Texas politician Ralph Yarborough

Ralph Webster Yarborough (June 8, 1903 – January 27, 1996) was a Texas Democratic politician who served in the United States Senate (1957 until 1971) and was a leader of the progressive or liberal wing of the Democratic Party in Texas in his many races for statewide office. As a U.S. Senator, he was a staunch supporter and author of "Great Society" legislation that encompassed Medicare and Medicaid, the War on Poverty, federal support for higher education and veterans. He co-wrote the Endangered Species Act and was the only southern senator to vote for all civil rights bills from 1957 to 1970 (including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act). Yarborough was known as "Smilin' Ralph" Yarborough and used the slogan "Let's put the jam on the lower shelf so the little people can reach it" in his campaigns. Official public domain portrait of Texas politician Ralph Yarborough. ... Official public domain portrait of Texas politician Ralph Yarborough. ... Official language(s) See: Languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area  Ranked 2nd  - Total 695,622 km²  (268,581 sq. ... June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Official language(s) See: Languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area  Ranked 2nd  - Total 695,622 km²  (268,581 sq. ... The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... Seal of the Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Look up liberal on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Liberal may refer to: Politics: Liberalism American liberalism, a political trend in the USA Political progressivism, a political ideology that is for change, often associated with liberal movements Liberty, the condition of being free from control or restrictions Liberal Party, members of... The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... The Great Society was a set of domestic programs proposed or enacted in the United States on the initiative of President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969). ... Medicare is a health insurance program for the elderly and disabled in the USA. It was first passed on July 30, 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson as amendments to Social Security legislation. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Endangered Species Act (7 U.S.C. 136; 16 U.S.C. 460 et seq. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ... The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-10) outlawed the requirement that would-be voters in the United States take literacy tests to qualify to register to vote, and it provided for federal registration of voters -- instead of state or local voter registration which had often been denied...

Early life and career

Yarborough was born in Chandler, Texas as the seventh of nine children. He was appointed to West Point in 1919 but dropped out and became a teacher. Yarborough took classes at Sam Houston State Teachers College and worked his way into the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated from the University of Texas Law School in 1927 and practiced law in El Paso, Texas until he was hired as an Assistant Attorney General in 1931 by the state Attorney General James V. Allred. Yarborough was an expert in Texas land law and specialized in prosecuting major oil companies violating production limits and not paying oil royalties to the Permanent School Fund for drilling on public lands. Yarborough became famous for a million dollar judgment against the Mid-Kansas Oil and Gas Company for oil royalties, the second largest judgment ever in Texas at the time. After Allred was elected governor he appointed Yarborough to the bench in 1936, making him the 53rd District judge for Austin's Travis County. Yarborough was confirmed in that office by an election later the same year. Yarborough's first run for state office resulted in a third place finish in the Democratic primary for state attorney general in 1938 against the sitting Lieutenant Governor. He served in World War II after 1943, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Chandler is a city located in Henderson County, Texas. ... Alternate meanings: West Point (disambiguation). ... The University of Texas at Austin, often called UT or Texas, is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Nickname: Star of the Southwest and Land of the Sun Official website: www. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... James Allred (1889 - 1959) was a U.S. political figure. ... Travis County is a county located in the state of Texas. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... In the U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a commissioned officer superior to a major and inferior to a colonel. ...

Political life

Historically, Texas has been a one party state of the Democratic Party. Democrats would win every statewide office, a majority of the congressional delegation, and large majorities in the state legislature. Thus, general elections were formalities, and the real battles took place in the Democratic party primaries. The Democratic primaries would be heated battles between the conservative wing (pre-presidency Lyndon Baines Johnson, Governor Allan Shivers, John Connally), and the liberal wing (with which Yarborough identified) that identified more with the national party. The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson ( August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ... Texas governor Allan Shivers Robert Allan Shivers (October 5, 1907 - January 14, 1985) was a politician from the state of Texas. ... Connallys signature, as used on American currency John Bowden Connally, Jr. ...

