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Apr 29, 2022 · Early life and career. 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 deeply religious tenant farmers. He graduated from Marvin College in 1897, where he excelled in speech and debate.
- November 24, 1877
- Paducah, McCracken, Kentucky, United States
- Graves County, Ky
Language Label Description Also known as; English: Electra Eliza Smith. (1858-1945)
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- Early Life and Career
- Congressional Career
- Vice President
- Return to The Senate
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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, in Kentucky in 1897, where he excelled in speech and debate. He graduated Emory College, in Georgia in 1900, and ...
House of Representatives
Barkley was elected to the Sixty-third and to the six succeeding Congresses (1913 - 1927) representing Kentucky's 1st district in the west. 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.
U.S. Senator
Barkley was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1926, and was reelected in 1932, 1938, and 1944. He served from 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 proposal of 1937. His most critical election came in the 1938 primary when he defended the New Dealagainst conservative Gov. Happy Chandler. After a bitter campaign, Barkley won...
President Harry S. Truman, an old Senate friend from a neighboring state, picked Barkley as his running mate in 1948. Pundits were stunned when Truman won. They were inaugurated January 20, 1949. Barkley was 71 years old, the oldest vice president to date. He handled ceremonial roles but was seldom consulted by Truman or his old Senate mates.
He was again elected to the United States Senate and served from 1955 until his death the following year of a heart attack while giving a speech. He died moments after declaring, "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, Ke...
Primary sources
1. Alben Barkley, That Reminds Me(1954), autobiography 2. Jane R. Barkley, I Married the Veep(1958), memoir
Secondary sources
1. Davis, Polly. "Court Reform and Alben W. Barkley's Election as Majority Leader". Southern Quarterly1976 15(1): 15–31. 2. Davis, Polly Ann. "Alben W. Barkley's Public Career in 1944". Filson Club History Quarterly1977 51(2): 143–157. 3. Hixson, Walter L. "The 1938 Kentucky Senate Election: Alben W. Barkley, 'Happy' Chandler, and the New Deal". Register of the Kentucky Historical Society1982 80(3): 309–329. 4. Libbey, James K. Dear Alben: Mr. Barkley of Kentucky(1979), 110 page biography 5....
Genealogy for Electra Eliza Barkley (Smith) (1859 - 1945) family tree on Geni, with over 240 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives.
Electra Eliza SMITH. Born: Kentucky 1858. Female. Husband/Partner: John Wilson BARKLEY Child: Alben William BARKLEY. [ Start ]FabPed Genealogy Vers. 102 © Jamie, 1997-2022.
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