"46th House Speaker" Carl Albert hand Signed TLS Dated 1975 Todd Mueller COA

Description

Up for auction the "46th Speaker of the
House
" Carl Albert hand Signed TLS Dated 1975.
This item is certified authentic by Todd Mueller and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-8621
Carl Bert Albert
(May 10, 1908 – February 4, 2000) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the
46th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
from 1971 to 1977 and represented
Oklahoma's 3rd congressional district
as a
Democrat
from 1947 to 1977. At 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 metres) tall, Albert was affectionately known as the "Little Giant from Little Dixie", and held the highest political office of any Oklahoman in American history. To view the
Carl Albert Photograph Collection visit Carl Albert Wikimedia Commons
.
Albert was born in
McAlester, Oklahoma
, the son of Leona Ann (Scott) and Ernest Homer Albert, a coal miner and farmer. Shortly after his birth his family moved to
Bugtussle
, a small town just north of McAlester. He was the son of a coal miner and farmer and grew up in a log cabin on his father's farm. In high school he excelled in debate, was student body president, and won the national high school oratorical contest, earning a trip to Europe. During this time he was an active member of his local
Order of DeMolay
chapter; he is an inductee of the Order of DeMolay Hall of Fame.
[2]
Albert later petitioned his local Masonic Lodge and became an active Freemason. He entered the
University of Oklahoma
in 1927. There, he majored in political science and won the
National Oratorical Championship
in 1928, receiving an all-expense-paid trip to Europe. He earned enough money to fund the rest of his undergraduate education through working in the college registrar's office and participating in the
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
. While at Oklahoma, he was an accomplished amateur wrestler, a member of the
Kappa Alpha Order
fraternity, and a member of the all-male spirit club. He graduated
Phi Beta Kappa
in 1931, was the top male student, then studied at the
University of Oxford
on a
Rhodes Scholarship
. He received a Bachelor of Arts in jurisprudence and Bachelor of Civil Laws from
St Peter's College
before returning to the United States in 1934. He opened a law practice in
Oklahoma City
in 1935. He worked for a series of oil companies in leasing work until the start of
World War II
.
When Speaker
John W. McCormack
retired in January 1971, during the second half of
Richard Nixon
's first term as president, Albert was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.In September 1972 Albert was witnessed driving drunk and crashing into two cars in the
Cleveland Park
neighborhood of Washington.
As the
Watergate scandal
developed in 1973, Albert, as Speaker, referred some two dozen
impeachment
resolutions to the
House Judiciary Committee
for debate and study. Also in 1973, he appointed Felda Looper as the first female House page.
In 1973, during Albert's second term as Speaker and Nixon's second term as president, Vice President
Spiro Agnew
was investigated for
tax evasion
and
money laundering
for a series of bribes he took while he was governor of Maryland. Agnew resigned as Vice President and eventually pleaded
nolo contendere
to the charges. This event put Albert next in line to assume the presidency should that office become vacant.