Lawrence Davis Tyson (July 4, 1861 – August 24, 1929) was an American brigadier general, politician, lawyer and textile manufacturer, who operated primarily out of Knoxville, Tennessee during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

During World War I, Tyson commanded the 59th Brigade of the 30th Infantry Division, then served as a Democratic United States Senator from Tennessee from 1925 until his death.

[2] In 1878, he scored the highest in his region on a competitive entrance exam for the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, and was admitted the following year.

Several of his classmates would go on to become general officers in their careers, such as Charles W. Kennedy, George H. Cameron, Harry C. Hale, George W. Read, John W. Heard, Ira A. Haynes, Samson L. Faison, William C. Langfitt, Robert D. Walsh, Omar Bundy, Charles G. Morton, Tyree R. Rivers, John W. Ruckman, Isaac Littell and Clarence R. Edwards.

The son, military aviator Charles McGhee Tyson, died on October 11, 1917 (during World War I) in the north Atlantic ocean aged 29.

[4] In July 2007, Drew Gilpin Faust, a professor of history, college administrator and a great-granddaughter of Lawrence D. and Bettie Tyson, became Harvard University's 28th president.

[7] At one point, Tyson worked for the law firm of Edward Terry Sanford (1865–1930), future Supreme Court justice.

In 1889, the Democrats had gained control of the state legislature and quickly passed four acts which they described as "electoral reform," including literacy tests, grandfather clauses and poll taxes.

Upon the American entry into World War I, in April 1917, Tyson applied to return to active military duty, and was appointed brigadier general over all Tennessee National Guard troops by Governor Tom C. Rye.

[13] After several more months of training, Tyson's brigade, together with rest of the division, embarked for service overseas on the Western Front in May 1918, and were among the first American troops to enter Belgium in July of that year.

[3] In September 1918, the 30th Division, now commanded by Major General Edward M. Lewis and serving with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), was ordered to the Somme area in northern France, and positioned opposite the heavily fortified Cambrai-Saint Quentin Canal section of the Hindenburg Line.

Marching in dense fog, the troops pushed across a 3-mile (4.8 km) stretch of "wire entanglements and trench defenses" before crossing the canal and securing the area.

His determination and skill as a military leader were reflected in the successes of his brigade in the attack and capture of Brancourt and Premont, where a large number of prisoners and much material fell into our hands.

[16] In the early 1920s, the Democratic Party had grown frustrated with Senator John Knight Shields, who had opposed President Woodrow Wilson's League of Nations, and had stalled a number of the Executive Branch's political appointments.

[7] Tyson's first major piece of legislation was the Tyson-Fitzgerald Act of 1925, which authorized federal compensation for disabled World War I officers.