Ralph Yarborough was urged to run again for state attorney general in 1952, and he planned to do so until he received a personal affront by Governor Allan Shivers who told him not to run. Out of spite, Ralph Yarborough then ran in the primaries for governor in 1952 and 1954 against the conservative Shivers, drawing support from labor unions and liberals. Yarborough denounced the corrupt "Shivercrats" for veterans' fraud in the General Land Office and for endorsing the Republican Eisenhower/Nixon ticket for President instead of Democrat Adlai Stevenson in 1952. Shivers portrayed Yarborough as an integrationist supported by communist labor unions. The 1954 election was particularly nasty in its race-baiting by Shivers as it was the year that Brown v. Board of Education was decided, and Shivers made the most of the court decision in order to play on voters' racism. In one particularly odious episode, a black man was hired to drive around East Texas in a Cadillac full of Yarborough stickers and to be obnoxious and insult gas station attendants as slow. The man would say he was busy and had to hurry "to work for Mr. Yarborough." Yarborough made it to the primary runoff and came surprisingly close to beating Shivers despite receiving almost no newspaper endorsements, being out-fundraised, and being the target of nasty attacks. 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Texas governor Allan Shivers Robert Allan Shivers (October 5, 1907 - January 14, 1985) was a politician from the state of Texas. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Shivercrats were a conservative faction of the Democratic Party in Texas in the 1950s. ... Adlai Stevenson Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician and statesman, noted for his skill in debate and oratory. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Holding Racial segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because separate facilities are inherently unequal. ... Red counties show the core of East Texas; pink and red counties may or may not be included in East Texas, and thus their inclusion varies from source to source. ...

Running for governor

In 1956, Yarborough made it to the primary runoff for governor against U.S. Sen. Price Daniel. After being endorsed by former opponent and governor W. Lee O'Daniel, and making aggressive attacks on the Shivers-backed candidate, Yarborough looked to win the runoff but lost by about 9,000 votes. It is believed (by Yarborough, his supporters, and biographer) that the election was stolen due to irregular voting in East Texas and other places and that Yarborough really won the runoff by 30,000 votes. Nevertheless, Yarborough's runs for governor had raised his stature and popularity in the state as he had been campaigning for six straight years for office. 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Texas politician Price Daniel Marion Price Daniel, Sr. ... Wilbert Lee Pappy ODaniel (March 11, 1890 - May 11, 1969) was a radio personality and a politician from Texas. ...

Becoming a senator

When Daniel resigned from the Senate in 1957 to become governor, Yarborough ran in the special election to fill the empty seat. With no runoff allowed he needed only a plurality of votes to win. Ironically, his many runs for governor made him the best positioned candidate to become a U.S. Senator. Yarborough won the special election with 38% of the vote to join fellow Texan Lyndon Johnson in the Senate. Lyndon Baines Johnson ( August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ...

In office, Ralph Yarborough was a very different kind of Southern senator. He refused to sign the Southern Manifesto opposing integration and supported national Democratic goals of more funding for healthcare, education, and environment. Himself a veteran, he worked to expand the GI Bill of Rights to cold war veterans. The Southern Manifesto was a document written in 1956 by legislators in the United States Congress opposed to racial integration in public places. ... Hoe can you let me edit this For most of history, states did not have any fixed standing army. ... The G. I. Bill of Rights or Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944 provided for college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans as well as one-year of unemployment compensation. ... The Cold War (Russian: Холодная война , Kholodna-ya voina) was the protracted geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged after World War II between the global superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States, supported by their alliance partners. ...

