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ALBERT
THOMASby
Archie P. McDonald | |
One
of the most famous photos ever made shows Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath as
president aboard Air Force One shortly after the assassination of President John
F. Kennedy. In the photo, a tall, trim man wearing a bow tie bends in to get a
better view of President Johnson and Justice Sarah Hughes, who administered the
oath. That man was Albert Thomas, who represented the Eighth Congressional District
— essentially, Harris County and Houston — in Congress for fifteen terms.
Thomas was born in Nacogdoches
on April 12, 1898. He attended local schools, worked in his father’s store, and
served as a lieutenant in the Army during WWI
before graduating from the Rice Institute and the University of Texas Law School.
He practiced law and served as Nacogdoches County attorney before moving to Houston
in 1930 to become assistant US district attorney for the Southern District of
Texas.
Thomas won the race to represent the Eighth District in the US House
of Representatives in 1936 and held that post until his death thirty years later.
He rose to committee chair status, including chairman of the House Democratic
Caucus. Likely Representative Thomas’ best remembered service was in helping make
the decision to locate the headquarters for the National Aeronautics and Space
Agency, later known as the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, in the Houston
area. When President Kennedy made the announcement, he deliberately credited Thomas
with "delivering the greatest payroll...I mean payload" possible to his district.
Thomas
was with Kennedy and Johnson in Dallas
on November 22, 1963, because the evening before they had attended his sixty-fifth
birthday party in Houston and urged
him to remain in Congress. Earlier, Thomas had said that he might not seek reelection
in 1964 because of age and health. He had joined the president’s party for the
remainder of Kennedy’s Texas visit, got swept up in the events in Dallas,
and accompanied President Johnson and President Kennedy’s body back to Washington.
Thomas continued to serve in Congress until his death on February 15, 1966.
© Archie P. McDonald
All
Things Historical November , 2004 column
A syndicated column
in over 40 East Texas newspapers
This column is provided as a public service
by the East Texas Historical Association. Archie P. McDonald is director of the
Association and author of more than 20 books on Texas.
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