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. He served two incomplete terms as Senator, the first in 1957, the second in 1961. He was part of the conservative wing of the Texas Democratic party and is remembered for running against liberal Democrat Ralph Yarborough in the 1958 election and losing to Republican John Tower in the 1961 special election, yielding the first Republican senator from Texas since Reconstruction. Image File history File links Official public domain state of Texas photograph of United States Senator William A. Blakley File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Prior to 1821, Texas was part of the Spanish colony of New Spain. ... Seal of the Senate The United States Senate is one of the two houses of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. ... November 17 is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece. ... 1898 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Seal of the Senate The United States Senate is one of the two houses of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. ... Categories: Business | Academic disciplines | School subjects ... A U.S. state is any one of the 50 states (four of which officially favor the term commonwealth) which, together with the District of Columbia, form the United States of America. ... Prior to 1821, Texas was part of the Spanish colony of New Spain. ... 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article currently excludes conservatism in the United States and Canada, where the term can be taken to mean something different. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States. ... Note: This entry discusses liberalism as a world wide ideology, not its manifestations in any specific country. ... Texas politician Ralph Yarborough Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-05-07, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... 1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party [1]), is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... John Tower John Goodwin Tower (September 29, 1925 – April 5, 1991) was a conservative Republican United States Senator from Houston, Texas. ... 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... A by-election or bye-election is a special election held to fill a political office when the incumbent has died or resigned. ... In the history of the United States, Reconstruction was the period after the American Civil War when the southern states of the breakaway Confederacy were reintegrated into the United States of America. ...

Blakley was born in Miami Station, Missouri, but moved shortly thereafter with his parents to Arapaho, Oklahoma. He worked a ranch hand as a young man, earning the nickname "Cowboy Bill." Blakley served with the United States Army in the First World War; he was admitted to the bar in 1933 and joined a law firm in Dallas, Texas. In following years, his interests expanded into real estate, ranch land, banking and insurance; by 1957, he was estimated to be worth $300 million. Arapaho is a town located in Custer County, Oklahoma. ... Ranching is the raising of cattle or sheep on rangeland, although one might also speak of ranching with regard to less common livestock such as elk, bison or emu. ... The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ... A bar association is a body of lawyers who, in some jurisdictions, are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession. ... 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Downtown Dallas City nickname: Fashion City Location in the state of Texas Counties Dallas County Collin County Denton County Mayor Laura Miller Area   â€“Land   â€“Water 385. ... Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings. ... For other uses, see Bank (disambiguation). ... Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of potential financial loss. ... 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1957, Allan Shivers opted not to run for a fourth term as Governor of Texas; Senator Price Daniel moved from his Senate seat into the governorship. Like Shivers and Daniel, Blakley was an "Eisenhower Democrat" who had supported Dwight Eisenhower over the national Democratic Party candidate Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956. Blakley, who had gained prominence in Texas politics for his business successes, was at the time building a $125 million shopping center and a 1,000-room hotel in Dallas. Governor Shivers, who had been considering appointing a Republican candidate to the Senate seat, instead appointed Blakley to the United States Senate pending a special election for the seat. Blakley, pressured by the Democratic Party in the interests of cooling tensions from the gubernatorial election, did not opt for the full remaining term as senator, and served for less than four months from January 15 to April 28. Ralph Yarborough succeeded him in the special election, winning with a minority of the vote when the conservatives divided three ways (thereafter, Texas law was changed requiring a runoff between the two leading candidates in a special election, if no one had a majority in the first round). He left the Senate saying "I shall go back to my boots and saddle and ride toward the Western sunset." [1] Texas governor Allan Shivers Robert Allan Shivers (October 5, 1907 _ January 14, 1985) was a politician from the state of Texas. ... In politics, Governor of Texas is the title given to the chief executive of the state of Texas. ... Texas politician Price Daniel Marion Price Daniel, Sr. ... Dwight David Ike Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969), American soldier and politician, was the 34th President of the United States (1953–1961) and Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, with the rank of General of the Army. ... Portrait of 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. ... Presidential electoral votes by state. ... Presidential electoral votes by state. ... January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... April 28 is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 247 days remaining. ...

When the seat came up again the following year in the ordinary election cycle, Blakley ran in the primary against Yarborough as the conservative "Shivercrat" candidate. Blakley ran with the backing of the governor, Yarborough's colleague in the Senate, Lyndon Johnson, and the southern bloc of senators who disagreed with Yarborough's progressive, anti-segregation platform. The Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn (a fellow Texan) backed Yarborough in the election, after supporting Blakley's temporary senate seat the year before. Rayburn's support proved to be worth more; Blakley was defeated in the primary, and Yarborough kept his senate seat by a margin of 680,000 to Blakley's 486,000. Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ... Segregation means separation. ... The term Speaker is usually the title given to the presiding officer of a countrys lower house of parliament or congress (ie: the House of Commons or House of Representatives). ... Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn (6 January 1882–16 November 1961) was a United States politician. ...

In 1961, upon Lyndon Johnson becoming Vice President of the United States, Blakley was appointed to fill Johnson's vacated Senate seat. Contention again appeared between the liberal and conservative wings of the Democratic Party for the nomination in the special election that would follow; Blakley maintained that he had vigorously resisted John F. Kennedy's "New Frontier" legislation, which was unpopular with Texas conservatives. Ralph Yarborough, consequently, did not endorse Blakley among the array of 71 candidates who ran without party designation. Blakley emerged a poor second with 18% of the vote to Republican John Tower's 31%, with the remaining votes divided among five other major Democratic candidates. In the special election runoff, Texas liberals refused to vote for a Democratic candidate who seemed as conservative as the Republican one and Texas conservatives viewed Blakley's conservatism as lukewarm. Blakley was also far older than his Republican opponent, John Tower – Blakley was 62 and Tower was 35. Tower won the seat and Blakley became the first Democratic senator to lose to a Republican in Texas in over eighty years. 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the thirty-sixth President of the United States (1963–1969). ... The Vice President of the United States is the second-highest executive official of the United States government, the person who is, in the words of Adlai Stevenson, a heartbeat from the presidency. ... JFK redirects here. ... The term New Frontier was used by John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in 1960 as the Democratic nominee, and was used as a label for his administrations domestic program. ... John Tower John Goodwin Tower (September 29, 1925 – April 5, 1991) was a conservative Republican United States Senator from Houston, Texas. ...

After losing the election, Blakley left politics and returned to his business interests. He died in Dallas on January 5, 1976, and is buried in Restland Memorial Park. January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

A library at the University of Dallas is named after him. The University of Dallas, founded in 1956, is a private, Catholic liberal arts university. ...

External links

• "New Course in Texas" from TIME magazine, 2 June 1961
• "Harmony in Texas" from TIME magazine, 28 July 1957
• Handbook of Texas article on the Democratic Party
• Biographical Dictionary of the United States congress entry on William Blakley

Texas politician Price Daniel Marion Price Daniel, Sr. ... Texas was admitted to the Union on December 29 1845. ... Texas politician Ralph Yarborough Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-05-07, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ... Texas was admitted to the Union on December 29 1845. ... John Tower John Goodwin Tower (September 29, 1925 – April 5, 1991) was a conservative Republican United States Senator from Houston, Texas. ...