Thomas Chipman McRae

Thomas Chipman McRae ( born December 21, 1851 Union County, Arkansas, † June 2, 1929 in Prescott, Arkansas) was an American lawyer and politician and from 1921 to 1925 governor of Arkansas.

Early years

Thomas McRae grew up on his parents' farm. After his father's death in 1863 he had to leave his mother at hand there. Only when these married again in 1868, McRae got time for an education. He attended Soule Business College and then studied law at the Washington and Lee University in Virginia, where he graduated in 1872. In 1873 he was admitted to the bar, after which he opened a thriving practice in Rosston in Nevada County, which he later moved to Prescott.

Political rise

McRae was a member of the Democratic Party. Between 1877 and 1879 he was a delegate in the House of Representatives from Arkansas. He was then in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC selected. He was 1885-1903. Meanwhile, he was chairman of a committee that dealt with the administration of public lands ( Committee on Public Land). He campaigned for the return of land that had once received the railroad and were no longer needed by this. In the years 1884, 1896 and 1900 McRae was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions. Twice he was even president of this party conventions. In 1903 he resigned voluntarily from the Congress. He then worked as a lawyer again.

In 1905, he acquired the Bank of Prescott and thus rose into the banking business. In 1909 he became a member of the Bankers Association of Arkansas. In addition, he continued his legal career. Between 1917 and 1918 he was president of the Bar Association of Arkansas. In 1918, he was also a member of a commission to reform the constitution of Arkansas. 1920 McRae was elected Governor of Arkansas.

Governor of Arkansas

McRae's tenure as governor began on 11 January 1921. According to a re-election in 1922 he was able to remain in office January 13, 1925. At this time the railway committee in Arkansas was re-formed. The governor was in contrast to many of his contemporaries a little more liberal in the race question. He had decided against lynchings and provided for the construction of a tuberculosis hospital for African Americans. At that time, the probability of survival was tuberculosis in this social class at just 25%. There were also increased various taxes to improve education policy and transport. However, in these two areas remained quite unsettled and had to be processed by subsequent governments. This was also the fact that many were not a political majority in the Parliament of McRae's proposals.

After the end of his tenure, McRae again devoted his lawyer and banking transactions. Moreover, he was in a special function on the Arkansas Supreme Court Judge Thomas McRae died in June 1929. He was married to Amelia A. White, with whom he had nine children.