US SPEAKER HOUSE CONGRESSMAN ALABAMA V PRESIDENT CAND BANKHEAD LETTER SIGNED ' 36
Item History & Price
WILLIAM B. BANKHEADAlabama's most influential politicalleader in the first half of the 20th century(1874 - 1940)42nd SPEAKEROF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1936-1940, US DEMOCRATIC PARTYCONGRESSMAN FROM ALABAMA 1917-1940, MEMBER OF THE ALABAMAHOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1900-1901&VICE PRESIDENTIALTIMBER IN 1940!As Speaker, Bankheadheld the second-highest political office of any Alabamian, after only Vice PresidentWilliam R. King.At the 1940 DemocraticNational Convention ...(three months before his death), he finished second toHenry A. Wallace on the Vice Presidential ticket, losing the delegate count626–329.Bankhead was a prominentsupporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” of pro-labor unionlegislation, thus clashing with most other Southern Democrats in Congress atthe time.<<>> HERE'S A LETTER SIGNEDBY BANKHEAD ON “THE SPEAKER’S ROOMS - HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES U.S.-WASHINGTON, D.C.” LETTERHEAD, 1p., DATED AT JASPER, ALABAMA, SEPT. 10th, 1936 TOGLENN W. BLODGETT, RE A CHERISHED LETTER FROM HIS LAMENTED FATHER [SENATOR JOHNHOLLIS BANKHEAD (1842–1920)]The document measures 8”x 10½” and is in VERY FINE CONDITION – BOLDLY EXECUTED BY BANKHEAD!A FINE ADDITION TO YOURAMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY AUTOGRAPH, MANUSCRIPT & EPHEMERA COLLECTION!BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE HONORABLEWILLIAM BROCKMAN BANKHEADWilliam B.Bankhead Taking the Speaker of the House Oath of Office.WilliamBrockmanBankhead(12 April 1874–15 September 1940), lawyer and Speaker of the House of Representatives, wasborn in Moscow, Alabama, the son of Senator John Hollis Bankhead (1842–1920), a farmer, andTallulah Brockman. He was the younger brother of U.S. Senator John H. Bankhead (1872–1946) and the father of actress Tallulah Bankhead. Bankhead graduated from theUniversity of Alabama in 1892 and Georgetown School of Law in 1895. He thenmade brief forays as an actor in New York and as a lawyer in Huntsville, Alabama, before joining his brother John in the practice of law in Jasper, Alabama.Bankhead served briefly as a prosecutor (1910–1914) and ran unsuccessfullyfor Congress in 1914. Following this initial defeat, the Alabama legislature, influenced by the younger John Bankhead, smoothed the way for Will’s election toCongress as a Democrat in 1916 by creating a new district (from which he waslater reelected eleven times). A loyal supporter of the Woodrow Wilson administration, Bankhead wasovershadowed in the years of Republican dominance during the 1920s. His primaryinterests while in Congress lay in House rules, vocational education, health, labor, and agriculture. He also pursued the grants-in-aid principle, pioneeredby his father, of giving aid to states for specified purposes, usually on amatching basis.In the 1928 presidential election, Bankhead supported his party despite theunpopularity in the South of the Democratic nominee, Alfred E. Smith. After many prohibitionists bolted theparty, Bankhead urged that the bolters be invited to return without penalty.Although Democratic party leaders rejected his advice, he and his brother wererewarded for their loyalty by John’s election to the Senate in 1930.The early years of the Great Depression made Bankhead more amenable togovernment spending. He aided the new Democratic Speaker in reaching a tenuousagreement with President Herbert Hoover to cooperate in a public works program.This bipartisanship was only partially successful, however, as Hoover scaleddown Democratic plans. Bankhead pleased his coal-mining constituency by votingfor the Norris–La Guardia Anti-Injunction Bill, a measure opposed by manyconservative southern Democrats.Like most southern congressmen, Bankhead had originally favored privateoperation of Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee River for the production offertilizer. By the late 1920s, however, Bankhead and the southern delegationhad come to favor government operation, primarily for the production of electricpower. The Tennessee Valley Authority, based on this approach, was establishedin 1933 soon