Sam Rayburn MOC & Alben W. Barkley US VP, Signed 3c Washington DC FDC.

Description

Sam Rayburn, US Representative from Texas, and  Alben W. Barkley United States Vice President in the Harry S Truman Administration and Member of Congress from Kentucky, signed 3c Washington D.C. FDC. Two famous men on one FDC.
Samuel Taliaferro "Sam" Rayburn
(January 6, 1882 – November 16, 1961) was a
Democratic
lawmaker from
Bonham, Texas
, who served as the
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
for 17 years, the longest tenure in U.S. history. He is also one of only two Speakers to serve more than one non-consecutive term, and the only Democrat to do so; the other being
Joseph William Martin, Jr.
He is also the only one to serve three different terms as Speaker.
Alben William Barkley
(November 24, 1877 – April 30, 1956) was a lawyer and politician from
Kentucky
who served in both houses of
Congress
and as the
35th
Vice President of the United States
from 1949 to 1953. In 1905, he was elected
county attorney
for
McCracken County, Kentucky
. He was chosen
county judge
in 1909 and
U.S. Representative
from
Kentucky's First District
in 1912. As a Representative, he was a liberal
Democrat
, supporting President
Woodrow Wilson
's
New Freedom
domestic agenda and foreign policy.
Endorsing
Prohibition
and denouncing
parimutuel betting
, Barkley narrowly lost the 1923 Democratic gubernatorial primary to fellow Representative
J. Campbell Cantrill
. In 1926, he unseated
Republican
Senator
Richard P. Ernst
. In the Senate, he supported the
New Deal
approach to addressing the
Great Depression
and was elected to succeed
Senate Majority Leader
Joseph T. Robinson
upon Robinson's death in 1937.
During his 1938 re-election bid, his opponent
A. B. "Happy" Chandler
accused him of using
Works Progress Administration
employees to campaign for him; Barkley claimed Chandler used state employees in the same way. Neither candidate was charged with any wrongdoing, but in 1939, Congress passed the
Hatch Act
, making it illegal for federal employees to campaign for political candidates.
When
World War II
focused
President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
's attention on foreign affairs, Barkley gained influence over the administration's domestic agenda. He resigned as floor leader after Roosevelt ignored his advice and
vetoed
a tax bill in 1944, but the Democratic caucus supported and unanimously re-elected him.
Barkley had a better working relationship with
Harry S. Truman
, who ascended to the presidency after Roosevelt's death in 1945. With Truman's popularity waning entering the
1948 Democratic National Convention
, Barkley gave a
keynote address
that energized the delegates. Truman selected him as his running mate for the
upcoming election
and the Democratic ticket scored an upset victory. Barkley took an active role in the Truman administration, acting as its primary spokesman, especially after the
Korean War
necessitated the majority of Truman's attention.
When Truman announced that he would not seek re-election in 1952, Barkley began organizing a presidential campaign, but
labor leaders
refused to endorse his candidacy because of his age, and he withdrew from the race. He retired but was coaxed back into public life, defeating incumbent Republican Senator
John Sherman Cooper
in 1954.
[
1
]
Barkley died of a heart attack while giving a speech at the
Washington and Lee Mock Convention
on April 30, 1956.
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