Yarborough, Richard W.

Son of Senator Ralph and Opal Yarborough, Richard W. "Dick" Yarborough (1931-1986) graduated from the University of Texas at Austin (UT) with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology in 1953 and a law degree in 1955. Upon graduation from the UT Law School, he served in Germany with the U.S. Army for two years, and in 1956 he married Ann Graham McJimsey, with whom he had three children: Claire McJimsey, Elizabeth Warren, and Jefferson Buchanan. After returning to Austin, he practiced law for two years, before working for his father in the U.S. Senate as a legislative assistant and committee counsel from 1958 to 1967.

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Yarborough to the Indian Claims Commission (ICC), established in 1946 by the federal government to hear claims of Native American tribes against the United States. The ICC heard claims and awarded financial compensation for loss of land and other grievances, which resulted from broken treaties with the tribes. Yarborough created the first map printed to depict Indian land areas established by U.S. courts, and his service on the commission, fighting for the rights of Native Americans, earned him the respect and admiration of the Indian tribes he helped.

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