Born in Union City, Tennessee, Rice received a Bachelor of Science degree from Hall-Moody College (now Union University) in 1910 and a Bachelor of Laws from Valparaiso University School of Law in 1917.
He was in the United States Army from 1917 to 1919, where he became a quartermaster sergeant.
[1] Rice was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 3, 1937, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma vacated by Judge Robert L. Williams.
He was a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States in 1958.
Rice served in that capacity until his death on November 24, 1967.