Cooper was born on a farm near Dyersburg, Dyer County, Tennessee. He attended public schools and then was graduated from the Cumberland School of Law in Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1914, and was admitted to the bar in 1915 and commenced practice in Dyersburg, Tennessee, until U.S. entry into World War I. In 1917 he enlisted in the Second Tennessee Infantry, National Guard, and was commissioned a First Lieutenant. Later he was transferred, with his company, to Co K, 119th Infantry, Thirtieth Division, and served in France and Belgium.

On July 9, 1918, was promoted to Captain and served as regimental adjutant until discharged from the Army on April 2, 1919. After the war he resumed the practice of law in Dyersburg.

he was a member of the city council and city attorney 1920-1928 elected Department Commander of the American Legion of Tennessee in 1921 elected as a Democrat to the 71st, and to the fourteen succeeding, Congresses and served from March 4, 1929, until his death in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1957 chairman, U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means (84th and 85th Congresses), Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation (Eighty-fifth Congress) This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.