Thomas Harrington Pope graduated with honors from The Citadel in 1935 by which institution he was recognized as a Distinguished Military Graduate. He graduated from the University of South Carolina Law School in 1938 and there was awarded recognition as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He served as a Captain in the South Carolina National Guard and entered the U.S. Army in 1941.
Before and after World War II he represented Newberry County in the South Carolina House of Representatives. Predictably, he was elected and served as Speaker of the House in 1949 and 1950.
Tom Pope was very committed to professional and community activities. He was a member of the S.C. Archives and History Commission, the TriCentennial Commission of 1970, the S.C. Historical Society, and the University Caroliniana Society. Tom Pope served on the Board of Trustees of Newberry College and of the University of the South. He served as a member of the South Carolina Ports Authority. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Newberry Savings and Loan. He served as President of the South Carolina Bar Association and as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons of South Carolina.
In addition, as a devoted husband and dedicated father, his attention to his responsibilities and his loving embrace of his family-and them of him-was profound. We are all better because of the love and strength of his family.
Tom Pope’s life was a silver straight arrow for courage and integrity, and aptly fits the poet’s declaration: Above all to thine own self be true and it must follow the night as the day thou canst not then be false to any man.