In 1958, Ralph Yarborough easily defeated conservative William A. Blakley in the Democratic primary and cruised on to victory in the general election against Republican Roy Whittenburg. During his first full term, Yarborough got Congress to pass and John F. Kennedy to sign, a bill making Padre Island a national seashore. 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Texas Senator William Blakley William Arvis Dollar Bill Blakley (November 17, 1898 – January 5, 1976) was an American senator and businessman from the State of Texas. ... John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to as John F. Kennedy, JFK or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. ... Padre Island National Seashore (PINS) is a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico, next to Corpus Christi, Texas. ...

Ralph Yarborough rode in the Dallas, Texas motorcade where John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Yarborough was in the same convertible as Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, and secret service agent Rufus Youngblood, only two cars away from the presidential limousine. Nickname: Big D Official website: www. ... President Kennedy, with his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Texas Governor John Connally in the Presidential limousine shortly before the assassination. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... A vice president is an officer in government or business who is next in rank below a president. ... LBJ redirects here. ... White House portrait Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson, known commonly as Lady Bird Johnson, (born December 22, 1912), is the widow of Lyndon B. Johnson and was First Lady of the United States from 1963-1969. ... Because of both the secrecy of secret services and the controversial nature of the issues involved, there is some difficulty in separating the definitions of secret service, secret police, intelligence agency etc. ...

In 1964, Yarborough again won the primary without a runoff and went on to general election victory with 56.2% in LBJ's 1964 Democratic landslide. His Republican opponent was future president George H.W. Bush who attacked Yarborough as a left-wing demagogue and for his vote in favor of the Civil Rights Act. Yarborough denounced Bush as an extremist to the right of that year's GOP nominee for president Barry Goldwater and as a rich easterner and a carpetbagger trying to buy a Senate seat. It has since been found that John Connally was covertly aiding Bush instead of party nominee Yarborough against President Johnson's wishes by teaching voters how to vote split ticket. For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... Order: 41st President Vice President: Dan Quayle Term of office: January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 Preceded by: Ronald Reagan Succeeded by: Bill Clinton Date of birth: June 12, 1924 Place of birth: Milton, Massachusetts First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush Political party: Republican George Herbert Walker Bush, KBE (born June... Several United States laws have been called the Civil Rights Act: Civil Rights Act of 1866 aimed to buttress Civil Rights Laws to protect freedmen and to grant full citizenship to those born on U.S. soil except Indians. ... This article is about the modern United States Republican Party. ... Image:SHANE MOORE IS GHETTO.jpg SHANE MOORE Barry Morris Goldwater (January 1, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was a United States politician who was a founding figure in the modern American conservatism movement in the USA. Goldwater personified the shift in balance in American politics from the Northeast to the... Connallys signature, as used on American currency John Bowden Connally, Jr. ...

Although Yarborough supported Johnson's domestic agenda, he went public with his critism of Johnson's foreign policy and the Vietnam War after Johnson announced his retirement. Yarborough supported Robert F. Kennedy until his assassination, then supported Eugene McCarthy until his loss in Chicago, and finally backed Hubert Humphrey for President in the pivotal campaign of 1968. In 1969, Senator Yarborough became chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. Combatants Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) United States of America South Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand the Philippines Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) Strength ~1,200,000 (1968) ~420,000 (1968) Casualties South Vietnamese dead: 230,000 South Vietnamese wounded: 300,000 US dead... RFK redirects here. ... Eugene Joseph Gene McCarthy (March 29, 1916 – December 10, 2005) was an American politician and a longtime member of the U.S. Congress. ... Hubert Horatio Humphrey II (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was the 38th Vice President of the United States, serving under President Lyndon Johnson. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ...

Losing the position

In 1970, South Texan businessman and former congressman Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr.. won an upset victory against Yarborough in the Democratic primary when Yarborough was focusing on the general election. Bentsen played on voters' fears of societal breakdown and urban riots and made an issue of Yarborough's opposition to the Vietnam War. Yarborough was an antique out of place in the modern era he claimed. Said Bentsen, "It would be nice if Ralph Yarborough would vote for his state every once in a while." Bentsen went on to win the general election against George H.W. Bush. 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Lloyd Bentsen Lloyd Millard Bentsen Jr. ...

