Lee Slater Overman - Political Career

Political Career

Overman became involved in politics and was first elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives.

In 1914, Overman became the first U.S. senator from North Carolina to be elected by popular vote, after passage of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution in 1913 standardized popular election of senators. In 1902 and 1909, Overman had been appointed to the Senate seat by the state legislature..

He wrote and sponsored the Overman Act of 1918, which gave President Woodrow Wilson extraordinary powers to coordinate government agencies in wartime. Overman chaired a Senate committee after World War I to investigate activities during the first Red Scare, which many see as a precursor to the House Un-American Activities Committee.

In 1922, Overman was one of the leaders of a 1 hour, 45 minute filibuster that helped defeat the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. In his lengthy speech, he said that the bill was a partisan attempt to solidify the Republican hold on the northern black vote, that the bill had been written by a black person, and that ignorant black people in the South would interpret the bill as permission to "commit the foulest of outrages."

In World War II, the United States liberty ship SS Lee S. Overman was named in his honor.