former 1st Judicial District in his native East Tennessee in 1918, serving until 1926. He was also engaged in banking, serving as president of Citizens Savings Bank of Greenville from 1912 to 1918. He served as a trustee of Tusculum College; and was Clerk in the Quartermaster department of the U. S. A., in Cuba during Spanish–American War. In 1930, Lovette ran as an Independent for United States Representative from the 1st Congressional District against incumbent

Carroll Reece Brazilla Carroll Reece (December 22, 1889 – March 19, 1961) was an American Republican Party politician from Tennessee. He represented eastern Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives for all but six years from 1921 to 1961 ...

and defeated him. He served in the

72nd Congress The 72nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1931 ...

from March 4, 1931 to March 3, 1933. However, in 1932 Reece again sought the Republican nomination for his former seat and defeated Lovette, who had attempted to return to Congress as a Republican. Lovette contested the November election as an Independent, a practice then permissible under Tennessee law, but this time Reece turned back Lovette's Independent candidacy. Lovette then resumed practicing law until his death.

Death

Lovette died in Greeneville, Greene County, Tennessee on July 6, 1934 (age 62 years, 198 days). He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

at Oak Grove Cemetery, Greeneville, Tennessee.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovette, Oscar 1871 births 1934 deaths Tusculum University alumni Republican Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives People from Greeneville, Tennessee Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee