Clarence James Brown, Sr. (July 14, 1893 – August 23, 1965), was an American newspaper publisher and politician; he represented Ohio as a Republican in the United States House of Representatives from 1939 until his death in Bethesda, Maryland in 1965. Long representing conservative views, near the end of his life, he helped gain House passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which he voted for to provide enforcement of the right to vote for all citizens, while also voting in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, 1960, and 1964. As president of Brown Publishing Company from 1920, he created a huge media company that lasted for 90 years. In 1918, at age 25, Brown was elected as the 36th lieutenant governor of Ohio, the youngest man to gain that post. Life and career Brown was born in Blanchester, Clinton County, Ohio or West Union, Clermont County, Ohio, the son of Owen and Ellen Barerre (McCoppin) Brown. His middle name "J" did not stand for anything. He attended the Blanchester public schools, and then attended law school at Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia, from 1913 to 1915. On his twenty-first birthday, Brown married Ethel McKinney. He worked as state statistician in 1915 and 1916 in the Ohio Secretary of State's office. Brown began newspaper work in Blanchester in 1917, where he published several country newspapers. He became president of the Brown Publishing Company in Blanchester, and also owned and operated several large farms in the Blanchester area. He directed Brown Publishing for the rest of his life. Political career In 1918, at 25, Brown was elected as the 36th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, serving from 1919 to 1923; he was the youngest man ever to hold the office. In 1926, he was elected Ohio Secretary of State and served from 1927 to 1933. In 1921, at the height of the Ku Klux Klan's power in Ohio, Brown supported federal civil rights legislation to stop the lynching of African-Americans. In 1938, prior to his first election as U.S. representative, he was one of only 67 (of 870) candidates for U.S. House along with only 8 (out of 96) sitting Senators to pledge support to the NAACP for federal anti-lynching legislation, the legislative precursor to modern civil rights legislation. In 1940, during debate of the anti-lynching bill he stated: In 1947, during floor debate involving Adam Clayton