Barkley, Alben William, 1877-1956

U.S. senator from Kentucky.

U.S. Senator from Kentucky and Vice President of the United States under Harry Truman.

Alben W. Barkley, was a United States Senator, 1927-1949 and vice-president of the United States, 1949-1953.

Sidney Shalett (1911-1965) was born in Stamford, Conneticut, became a freelance writer and later worked for the Chattanooga Times and the New York Times . In 1947 he became a Washington correspondent for American Magazine . He interviewed the Roosevelt family for a research project on President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Alben W. Barkley was a U.S. Congressman, Senator, and Vice President who was born in 1877 in Graves County, Kentucky. He died April 30, 1956, and is buried at Paducah, Kentucky.

Alben William Barkley, (1877-1956), American political leader, was Vice President of the United States from 1949 to 1953. Barkley took a more active role in government than most vice presidents before him. He was affectionately called "the Veep", a nickname that clung to him even after he retired from office. Barkley was born in Graves County, Kentucky, on November 24, 1877, the son of tobacco farmer. Following graduation from Marvin College in Clinton, Kentucky, he studied law at Emory College in Oxford, Georgia, and the University of Virginia. He practiced law in Paducah, Kentucky, from 1901 to 1905, when he became prosecuting attorney of McCracken County. He was judge of the McCracken County Court from 1909 to 1913. Barkley was elected to the U.S. Congress as a Democrat from Kentucky's 1st district in 1912. He served seven terms before entering the U.S. Senate in 1927. During four consecutive terms as senator from Kentucky he became a national figure, first as a ranking minority leader and, for ten years beginning in 1937, as majority leader. He was an influential spokesman for the legislative programs of Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S Truman. He was instrumental in guiding much of the New Deal legislation through the Senate, and he consistently supported Truman's Fair Deal program. In 1948, Truman chose Barkley as his presidential running mate. He appointed Barkley to the National Security Council and consulted him on foreign and domestic issues. After leaving the vice presidency in January 1953, Barkley won back his old Senate seat in the 1954 elections. On April 30, 1956, he died suddenly while making a speech at Lexington, Virginia.

Vice-President, U.S. Senator from Kentucky

Barkley was born in Graves County, Kentucky in 1877. A graduate of Marvin College in Clinton, Kentucky, Barkley also attended Emory College in Oxford, Georgia, and the University of Virginia Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1901 and began practice in Paducah. In 1913 he was elected to Congress. Ten years later, the Congressman made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. He won a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1926 and became Democratic majority leader in 1937. When the Democrats lost control of the Senate in the 1946 elections, Barkley served as minority leader for two years. Nominated as Harry S. Truman's running mate, Barkley was elected Vice-President of the United States in 1948.

He retired to Paducah after failing to receive the 1952 Democratic nomination for President. Barkley returned to public life two years later as he won election once again to the U.S. Senate. The "Veep," as he was fondly known, died suddenly while addressing a student group at Washington and Lee University.