Description
Alben Barkley's final words before he was struck down by a heart attack summed up his long, eventful life: "I have served my country and my people for half a century as a Democrat. I went to the House of Representatives in 1913 and served fourteen years. I was a junior Congressman, then I became a senior Congressman, then I went to the Senate and became a junior Senator, and then I became a senior Senator; and then a Majority Leader in the Senate, and then Vice President of the United States, and now I am back again as a junior Senator. And I am willing to be a junior. I'm glad to sit in the back row, for I would rather be a servant in the house of the Lord than sit in the seats of the mighty."
Dear Alben: Mr. Barkley of Kentucky traces Kentucky civil servant Alben Barkley's life from humble beginnings in rural Kentucky to the seats of power in the nation's capital. Barkley is revealed as a Wilsonian liberal before he became an apostle of the New Deal. His support of these Democratic programs was the result not so much of party loyalty as of a social conscience that had been honed during the impoverished years of his youth. James K. Libbey brings into clear focus the role of a forceful Kentuckian in national politics in two eras of rapid change and reform.
Author: James K. Libbey
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 11/11/2009
Pages: 136
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.34lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.32d
ISBN13: 9780813192895
ISBN10: 0813192897
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Presidents & Heads of State
- Biography & Autobiography | Political
- History | United States | 20th Century
About the Author
James K. Libbey is associate professor and academic counselor for social studies at Eastern Kentucky University.
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