Alben W. Barkley
Alben William Barkley (
November 24,
1877 –
April 30,
1956) was a
Democratic member of the
U.S. House of Representatives and the
United States Senate from
Kentucky, and the thirty-fifth
Vice President of the United States.
Barkley was born Willie Alben Barkley in a log cabin near Lowes,
Graves County, Kentucky. His parents, John Wilson Barkley and Electra Eliza (Smith) Barkley, were tenant farmers who were very religious. He graduated from
Marvin College,
Clinton, Kentucky, in 1897, where he excelled in speech and debate. He matriculated to
Emory College,
Oxford, where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta Social Fraternity, graduated in 1900, and then attended the
University of Virginia Law School. It was during this time that he legally changed his name from "Willie Alben" to "Alben William."
Barkley was admitted to the
bar in 1901 and commenced practice in
Paducah,
McCracken County, Kentucky. He was prosecuting attorney for McCracken County from 1905 to 1909 and judge of McCracken County Court from 1909 to 1913. He built a reputation as a progressive, who sided with the farmers more than the townspeople. His energetic, folksy campaigning and strong oratorical skills made him a power in the local
Democratic party, as he defeated three opponents in the 1912 primary and won the Congressional election.
Barkley was elected to the Sixty-third and to the six succeeding
Congresses (
March 4,
1913 -
March 4,
1927) representing
Kentucky's 1st district in the
U.S. House of Representatives. He gained statewide stature by leading the anti-
gambling crusade, in cooperation with Protestant ministers. Barkley nearly secured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1923, and he built a base that carried the Democratic primary for Senate in 1926. He was elected to the
United States Senate in
1926, and was reelected in
1932,
1938, and again in
1944. He served from
March 4 1927 until he became Vice President in 1949. In 1937 he defeated
Pat Harrison of Mississippi for Senate Majority Leader by 38-37, by stressing his loyalty to
Franklin D. Roosevelt, especially on the Court Packing issue. His most critical election came in the 1938 primary when he defended the
New Deal against conservative
Albert B. "Happy" Chandler. After a bitter campaign, Barkley won with 56% of the vote, drawing his support from farmers and workers, while the middle class voted against him.
He was
Senate majority leader from 1937 to 1947 and
minority leader from 1947 to 1949. He broke with Roosevelt in 1944 on tax issues. When Roosevelt vetoed a tax bill because the rates were too low, Barkley resigned his leadership position, and called for an over-ride. The veto was overridden and Barkley was unanmiously returned as Majority Leader, clearly demonstrating that he, not the President, controlled the Senate.
He was elected Vice President on the Democratic ticket with President
Harry S. Truman in 1948 and was inaugurated
January 20,
1949, for the term ending
January 20 1953. He was 71 years old at the time of his election, the oldest Vice President to date. He was often referred to as the Veep by the press during his tenure as Vice President. In 1949, he returned to his alma mater, Emory University, to receive an LL.D. degree and deliver the commencement address, an occasion which became the first Emory event ever televised.
Barkley was awarded the
Congressional Gold Medal in 1949.
Truman gave up his reelection campaign after losing the
New Hampshire primary, opening the way for Barkley, who wanted to run but was never able to build enough support from crucial factions in the party such as labor. He lost the
Democratic nomination to
Governor Adlai Stevenson of
Illinois. He was again elected to the United States Senate and served from
January 3,
1955 until his death due to a
heart attack while giving a speech at
Washington and Lee University in
Lexington, Virginia, moments after declaring to his audience, "I would rather be a servant in the House of the Lord than to sit in the seats of the mighty." He was interred in Mount Kenton Cemetery, on Lone Oak Road, near Paducah, Kentucky. In his honor, the award-winning debating society at
Emory University was renamed the
Barkley Forum in 1950.
Lake Barkley, a man-made lake on the
Cumberland River at the Kentucky-Tennessee border and Barkley Dam at the same lake are also named in his honor.
Primary sources
* Alben Barkley,
That Reminds Me (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1954), autobiography
Secondary sources
* Davis, Polly. "Court Reform and Alben W. Barkley's Election as Majority Leader".
Southern Quarterly 1976 15(1): 15-31.
* Davis, Polly Ann. "Alben W. Barkley's Public Career in 1944".
Filson Club History Quarterly 1977 51(2): 143-157.
* Hixson, Walter L. "The 1938 Kentucky Senate Election: Alben W. Barkley, 'Happy' Chandler, and the New Deal".
Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 1982 80(3): 309-329.
* Libbey, James K.
Dear Alben: Mr. Barkley of Kentucky (1979), 110 page biography
* Libbey, James K. "Alben Barkley's Rise from Courthouse to Congress"
Register of the Kentucky Historical Society (2000) 98(3): 261-278.
* Robinson, George W. "Alben Barkley and the 1944 Tax Veto".
Register of the Kentucky Historical Society (1969) 67(3): 197-210.
* Sexton, Robert F. "The Crusade Against Pari-mutuel Gambling in Kentucky: a Study of Southern Progressivism in the 1920's"
Filson Club History Quarterly 1976 50(1): 47-57.
*
Alben Barkley's Gravesite
