Alben W. Barkley

Alben William Barkley was a Kentucky lawyer, prosecutor, congressman, senator, Senate majority leader, and the thirty-fifth vice president of the United States. He spent more than three decades in Congress and became one of the most experienced Democratic legislative leaders of the New Deal and World War II eras. He served as Harry S. Truman's vice president from 1949 to 1953 after previously serving as Senate majority leader during Truman's presidency.

Barkley was born Willie Alben Barkley on November 24, 1877, near Wheel, Kentucky. His parents, John Wilson Barkley and Electa Smith, were tenant farmers. He attended local schools and eventually studied at Marvin College in Clinton, Kentucky. He then studied law and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1901.

Barkley began his public career as county attorney and later served as county judge in McCracken County, Kentucky. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1912 and served there until 1927. He then won election to the U.S. Senate, where he became an important Democratic spokesman. During the New Deal, Barkley supported much of Roosevelt's legislative program and became Senate majority leader in 1937.

Barkley became Senate majority leader during a period of major domestic and international change. He supported Roosevelt's policies before and during World War II and became one of the administration's important congressional allies. He resigned as majority leader in 1947 after a dispute with President Truman over the administration's handling of certain legislative matters, but the two eventually reconciled. In 1948, Truman selected Barkley as his running mate, and the Truman-Barkley ticket unexpectedly defeated Republican Thomas E. Dewey and Earl Warren.

As vice president, Barkley presided over the Senate and maintained an unusually active public schedule. Truman was sixty-four when reelected in 1948, while Barkley was seventy-one, making Barkley the oldest vice president to that point. He became a popular speaker and was sometimes called the "Veep" in the press. He left office in January 1953 when Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower succeeded Truman.

After leaving the vice presidency, Barkley sought a return to the Senate. He won election to the Senate from Kentucky in 1954 at the age of seventy-six. He returned to Congress as a senior Democratic senator but served less than two years. On April 30, 1956, while delivering a speech at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, Barkley collapsed and died from a heart attack.

Barkley's legacy rests primarily on his long congressional career and his influence on Democratic legislative politics during the New Deal and World War II. His return to the Senate after serving as vice president was unusual and made him one of the few former vice presidents to return to Congress. His death while delivering a political speech also became one of the most dramatic endings to a congressional career.