JOSEPH BRACKEN LEE
Governor 1949-1957
Joseph Bracken Lee (1899-1996) was born in Price, Utah. He served in the army during World
War I and owned successful real estate and insurance businesses. He first entered the world of
politics as the mayor of Price, an office he held for 12 years. After making several bids for
Congress and governor, Lee was elected governor in 1948.
Lee entered the national spotlight with his battle against federal income tax and his ideas
regarding reform in state government. He made deep cuts in many state agency budgets, despite
Utah’s $9 million budget surplus. He reorganized the welfare, highway, and education
departments and created a state motor pool. A controversial governor, Lee often stated his low
opinion of teachers and school administrators, which eventually united the entire educational
establishment against him. Despite having some political enemies, Lee’s popularity as governor
remained strong enough for him to win a second term.
Lee ran for a third term, this time on the Independent ticket. After Republican George D. Cylde
won the election, Lee went on to run for other public offices. In 1959, he became mayor of Salt
Lake City and served for 12 years. When he retired at age 73, Lee had served an impressive 32
years in elective office in Utah.
ARTIST
C.J. Fox is infamous not for his portfolio, but for his story. As reported by TIME magazine in
March 1978, C.J. Fox was a pseudonym for businessman and art dealer Leo Fox. As early as the
1940s, Leo Fox solicited portrait commissions under the name “Charles J. Fox,” advertising the
painter as “the son of a well-known Austrian artist.” Leo Fox paid obscure artists to
complete—from photographs—the portraits of hundreds of prominent Americans. Each
commissioned portrait was signed and sold by “C.J. Fox.”