Political Experience
In World War I, Berry participated in the American Expeditionary Force with the rank of major, serving overseas 1918-1919, and then returned home to resume active leadership of his union. He was frequently a delegate to many national and international labor meetings and congresses. On May 6, 1937, he was appointed to the United States Senate by governor of Tennessee Gordon Browning to serve in the place of Nathan L. Bachman, who had died in office.
Turning the day-to-day operation of the union over to others, Berry moved to Washington, D.C. to attend to his senatorial duties. Berry apparently enjoyed being a Senator well enough to desire election in his own right, and ran a campaign seeking the nomination to the balance of the term in the August, 1938 Democratic primary.
However, the people of Tennessee were apparently more interested having the sort of Senator more traditionally associated with the Democratic Party's Southern conservative wing than a labor activist, and Berry was defeated for the nomination by attorney Tom Stewart. Governor Browning, who had appointed him to the Senate, was defeated for renomination by Prentice Cooper in the same primary.
Some political historians feel that these defeats can be almost entirely attributed to the influence of the Memphis-based political machine of E. H. Crump.) Berry's service as a Senator ended on November 8, 1938, when the votes in the general election indicating Stewart's election were tallied, even though Stewart did not actually take the seat until early the next year.
Read more about this topic: George L. Berry
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