Joseph Bracken Lee (7 January 1899-20 October 1996) was the Republican Governor of Utah from 3 January 1949 to 7 January 1957 (succeeding Herbert B. Maw and preceding George Dewey Clyde) and Mayor of Salt Lake City from 1960 to 1972 (succeeding Adiel F. Stewart and preceding Jake Garn).
Biography[]
Joseph Bracken Lee was born in Price, Utah in 1899, and he was raised in Fruita, Colorado and Price; while descended from Mormons, he was religiously unaffiliated and occasionally criticized the LDS Church. He served in the US Army during World War I, after which he entered the insurance business. He served as Mayor of Price from 1935 to 1947 before serving as Governor of Utah from 1949 to 1957, and he was a deep opponent of the income tax and oversaw hefty spending cuts to run surpluses in all of his administrations. Lee made cuts in higher education, opposed foreign aid and the United Nations, and cut the number of departments and commissioners. He failed in his 1960 "Conservative Party" bid for President, placing in ninth, and he served Mayor of Salt Lake City from 1960 to 1972. He died in 1996.