Senator James Pinckney Pope

James Pinckney Pope (March 31, 1884 – January 23, 1966) was a Democratic politician from Idaho who served as mayor of Boise for four years and as a one-term United States Senator from 1933 to 1939. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, as the nation confronted the Great Depression and the early years of the New Deal, and he contributed to the legislative process as a member of the Democratic Party during his single term in office.

Pope was born in Jonesboro, Louisiana, on March 31, 1884. He pursued his early education in his home state and went on to attend the Louisiana Industrial Institute in Ruston, now known as Louisiana Tech University. He graduated from the Louisiana Industrial Institute in 1906. Seeking advanced legal training, he enrolled at the University of Chicago Law School, where he studied law and became a member of the Delta Chi fraternity. He completed his legal studies and graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1909.

After his admission to the bar in 1909, Pope moved west to Idaho and settled in Boise, where he began the practice of law. He quickly became active in public affairs and municipal governance. In Boise he served as city attorney, providing legal counsel to the city government, and later as assistant attorney general of Idaho, extending his influence to statewide legal matters. He also served as a member of the board of education of Boise, reflecting his interest in public education and local civic development. Building on this record of public service, Pope was elected mayor of Boise, serving from 1929 to 1933, a period that spanned the onset of the Great Depression and required careful municipal leadership.

Pope’s prominence in Idaho politics and his alignment with the Democratic Party’s emerging New Deal coalition led to his election to the United States Senate in 1932. Running as a Democrat, he defeated Republican incumbent Senator John Thomas of Gooding in the general election. He took his seat in the Senate in March 1933 and served until 1939, representing Idaho during the crucial early years of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration. As a member of the Senate, James Pinckney Pope participated in the democratic process, represented the interests of his Idaho constituents, and supported the broad legislative program aimed at economic recovery and reform. From 1934 to 1936, he served as a member of the Nye Committee, the Senate Special Committee on Investigation of the Munitions Industry, which examined the role of arms manufacturers and financial interests in U.S. involvement in World War I.

During his Senate tenure, Pope was regarded as a stalwart supporter of President Roosevelt and the New Deal. His close identification with the administration’s policies helped define his legislative record but also shaped his political fortunes at home. It was suggested by contemporaries that Idaho’s senior senator, William E. Borah, the long-serving Republican often referred to as the “dean of the U.S. Senate,” at times felt upstaged by Pope’s prominence and New Deal loyalty and may have had a hand in Pope’s defeat by a more conservative Democrat. In 1938, Pope was defeated for renomination in the Democratic primary by Congressman D. Worth Clark of Pocatello, who subsequently went on to win the general election and succeed him in the Senate.

After leaving the Senate in 1939, Pope continued his public service at the federal level. That year, President Roosevelt appointed him a director of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a key New Deal agency responsible for regional planning, flood control, electrification, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley. Pope served as a director of the TVA from 1939 until 1951, participating in the oversight and expansion of one of the era’s most significant public power and development projects. Following his tenure at the TVA, he remained in Tennessee, continuing to practice law and serving on several boards, thereby maintaining an active role in legal and civic affairs.

In his later years, Pope relocated from Tennessee to the Washington, D.C. area. In 1963 he moved to Alexandria, Virginia, where he spent the final years of his life. He died in Alexandria on January 23, 1966, at the age of 81. Pope was married to Pauline Ruth Horn Pope (1887–1957), and the couple had two sons, Ross P. Pope and George A. Pope. James Pinckney Pope and his wife are buried in Lynnhurst Cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee, reflecting the lasting connection he maintained with the region where he concluded his long career in public service.