Luke Lea (1879-1945)
| Luke Lea | |
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United States Senator from Tennessee |
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In office March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1917 |
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| Preceded by | James B. Frazier |
| Succeeded by | Kenneth D. McKellar |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 12, 1879 Nashville, Tennessee |
| Died | November 18, 1945 (aged 66) Nashville, Tennessee |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Louise Warner Lea |
Luke Lea (April 12, 1879 – November 18, 1945) was a Democratic United States Senator from Tennessee from 1911 to 1917.
Lea was the great-grandson of an earlier Luke Lea who was a two-term Congressman from Tennessee in the 1830s. Initially an ardent supporter of Democrat Andrew Jackson, the elder Lea later became a member of the Whig Party. Lea's maternal great-grandfather was William Cocke, who served in the U.S. Senate from 1796 to 1797, and again from 1799 to 1805.
The younger Lea attended public schools and then the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1899, and receiving his master's degree in 1900. Lea was the manager of the famed "Iron Men" of the 1899 Sewanee Tigers football team, who won five road games in six days, and outscored opponents 322 to 10. Lea is credited with putting together that season's team schedule. He then attended the Columbia Law School in New York City, from which he graduated in 1903. He was admitted to the bar the same year, and began to practice in Nashville.
In addition to practicing law, Lea formed a company to purchase the Nashville American newspaper. Reorganized as the Nashville Tennessean, Lea served as its first editor and publisher. He later merged the Tennessean with the Nashville Democrat, and his newspaper was a leading proponent of prohibition.
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