Researching Jack Reed

Reed graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. During World War II, he served in the Signal Intelligence Service of the United States Army during the occupation of Japan. In 1947, he received his master's degree in retailing from New York University in New York City. Reed returned home to help with his family's Reed's Department Store. He was president of the Mississippi Economic Council in 1962. In 1984, Democratic Governor William Winter appointed Reed to the Mississippi Board of Education. He was the chairman of the first state board consisting of lay members. He left the position in 1987 to run for governor. He was subsequently chosen by U.S. President George H. W. Bush to head the National Advisory Committee on Education Research and Improvement.

He was the 1987 Republican gubernatorial nominee. He defeated Douglas Hammond "Doug" Lemon (born March 3, 1942) of Florence in his party's primary election but then lost the general election to Democrat Ray Mabus.

Nevertheless, Reed's 47 percent of the vote was encouraging to his party. He fared better than his Republican predecessors Rubel Phillips in 1963 and 1967, Gil Carmichael in 1975 and 1979, and Leon Bramlett in 1983. In 1991, the Mississippi GOP won the governorship for the first time since Reconstruction with the election of businessman Kirk Fordice, who unseated Mabus.

Reed is the subject of several books. In 2015, Reed was awarded an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from Millsaps College in Jackson. Millsaps declared Reed one of the "few individuals to have positively impacted the state of Mississippi," citing his support for business expansion and public education in the aftermath of desegregation. He died two years later at the age of ninety-one. His son, Jack Reed Jr., is a past mayor of their hometown of Tupelo.

Reed threw and batted right-handed; he was listed as tall and . He spent his entire professional career in the Yankee organization as a player (1953–55; 1958–64) and minor league manager (1965–67). During his Major League career Reed hit .233 with one home run and six runs batted in in 222 games played (and 129 at-bats). He is only one of seven players in Major League Baseball history with more career games played than plate appearances. He appeared in three games of the 1961 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds (won by the Yankees in five games) as a defensive replacement, spelling Mantle, Héctor López and Johnny Blanchard; he did not have a plate appearance.

On June 24, 1962, Reed hit the only home run of his career in the top of the 22nd inning, as the Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 9–7 in the longest game in Yankees' history. The blow came off Phil Regan at Tiger Stadium. Reed's 30 MLB hits also included two doubles and one triple.

From 1978 through 1982, Norman’s Cay was the center of the world’s largest drug smuggling operation and a tropical hideaway for Lehder and associates, including Reed. Cocaine was flown in from Colombia by private aircraft, then reloaded into other aircraft that then distributed it to locations in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas. It was flown into the United States via the Bahamas, a path made possible via Colombian suppliers and bribes allegedly spread among Bahamian government officials for political and judicial protection On Norman’s Cay, Lehder maintained a 3,100-foot (1,000 m) runway protected by radar, bodyguards, and guard dogs for the fleet of aircraft under his command.

Lehder and Reed, who held separate residences on the island, eventually fled Norman’s Cay after authorities threatened to shut down the illicit billion-dollar drug smuggling operation for good.

In February 1987, days after Lehder was captured in the Colombian jungle, Reed was apprehended in Panama. The co-defendants were charged with conspiring to smuggle 3.3 tons of cocaine into the United States from Colombia from 1978 to 1980.

Reed was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and operating a continuing criminal enterprise. Prosecutors said Reed was an important player in the Lehder organization, flying drug shipments from Colombia, hiring ground crews, and working with distributors.

Lehder lost his fight against extradition (by which point his net worth was approximately $2.5 billion). He is incarcerated for life in the United States, under WITSEC, the Bureau of Prisons’ version of the Federal Witness Protection Program.

Reed was sentenced to two consecutive life terms and fined $2 million. He was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institute in Memphis, Tennessee and later moved to a Federal Medical Center. After spending nearly 23 years behind bars, his two daughters contacted the courts on their father's behalf to petition for his release. According to them, it was God who saw that Reed was granted a Clemency Release with his sentence reduced to time served. He died after his release.