Albums W. Barkley

Albums W. Barkley

W. Barkley albums in 1913

Albums William Barkley (born November 24, 1877 in Lowes , Graves County , Kentucky , † April 30, 1956 in Lexington , Virginia ) was an American politician and from 1949 to 1953 the 35th Vice President of the United States during the second term of President Harry S. Truman . He also represented the state of Kentucky in both houses of Congress .

Life

Youth and education

In his baptismal certificate was still "Willie" albums, but when he was legally able, he had the order changed, as he took his original first name as a bad omen for a young man from tough Kentucky.

As the son of a Kentucky tobacco farmer , Barkley went the difficult road in his education. To be able to afford college and university, he had to work on the side. After graduating from the Marvin Methodist College in Clinton , Kentucky in 1897 , he studied law in Virginia at the University of Virginia - Law School .

Barkley was first married to Dorothy Brower, with whom he had three children. After Dorothy's death, he married Jane Hadley Barkley .

Attorney and District Judge

After returning to Kentucky, he opened a law firm in the small town of Paducah . From 1903 he served as the investigative district attorney for McCracken County . The anecdote that during the election campaign for this election office (comparable to the sheriff ) he rode a mule instead of a horse over the rough streets of his homeland, he always vehemently denied and repeated it in his later memoirs. But from 1909 to 1913 he was already serving as a district judge for the county there .

Congressman and Senator

Barkley also began his actual political career as a Democrat in 1913, when he was elected as a member of the US House of Representatives for his home state , where he came under the leading influence of Woodrow Wilson . Apparently, his work was well received by his voters, as he was confirmed in office in the following seven terms of office until 1927.

As with many other congressmen, he was now elected to the next higher position, the Senate , where he held his seat until 1949. His political reputation was so great that it his group from 1937 to 1947 to their party leaders made. During Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency , he was the real driving force behind Franklin D. Roosevelt's Senate New Deal policy. He served as a minority leader for the last two years, as the Democrats now held the minority (45:52 seats) in the Senate after the elections in between.

Vice Presidency (1949–1953)

Barkley (left) receives the Gold Medal of Honor of Congress from President Truman in the Oval Office (1950)

In the run-up to the 1948 presidential election , President Harry S. Truman selected him as running mate . Although there was much to be said for a victory for Republicans Thomas E. Dewey and Earl Warren , the two Democrats were ultimately able to achieve victory. He took the oath of office as Vice President on January 20, 1949. Thanks to his long political experience in both parliamentary houses, Barkley was subsequently able to demonstrate great skill in the management of the Senate, which he presided over by virtue of his office as President , and thus sent Truman, who had less comparable experience in federal politics, to the test relieve. He enjoyed his personal trust and was one of the first vice-presidents to demonstrate both a political profile and skill.

Thanks to his own indiscretion at a press conference, Barkley was soon in public only under the nickname "The Veep", which his grandson had given him, instead of the formal "Mr. Vice President "known; Alben saw this name as an award. Significantly, he was the first Vice President to chair the National Security Council and to officially participate in the formulation of Truman's entire policy.

After President Truman renounced another candidacy in the 1952 election , Barkley's term of office ended at the end of the term of office on January 20, 1953. He was succeeded as Vice President by the Republican and later US President Richard Nixon . After Truman's resignation in the spring of 1952, Barkley had at times toyed with the idea of ​​running for the White House of his own , but there was insufficient support within the party. At almost 75 years of age, the Vice President was also seen by many as too old. Thanks to his many years of merit, experience and popularity, he might have had a chance, but a clear criticism of his old age made him withdraw this consideration, deeply hurt. The Democratic candidate was instead the Governor of Illinois, Adlai E. Stevenson , who was defeated by Dwight D. Eisenhower . After the end of the vice presidency, Barkley temporarily withdrew into private life.

Return to the Senate and death

Almost two years after the end of his vice presidency, "The Veep" was re-elected to the Senate for Kentucky in November 1954 thanks to its popularity. He was able to beat the incumbent Senator from the Republicans, John Sherman Cooper , with 54.5 percent of the vote. He took up this mandate in January 1955 and held it until he died of a heart attack on April 30, 1956, at the age of 78 .

His Senate seat was temporarily taken over by Robert Humphreys , before Barkley's predecessor Cooper recaptured this seat in a special election in late 1956.

Honors

The Michigan State University awarded him in 1950 the honorary doctorate . In addition, in 1950 the US Congress also awarded him the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor , which President Truman presented to him.

literature

• Jules Witcover: The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power. Smithsonian Books, Washington, D. C. 2014, ISBN 978-1-5883-4471-7 , pp. 337-347 (= 35th albums W. Barkley of Kentucky ).
• Albums W. Barkley, That Reminds Me , Garden City / New York 1954
• Mark O. Hatfield, Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789-1993 , Washington: United States Government Printing Office 1997, pp. 423-429.
• Libbey, JK, Dear Alben, Mr. Barkley of Kentucky , Lexington / Kentucky 1979

Web links

Commons : Albums W. Barkley  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Albums W. Barkley in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Alben W. Barkley in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)

• Alben W. Barkley in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Newspaper article about albums W. Barkley in the press kit of the 20th century of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ List of Honorary Doctorates from Michigan State University