 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009) |
| James Allred | |
|
33rd Governor of Texas
|
|
|---|---|
| In office 1935 – 1939 |
|
| Lieutenant | Walter Frank Woodul |
| Preceded by | Miriam A. Ferguson |
| Succeeded by | W. Lee O'Daniel |
|
|
|
| In office 1939 – 1942 |
|
| Appointed by | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | New seat |
| Succeeded by | Allen B. Hannay |
|
|
|
| In office 1951 – 1959 |
|
| Appointed by | Harry S Truman |
| Preceded by | New seat |
| Succeeded by | Reynaldo Guerra Garza |
|
|
|
| Born | March 29, 1899 Bowie, Texas |
| Died | September 24, 1959 (aged 60) Corpus Christi, Texas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Religion | Disciples of Christ |
James V. Allred (March 29, 1899, Bowie, Texas – September 24, 1959, Corpus Christi, Texas) was a United States politician who served as the Democratic governor of Texas during the New Deal era. He was thereafter a United States federal judge.
Contents |
Early life
 |
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009) |
Christened James Burt Allred, V, Allred was born in Bowie in Montague County in northeastern Texas. James and Burr were the names of his uncles. He was known as "Vee" until he enlisted in the United States Navy in 1918. The Navy clerks had no intention of typing his full name on forms, so he was listed as "Allred, James V," the Roman numeral "V" being mistaken for the letter "V." Allred had no problem with the change, and used the altered form of his name the rest of his life.
Allred had enrolled in Rice Institute in 1917 but left school soon thereafter because of financial problems. He served in the U.S. Immigration Service for a short while before enlisting in the Navy World War I.
After the war he clerked in a law office in Wichita Falls, Texas, obtained a law degree in 1921 from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, and began a private law practice in Wichita Falls.
Public service
|
|
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009) |
Allred's public-service career began in 1923, when Governor Pat Neff appointed him assistant district attorney in Wichita Falls to complete an unexpired term. He was elected to a full term in 1924. In 1926 he ran for attorney general of Texas as a Democrat but was defeated, and returned to private practice. In his next try for elective office, in 1930, he was elected attorney general at the age of thirty-one, having defeated the incumbent and becoming the youngest man to hold that office. He was reelected in 1932. He then served two terms as governor, from 1935-1939.
On leaving the governorship, he was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 5, 1939, to newly created seat for a district judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Allred was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 16, 1939, and received his commission on February 23, 1939. He served in that office until May 15, 1942, when he resigned to run against an incumbent senator, W. Lee O'Daniel, for his seat in the U.S. Senate. Allred failed to unseat O'Daniel, and Roosevelt then nominated him on February 18, 1943 to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, but the Senate Judiciary Committee would not approve his nomination. On September 23, 1949, he was again nominated to the Southern District of Texas, to another newly created judgeship, by President Harry S. Truman. Allred was again confirmed by the Senate, on October 12, 1949 and received his commission the next day. He served in that position until he died of a heart attack in Laredo, the seat of Webb County in south Texas, only a few hours after having recessed court because he was feeling "a little under the weather." He resided in Corpus Christi during this judicial tenure. He was interred at Wichita Falls.
He has been described as a "talented and fiery" lawyer. As attorney general he filed an unprecedented number of suits, including many anti-trust cases, and recovered millions of dollars for the state. As governor he embraced Roosevelt's New Deal, and during his administrations the legislature passed social security measures that included old-age assistance and teacher retirement programs. He opposed the Ku Klux Klan and repeal of prohibition.
Personal life
|
|
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009) |
He married Joe Betsy Miller of Wichita Falls on June 20, 1927. She was born on October 15, 1905, in Altus, Oklahoma and died on June 7, 1993, in Wichita Falls.
James and Betsy Allred had three sons: James V., Jr., William David, and Sam Houston, who was born in the Sam Houston bed in the Sam Houston bedroom of the Texas Governor's Mansion. Allred Prison, in Iowa Park, is named for him. Governor James Allred is related to Alex Allred of Lansing, Michigan.
References
- Ex-Governor Allred Dies After Seizure. Dallas Morning News, September 25, 1959, sec. I, p. 1.
- Fiery Allred Got Into Politics Early. Dallas Morning News, September 25, 1959, sec. I, p. 3.
- James V. Allred of U.S. Bench, 60. New York Times, September 25, 1959.
- Joe Betsy Allred, widow of former governor, dies. Dallas Morning News, June 9, 1993, p. 30A.
External links
- James Burr V Allred from the Handbook of Texas Online
- Legislative Messages of Hon. James V. Allred, Governor of Texas 1935-1939, hosted by the Portal to Texas History
- James Allred at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Miriam A. Ferguson |
Governor of Texas 1935-1939 |
Succeeded by W. Lee O'Daniel |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by Newly created seat |
Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas February 23, 1939 - May 15, 1942 |
Succeeded by Allen B. Hannay |
| Preceded by Newly created seat |
Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas October 13, 1949 - September 24, 1959 |
Succeeded by Reynaldo Guerra Garza |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