after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s election, with the almostunanimous support of southern congressmen, including Bankhead.The extensive legislation necessary for implementation of the New Dealcatapulted the Bankhead brothers into the limelight as champions of Roosevelt’sprogram. The brothers became a highly effective legislative combination withthe powerful support of President Roosevelt and the American Farm BureauFederation. In 1933 Will Bankhead became de facto chairman of the RulesCommittee upon the illness of Congressman Edward W. Pou, and he was namedchairman in 1934. In Congress, Bankhead served mainly as a facilitator ratherthan an initiator, but he joined his brother in sponsoring the Bankhead CottonControl Act, the only measure to bear his name. Bankhead was elected HouseDemocratic majority leader in 1935 immediately after a heart attack—the natureand extent of which were not generally known. He did not resume full dutiesuntil January 1936. In June of that year, he was elected Speaker.Roosevelt’s domestic proposals in his second term irritated manysoutherners, but Bankhead, despite reservations, supported them. These measuresincluded the proposed court-packing and executive reorganization bills as wellas the Wage and Hours Act. War measures, popular in the South, were beginningto overshadow the New Deal, and Bankhead supported President Roosevelt’sdefense program as well. In January 1938, he helped defeat the LudlowResolution, which would have required a popular vote for a declaration of war.He also supported the administration’s unsuccessful efforts to remove the 1937Neutrality Act’s restrictions on munitions sales. With the outbreak of war in1939, he vigorously supported the addition of “cash and carry” provisions tothe neutrality legislation, permitting the United States to supply neededmatériel to the Allies.In 1940, before Roosevelt’s own plans to seek a third term became clear, competing factions in Alabama joined in promoting Bankhead as a candidate forpresident. He agreed to run, but only on a New Deal platform. When it becameapparent that Roosevelt would run, Bankhead’s backers supported the Speaker forvice president. The president was evasive but suggested that Bankhead was tooold and his health too fragile. To head off Bankhead’s candidacy, the Alabamianwas named the Democratic National Convention’s keynote speaker. The president’schoice for vice president, Henry A. Wallace, was far from popular, and manyanti-Roosevelt delegates supported Bankhead as an alternative. Bankheadreceived 329 votes but lost the nomination. He accepted defeat gracefully andagreed to open the Democratic campaign in Baltimore on 10 September, but he wasstricken with an abdominal hemorrhage before he could give his speech. He diedin Bethesda, Maryland.Although less able than his brother, Will Bankhead was a legislativecraftsman whose oratorical ability, amiable temperament, and parliamentaryskill smoothed the way for the passage of New Deal legislation. While somesouthern Democrats supported the New Deal out of party loyalty more thanconviction, Bankhead genuinely believed that its programs offered aconstructive response to the problems of the era.BibliographyThe Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery is a richsource of manuscripts and other materials related to Bankhead. The best sourceon Bankhead’s life is Walter J. Heacock, “William Brockman Bankhead: ABiography” (Master’s thesis, Univ. of Wisconsin, 1952). See also Heacock, “William B. Bankhead and the New Deal, ” Journal of Southern History21, no. 3 (1955): 347–59, and Evans C. Johnson, “John H. Bankhead: Advocate ofCotton, ” Alabama Review 41, no. 1 (1988): 30–58. [Source: AmericanNational Biography]I am a proud member ofthe Universal Autograph Collectors Club (UACC), The Ephemera Society ofAmerica, the Manuscript Society and the American Political Items Collectors(APIC) (member name: John Lissandrello). I subscribe to each organizations'code of ethics and authenticity is guaranteed. ~Providing quality service andhistorical memorabilia online for over twenty years.~
WE ONLY SELL GENUINE ITEMS, i.e., NO REPRODUCTIONS, FAKES OR COPIES!
WE ONLY SELL GENUINE ITEMS, i.e., NO REPRODUCTIONS, FAKES OR COPIES!