In 1972, Ralph Yarborough made a comeback effort to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator as a challenger of Republican Sen. John Tower. Yarborough won the first round of the primary, coming short 526 votes of a full victory. Again, Yarborough suspected vote fraud from the conservative wing. He lost in the primary runoff to Barefoot Sanders in an anti-incumbent sweep after the Sharpstown Bank-stock Scandal despite neither being an incumbent nor involved at all with the scandal. It was Yarborough's last run for office. 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1972 calendar). ... John Tower John Goodwin Tower (September 29, 1925 – April 5, 1991) was a conservative Republican United States Senator from Houston, Texas. ... The Sharpstown scandal was a stock fraud scandal in the state of Texas in 1971 and 1972 involving the highest levels of the state government. ...

Death

He died in 1996 in Austin, Texas and was buried in the Texas State Cemetery (the Arlington of Texas). Ralph Yarborough left a legacy in the modernization of the state of Texas and achieved political power at a peak of Texas's national power during the Johnson years. In a state now famous for closeness between business interests and politicians (LBJ, George W. Bush), Yarborough was combative with the dominant industries of oil and gas, always pushing for petroleum's fair share of the public burden. Nickname: Live Music Capital of the World, ATX Official website: www. ... // The Texas State Cemetery is a cemetery located on about 22 acres (9 hectares) just east of downtown Austin, the capital of Texas. ... Official website: http://www. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States and a former governor of Texas. ...

Legacy

Yarborough also was one of the last of the New Deal Democrats and liberals in a conservative southern state. The window of opportunity for a liberal in Texas to reach such a high office was narrow, between the Great Depression and the Great Society. Yarborough represented this brief political moment, both preceded and followed by conservatives (like Phil Gramm) and reactionaries (like "Pappy" O'Daniel). Ralph Yarborough is remembered as the acknowledged "patron saint of Texas liberals." Yarborough easily makes the list of greatest conservationists from Texas with his success at making into protected parkland Padre Island, the Guadalupe Mountains, and the Big Thicket (the last one after he left the Senate). Supporters and former aides that rose to prominence include Jim Hightower, Ann Richards, and Garry Mauro. This article is becoming very long. ... The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn, starting in 1929 and lasting through most of the 1930s. ... William Philip Phil Gramm (born July 8, 1942, in Fort Benning, Georgia) served as a Democratic Congressman (1978-1983), a Republican Congressman (1983-1985) and a Republican Senator from Texas (1985-2002). ... Wilbert Lee Pappy ODaniel (March 11, 1890 - May 11, 1969) was a radio personality and a politician from Texas. ... The Big Thicket is the name of a heavily forested area in Southeast Texas. ... Hightowers book Thieves in High Places James Allen Jim Hightower (born January 11, 1943) is a well-known populist activist and a former Texas Commissioner of Agriculture. ... Dorothy Ann Willis Richards (born September 1, 1933) is an American politician from Texas. ... Garry Mauro is an American Democratic Party politician from Texas, most noted for being the four-term commissioner of the Texas General Land Office from 1983 to 1999 and for losing the 1998 Texas gubernatorial race to George W. Bush, who at that time had been governor since January 17...

The University of Texas at Austin Press published a biography titled, Ralph W. Yarborough: The People's Senator, by Patrick L. Cox. It features a forward written by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA). The University of Texas at Austin, often called UT or Texas, is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. ... Edward Kennedy Edward Moore Ted Kennedy, (born February 22, 1932, in Brookline, Massachusetts) is a Democratic U.S. senator from Massachusetts. ... The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... Official language(s) English Capital Boston Largest city Boston Area  Ranked 44th  - Total 10,555 sq. ...

External links

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• Entry for Ralph Webster Yarborough from the Handbook of Texas Online
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