Rhea obtained his early education in the area's public schools and at Bethel College in Russellville.[1] He began the practice of law in Logan County.[1] He was the president of Southern Deposit Bank and vice-president of the Bank of Russellville.[1] In 1905, he was elected sheriff of Logan County.[6] In January 1916, Rhea married Lillian Clark of Russellville.[3] The couple had four children – Lillian Rhea Noe, Thomas Jr., Albert III, and Roland.[3]
During World War I, Rhea served on the United States Munitions Board.[3] He failed in a bid to become state auditor in 1915, and his term as treasurer expired in 1916.[1][6] In 1919, he announced that he would run for governor, but later withdrew.[6] In 1924, Governor William J. Fields appointed him to the state workman's compensation board, where he served until 1927.[1][6] Rhea served as campaign chairman for J. C. W. Beckham in the 1927 gubernatorial race, but Beckham lost to Flem D. Sampson.[8] In 1928, he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.[6]
At the 1931 state Democratic convention, Rhea backed Madisonville judge Ruby Laffoon as the party's nominee for Governor of Kentucky and state senator J. Woodford Howard for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.[9] Laffoon easily won the gubernatorial nomination, but Howard lost the nomination for lieutenant governor to Happy Chandler, in part because Chandler received the backing of Rhea's political enemy, Ben Johnson.[10] Laffoon and Chandler won the election, and Laffoon removed Johnson as state highway commissioner, appointing Rhea to that position.[11]
Laffoon backed Rhea as his successor in 1935.[11] When Rhea and Laffoon traveled to Washington, D.C. for a meeting with PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, Lieutenant Governor Chandler was left as acting governor.[12] Chandler called the General Assembly into a special session to vote on a mandatory primary bill.[12] Laffoon returned to the state and tried to invalidate the call, but being stymied by the state courts, agreed to a primary bill that required a runoff if no candidate received a majority.[12] Laffoon believed that aging J. C. W. Beckham would once again run against Rhea in the Democratic primary and that a double primary would wear him down.[2]
Beckham did not run in the primary, however; Chandler did.[2] Attacking Laffoon's administration, especially the sales tax he enacted, Chandler derided Rhea as "Sales Tax Tom" and promised to save the state from "Ruby, Rhea, and Ruin".[2] Rhea brought in Earle C. Clements to manage his campaign.[5] Promising a business-like administration that would include fiscal reforms, Rhea charged that Chandler was "the Shadow Man" for Ben Johnson.[5] Laffoon sent state troops into pro-Chandler Harlan County, intimidating voters into voting for Rhea.[5]
In the first round of balloting, Rhea achieved a 19,000-vote plurality over Chandler, but it was not enough to avoid a runoff.[2] In the runoff, Chandler won by a vote of 260,573 to 234,124.[2] After his primary loss, Rhea bolted the Democratic party and supported RepublicanKing Swope for governor.[7] In the general election, Chandler defeated Swope to win the governorship.[2]
Later life and death
Rhea became a mentor for his campaign manager, Earle Clements, who led an anti-Chandler faction of the Democratic Party for the next two decades.[7] When Chandler challenged incumbent senator Alben Barkley in 1938, both Rhea and Clements backed Barkley.[13] Rhea also supported John Y. Brown, Sr. against Chandler ally Keen Johnson in the 1939 gubernatorial election.[14]
In 1941, Rhea was again elected sheriff of Logan County and became chair of the state sheriffs board.[7] He continued his service as sheriff until 1945.[7] He died at his home in Russellville on April 16, 1946.[6] He was buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Russellville.[7] On the occasion of his death, an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal opined that "he was a figure whose like will not be seen again in Kentucky politics."[7]
