GLASS, CARTER

Carter Glass (January 4, 1858–May 28,1946) was a U.S. senator from Virginia. Along with his colleague Senator Harry Byrd, Glass was a leading member of the Republican-Democratic congressional coalition that emerged to oppose the New Deal by 1938. In 1934 Glass declared that the New Deal "is not only a mistake; it is a disgrace to the Nation." According to historian James T. Patterson, Glass voted against the Roosevelt administration 81 percent of the time, more than any other Democrat.

Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, Carter Glass began his career in 1880 as city editor of the Lynchburg News; he soon rose to the position of editor and purchased the newspaper in 1888. As an outspoken editor, Glass grew more involved in politics. He was elected to the Virginia State Senate in 1899, and in 1901 he served as a delegate to the Virginia state constitutional convention, where he helped to devise voting restrictions that disfranchised African Americans. In 1902, Glass was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the sixth district of Virginia. As a member of the House Banking and Currency Committee, Glass was responsible for drafting the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. A close ally of President Woodrow Wilson, Glass became his secretary of the treasury in 1919.

In 1920, upon the death of Senator Thomas Martin, Virginia Governor Westmoreland Davis appointed Glass to the U.S. Senate. The efficiency of the Virginia Democratic Party machine, along with its tightly restricted electorate, ensured Glass's repeated reelection to the Senate. This enabled Glass to become an early and outspoken critic of the New Deal. As one of the architects of the national financial system, he decried currency devaluation and the abandonment of the gold standard. He believed such federal programs as the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and Social Security undermined states' rights. Illness prevented Glass from being an active senator after 1942, but he remained in office until his death in 1946.

See Also: BYRD, HARRY; CONSERVATIVE COALITION; GLASS-STEAGALL ACT OF 1932; GLASS-STEAGALL ACT OF 1933.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Palmer, James E., Jr. Carter Glass: Unreconstructed Rebel. 1938.

Patterson, James T. Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal: The Growth of the Conservative Coalition in Congress, 1933–1939. 1967.

Smith, Rixley, and Norman Beasley. Carter Glass: A Biography. 1939.

Larissa M. Smith