Editing B. Carroll Reece (section)

===Return to the House===
Reece thus returned to Congress, serving until 1947, when he stepped down to devote his full energies to serving as chairman of the [[Republican National Committee]], a position he had held since 1946.

An adamant conservative, Reece generally opposed the [[New Deal]] during the presidency of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] along with Progressive initiatives such as Federal wage and price controls.<ref name=TNenc/> He was also an [[isolationist]], according to Sampson,<ref name=libertyuniversity/> and a [[non-interventionist]]<ref>Krock, Arthur (April 3, 1946). [https://www.nytimes.com/1946/04/03/archives/reece-was-noninterventionist-opposed-the-draft-lendlease-and-other.html Reece Was Non-Interventionist; Opposed the Draft, Lend-Lease and Other Pre-War Moves, but Voted for Larger Navy]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved March 2, 2022.</ref> prior to [[World War II]] and voted against the [[Lend-Lease Act]].<ref>[https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/77-1941/h6 TO PASS H.R. 1776, A BILL TO PROMOTE THE DEFENSE OF THE UNITED STATES (LEND-LEASE BILL).]. ''GovTrack.us''. Retrieved March 2, 2022.</ref> A supporter of civil rights, he advocated the passage of federal anti-lynching legislation and anti-poll tax measures.<ref name=TNenc/>

A member of the conservative "Old Guard" faction of the Republican Party, Reece was a strong supporter of Ohio Senator [[Robert A. Taft]], the leader of the GOP's conservative wing.<ref name="ufdc.ufl.edu">Bowen, Michael D. [https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0015635/00001 Fight for the Right: The Quest for Republican Identity in the Postwar Period], p. 19. ''University of Florida Digital Collections''. Retrieved March 2, 2022.</ref> In 1948 and 1952 Reece was a leading supporter of Taft's candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination; however, Taft lost the nomination both times to moderate Republicans from New York.

Reece was the Republican nominee for an open [[United States Senate|Senate]] seat in [[United States Senate election, 1948|1948]], but lost to [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] Congressman [[Estes Kefauver]], who had unseated incumbent Democrat [[Tom Stewart (politician)|Tom Stewart]] in the party primary. Kefauver carried the support of the influential editor [[Edward J. Meeman]] of the now-defunct ''[[Memphis Press-Scimitar]]'', who had for years fought to topple the [[E. H. Crump|Edward "Boss" Crump]] [[political machine]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]]. Crump supported Stewart.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=883|title=Edward John Meeman|encyclopedia=The Tennessee Encyclopedia|date=January 1, 2010|access-date=May 24, 2015}}</ref>