Wright Patman

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Wright Patman

John William Wright Patman (born August 6, 1893 in Hughes Springs , Cass County , Texas , † March 7, 1976 in Bethesda , Maryland ) was an American politician . He represented the state of Texas in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Wright Patman was born on August 6, 1893 in Patman's Switch near Hughes Springs. There he attended public school and graduated from Hughes Springs High School in 1912. He then attended the law department of Cumberland University in Lebanon , Tennessee , where he graduated in 1916. He was also engaged in agricultural work between 1913 and 1914. Patman was admitted to the bar in 1916 and then began practicing as an assistant district attorney in Cass County. He carried out this activity until 1917.

When the United States decided to enter World War I in 1917 , Patman enlisted in the United States Army . There he served first as a private and later until 1919 as a machine gun officer. He returned home after the war and ran for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1921 . Patman won and was a member of the state parliament until 1924. He then served as the District Attorney for the Fifth Judicial District of Texas until 1929. He then ran for a seat in the US House of Representatives and was elected to the 71st Congress . He was also re-elected 23 times. Patman served in Congress from March 4, 1929 until his death on March 7, 1976 in Bethesda, Maryland.

During his tenure in Congress, he was chairman of the Select Committee on Small Business (81st, 82nd, and 84th through 87th Congresses), the Joint Economic Committee (85th, 87th, 89th, 91st, and 93rd Congresses ), the Joint Committee on Defense Production (89th, 90th, 92nd and 94th Congresses) and the Committee on Banking and Currency (89th to 93rd Congress). Patman was also one of the signatories of the Southern Manifesto , a letter of protest that spoke out against the desegregation .

Wright Patman was buried in Hillcrest Cemetery in Texarkana , Texas.

Watergate investigation

Wright Patman's eponymous committee played an important role in the early days of the Watergate affair that ultimately toppled President Richard Nixon . The Patman Committee investigated the $ 100 bills found after the failed break-in on June 17, 1972 among the plumbers arrested , suspected of having a direct connection with the CREEP , the president's re-election committee. The course of investigation aimed at the money ultimately proved Nixon's ruin, even though Patman's committee was blocked by Nixon and his Vice President Gerald Ford .

family

Wright Patman was the father of William Neff Patman (1927-2008), who was also a member of the US House of Representatives from 1981 to 1985.

biography

  • Owens, John E. "Extreme Advocacy Leadership in the Pre-Reform House: Wright Patman and the House Banking and Currency Committee."
  • British Journal of Political Science 15 (April 1985): 187-206; Schmelzer, Janet Louise.
  • "The Early Life and Early Congressional Career of Wright Patman, 1894-1941."
  • Ph.D. dissertation, Texas Christian University, 1978.

swell

  1. ↑ Hersh, Seymour. "The Pardon" The Atlantic Monthly, August 1983.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Patman, Wright
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Patman, John William Wright (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 6, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH at Hughes Springs , Texas
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1976
Place of death Bethesda , Maryland