William A. Blakley

William A. Blakley

William Blakley Arvis (* 17th November 1898 in Miami station , Carroll County , Missouri , † 5. January 1976 in Dallas , Texas ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party . 1957 and 1961, he sat for short periods for the US state of Texas in the US Senate .

biography

Blakley was born in the small town of Miami Station, Missouri. Shortly after he was born, he moved to Oklahoma with his parents . As a young man he worked on a ranch . During World War I he served in the United States Army . Blakley was admitted to the bar in 1933 and joined a law firm in Dallas. His mandates made him an estimated $ 300 million by 1957.

After Allan Shivers decided not to run for Texas governor again in 1956, Senator Price Daniel did so . Daniel resigned in January 1957 and Blakley was appointed by Shivers as one of his final acts to succeed Daniel to the Senate. Blakley had made a name for himself in Texas with his mandates. In the by-election for the seat of Daniel, which took place in April 1957, Blakley did not run under pressure from the party, instead Ralph Yarborough successfully ran for the Democrats. Thus Blakley left the Senate after a little over four months. In the primaries for the regular Senate elections in Texas in 1958, Blakley ran unsuccessfully against his successor Yarborough.

After Lyndon B. Johnson was elected US Vice President , he resigned his Senate seat in early January 1961. Blakley was reappointed to the Senate by Governor Daniel. In the following by-election in June, Blakley ran this time, but suffered a defeat against the Republican John Tower . It was the first time since the Reconstruction that the Texans elected a Republican candidate to the Senate. Thus Blakley resigned from the Senate in June 1961, this time after a little more than six months in office.

Blakley eventually retired to Dallas, where he continued to work as a lawyer. He died in Dallas in January 1976. He had no children with his wife Villa. A library at the University of Dallas was named after him after his death.

Web links

• William A. Blakley in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William A. Blakley in the database of Find a Grave (English)