Clarke T. Reed earned major attention as a prominent political figure in the Mississippi Delta and beyond. His life and times have been recalled in myriad narratives since his death Dec. 8 at age 96 in Greenville.
Reed was an ingenious businessman who with a partner introduced Delta farmers to a technology that kept birds from damaging farms and catfish ponds.
As a raconteur Reed often was the one merrymakers gathered around to hear tales from the political road, which might find him at noon in Washington and at night in Greenville, his adopted hometown, dining at his favorite restaurant.
“He often held court at Doe’s Eat Place, a dog-eared diner famous for its hot tamales and steak, or at his home, where he entertained a steady flow of politicians, journalists and friends, often at the same time and always with a ready supply of food and bourbon,” wrote New York Times reporter Clay Risen in Reed’s obituary.
Reed, a Missouri native who moved to this state in the 1950s, gained notoriety as the almost singular architect of the modern Mississippi Republican Party and as the one whose advice and consent were sought out by national party leaders on anything related to the South’s political scene.