Clay, William L., Sr., 1931-

CLAY, William Lacy, Sr., (Father of William Lacy Clay, Jr.), a Representative from Missouri; born in St. Louis, St. Louis County, Mo., April 30, 1931; B.S., St. Louis University, 1953; United States Army, 1953-1955; real estate broker; manager, life insurance company, 1959-1961; alderman, St. Louis, Mo., 1959-1964; business representative, city employees union, 1961-1964; education coordinator, Steamfitters Local No. 562, 1966-1967; elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-first and to the fifteen succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1969-January 3, 2001); chairman, Committee on the Post Office and Civil Service (One Hundred Second and One Hundred Third Congresses); was not a candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Seventh Congress.

<p>Former Congressman William Lacy Clay, Sr., was born on April 30, 1931, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Luella Hyatt and Irving Clay. Growing up with six siblings in a St. Louis tenement, Clay excelled in school; however, at age thirteen, he went to work, taking a job as a janitor in a clothing store where he would later become the tailor. Clay eventually graduated from St. Louis University in 1953 with his B.S. degree in political science; he served in the United States Army until 1955. Between 1955 and 1959, Clay worked as a real estate broker in St. Louis, and from 1959 to 1961 as a manager of Industrial Life Insurance Company. Clay then became active in the Civil Rights Movement; during his activities as a Civil Rights activist, he served a total of 105 days in jail for taking part in a demonstration in 1963.</p>

<p>Clay became active in local politics, and was eventually elected to the St. Louis Board of Aldermen in 1959; he continued to serve as an alderman for the 26th Ward until 1964, at which time he resigned to become a union official and ward politician. In 1968, Clay was elected to Congress, becoming the first African American elected from Missouri and one of only two African American representatives who had been elected from states west of the Mississippi River at that time. Clay served sixteen terms in Congress, gaining a reputation for his streetwise urban politics and strong ties to organized labor.</p>

<p>One of the founders of the Congressional Black Caucus, Clay wrote a comprehensive treatise on the history of African American members of Congress titled: <i>Just Permanent Interests: Black Americans in Congress, 1870-1991</i>. Clay married his wife, Carol Ann Johnson, in 1953 in St. Louis; the couple had three children, Vicki Flynn, William Jr., and Michelle Katherine. Clay’s son William went on to his father's former congressional seat.</p>

<p>William Lacy Clay (born April 30, 1931) is an American politician from Missouri. As Congressman from Missouri's first district, he represented portions of St. Louis in the U.S. House of Representatives for 32 years.</p>

<p>Clay was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Luella S. (Hyatt) and Irving Charles Clay. He graduated from Saint Louis University. Clay served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1955, and he was a St. Louis alderman from 1959 to 1964. Clay served 105 days in jail for participating in a civil rights demonstration in 1963. Prior to entering Congress, Clay held jobs first as a real estate broker and later as a labor coordinator. He worked for the union of St. Louis city employees from 1961 to 1964 and then with a steamfitters union local until 1967.</p>

<p>Clay was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1968. He became an advocate for environmentalism, labor issues, and social justice. Clay faced ethics charges in the 1970s for billing the government on auto trips while flying on airlines, and the House banking scandal revealed that Clay had 328 overdrafts. In 1993, Clay voted for the Family and Medical Leave Act. From 1991 until the Democrats lost control of Congress in 1995, Clay chaired the House Committee on the Post Office and Civil Service. In 2000, he retired from the House and his son, Lacy, succeeded him.</p>

<p>The first African–American Representative from Missouri, Bill Clay, Sr., served in the House for more than three decades—longer than any other former black Member of the House. During his extensive tenure, he used his experience as a civil rights activist and labor union representative in St. Louis to promote legislation to help minorities and U.S. workers. Clay zealously represented his impoverished inner–city constituents, who he believed needed a strong voice in Congress. Never one to avoid confrontation, the fiery dean of the Missouri delegation observed, “I didn’t get so tied to the job that it stopped me from speaking out. People used to say to me, ‘How can you do that? You won’t get re–elected.’ I would say, ‘I didn’t come here to stay forever.’”</p>

<p>William Lacy (Bill) Clay was born in St. Louis on April 30, 1931, to Irving Clay, a welder, and Luella (Hyatt) Clay. His political epiphany occurred in 1949, after police arrested him, hauled him to a district police station, and tried to coerce him to confess involvement in a brutal crime with which he had no connection. His aunt, a housekeeper for a member of the St. Louis board of police commissioners, telephoned her employer, and detectives were swiftly dispatched to end the interrogation. That episode, Clay recalled decades later, “convinced me that survival and political influence are inseparable in American society.” In 1953, he graduated from St. Louis University with a B.S. in history and political science. Drafted into the U.S. Army, Clay served from 1953 to 1955. While on duty in Alabama, he responded to the racial discrimination he and other African Americans faced by organizing demonstrations; once, Clay led a boycott of the base barbershop to protest its policy of serving black soldiers only one day a week. His experiences in the armed forces contributed to his future career as a social activist and politician. Clay returned to St. Louis and briefly worked as a real estate broker and a manager with a life insurance company. He won his first elective office in 1959 as an alderman from a predominantly African–American St. Louis ward and served in this position through 1964. As a local politician, Clay continued to promote civil rights by participating in a series of protests. In 1963 he was arrested and jailed for nearly four months for his role in a demonstration against the hiring practices of a St. Louis bank. “I think things were accomplished that far outweighed the 112 days I spent in jail,” Clay remarked, alluding to a subsequent change in bank policy that increased the number of African Americans in professional positions. Clay continued to gain experience in local politics as a St. Louis committeeman from 1964 to 1967. His early political career coincided with his activity as a union official. Clay worked as a business representative for the city employees’ union from 1961 to 1964 and as an education coordinator with a local steamfitter’s union in 1966 and 1967. Clay married Carol Ann Johnson, and the couple had three children: William Lacy, Jr.; Vicki; and Michele.</p>

<p>A 1964 Supreme Court decision mandating the equal population of congressional districts paved the way for Clay’s entry to the House. Three years later, the Missouri legislature passed a bill that reapportioned the state’s districts in compliance with the high court’s ruling. One of the new constituencies incorporated the north side of St. Louis and some of its outlying suburbs. When the 22–year incumbent Frank Karsten of Missouri chose not to seek re–election in the newly redrawn majority–black district, Clay entered the 1968 Democratic primary for the open congressional seat. He defeated fivecandidates for the nomination, earning 41 percent of the vote. His closest opponent, Milton Carpenter, a white state auditor and state treasurer and formerly a city comptroller, collected 30 percent. Clay faced Curtis Crawford, formerly St. Louis assistant circuit attorney, in the general election. Against the backdrop of a turbulent period of racial unrest highlighted by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the 1968 campaign received national attention because the Missouri House election uncharacteristically featured two black candidates. Clay emphasized his support for employment opportunities for African Americans and the promotion of civil rights. He also pledged to represent the needs of his predominantly urban district, saying, “The conditions of poverty found in the First District and other areas of the country must be immediately addressed by our federal government to bring faith and hope to our people, before we can talk of quelling unrest and civil disorder.” Clay ultimately defeated his opponent in the heavily Democratic district with 64 percent of the vote, becoming the first African American to represent Missouri in Congress.</p>