drawn thus."5 The Dewey faction's efforts to choose non-controversial issues and

espouse a number of New Deal ideas clearly did not excite a majority of the party

elites.

 Rather than allow the Taft supporters to assume the chairmanship, the Dewey

group hoped to replace Brownell with one of their own and continue to implement

their vision for the party. As Brownell submitted his resignation, the business on the

meeting shifted immediately to the election of a successor. Alabama National

Committeeman Lonnie Noojin, a real-estate broker and ardent Taft supporter, had

first voice by virtue of alphabetical order and yielded to Ohio. On cue, Ohio

Congressman and RNC Executive Committeeman Clarence Brown submitted the

name of Tennessee Representative and RNC member B. Carroll Reece. Thirteen

others rose in support of the nomination and praised Reece for his record in congress

and his party leadership in the Volunteer State. Each speaker regarded Reece as a

strong organizer and claimed that he would be another forward-thinking chairman in

the mold of Brownell. Mississippi Committeeman Perry Howard, one of two African-

American members of the committee, argued that Reece's voting record on civil

rights measures was spotless. He claimed that "if the word goes out that the

honorable, fair-minded Carroll Reece, who lives up to all the traditions of the better

and the significant race but who is broad enough to sympathize with mine -- if the

word goes out that he is elected, there will be a general homecoming of that black

Republican in the fall of this year."6 Howard, who had previously called for the RNC




5 Proceedings of Meeting of the Republican National Committee, Washington, D.C. 1 April 1946, RNC
Papers, Roll 7
6 Proceedings of Meeting of the Republican National Committee, 1 April 1946, RNC Papers, Roll 7.
The other African-American member of the committee, Mary Boone, also from Mississippi, either
voted with Howard 100% of the time, or gave her proxy to Howard and did not attend the meetings.