11 Facts About Ross Bass

Ross Bass was an American Congressman and United States Senator from Tennessee.

Ross Bass joined the United States Army Air Forces and served as a bombardier in Europe during World War II, reaching the rank of captain.

Ross Bass was named postmaster of Pulaski in 1946, serving until 1954.

In 1954, Ross Bass was elected as a Democratic US Congressman from Tennessee's 6th District, which included Pulaski.

Ross Bass signed onto the 1956 anti-desegregation Southern Manifesto, but was the only Democratic Representative from the rural South to vote for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Ross Bass voted in favor of the 24th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1962.

Since the election was for an unexpired term, and in the Senate seniority is a very important consideration when being considered for committee assignments, office assignments, and the like, Ross Bass was sworn in as soon as the election results could be certified in order to give him a slight seniority advantage over other freshmen Senators elected in 1964.

Ross Bass voted in favor of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Ross Bass wanted to avoid being forced out of politics, as he had once before when faced with term limits the first time in 1958.

Ross Bass found himself running in a large amount of territory that he did not know and that did not know him.

Ross Bass married Judy Bobo, of Nashville, in 1975; they divorced in 1979.