He became a member of the One Hundred and Sixty-Seventh Infantry, Alabama National Guard in 1923 and advanced through the ranks to colonel.

In 1931, as a Major, he commanded the Alabama National Guard troops who guarded the African American Scottsboro Boys from the mob gathered outside the Jackson County, Alabama Court House while those defendants were on trial for allegedly raping white women Ruby Bates and Victoria Price.

In 1938 he served on the Dies Committee, precursor to HUAC, and gained notoriety and ridicule for enquiring of Hallie Flanagan whether the English Elizabethan Era playwright Christopher Marlowe and ancient Greek tragedian "Mr. Euripides" were communists.

He served as a colonel of Infantry in the European Theater of Operations and in the Army of Occupation from January 4, 1945, until discharged on February 22, 1946, when he resumed the practice of law in Guntersville, Alabama.

[4] This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress