Alben W. Barkley

Biography

Alben Barkley was born in a log house at Wheel, Kentucky, in 1877 to tenant farmers. He worked his way through Marvin College in Clinton, graduating in 1897, spent a year at Emory College in Georgia, then read law in Paducah and was admitted to the bar in 1901.

Elected McCracken County attorney in 1905 and later county judge, he won a seat in the US House in 1912 and held it until 1927, backing Woodrow Wilson's programme. He unseated Republican senator Richard Ernst in 1926, supported the New Deal and became Senate majority leader in 1937. He sponsored the Lend-Lease Act, resigned the leadership in protest at Roosevelt's veto of a tax bill before his colleagues re-elected him, and chaired the congressional investigation of the Pearl Harbor attack.

His keynote speech at the 1948 Democratic National Convention led Harry Truman to choose him as running mate, and the ticket won an upset victory. At 71 he was the oldest person elected vice president; he sat in cabinet, acted as the administration's chief spokesman and married Jane Hadley while in office. Doubts about his age ended his bid for the 1952 presidential nomination.

Barkley returned to the Senate by defeating John Sherman Cooper in 1954. He died of a heart attack on 30 April 1956 moments after a speech at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.