Ralph Yarborough
June 8, 1903 — January 27, 1996 — Jasper, Texas
Ralph Yarborough was a Texas Democratic politician and U.S. Senator (1957–1971) who was the most prominent liberal Democrat in Texas politics during the postwar era — a champion of civil rights, veterans' benefits, and progressive legislation who fought for two decades against the conservative Democratic establishment of his state.
Early Life and Texas Politics
Born on June 8, 1903, in Jasper, Texas, Yarborough grew up in East Texas and studied law at the University of Texas. After serving as a military officer and district judge, he ran for Governor of Texas three times (1952, 1954, 1956) before losing each time to the conservative Democrats who dominated Texas politics. He finally achieved statewide office in 1957, winning a special Senate election to fill the seat vacated by Price Daniel, and then won reelection in 1958 and 1964. In the Senate he was a consistent liberal voice in a state where liberalism was deeply suspect.
Civil Rights, the GI Bill, and Dallas 1963
Yarborough was one of only three Southern Democratic senators who voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — a vote that required genuine political courage in Texas and contributed to his eventual defeat. He was a strong supporter of expanding veterans' benefits and was instrumental in establishing the Cold War GI Bill. He was in the presidential motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963, riding in the Secret Service follow-up car behind President Kennedy's limousine when Kennedy was assassinated — an event whose full horror he witnessed at close range. His account of that day was given in multiple interviews and testimony over subsequent decades.
Did You Know?
Ralph Yarborough's feud with Lyndon Johnson and the conservative Texas Democratic establishment was the reason President Kennedy's ill-fated Texas trip in November 1963 was organized in the first place. Kennedy was attempting to reconcile the warring factions of the Texas Democratic Party — Yarborough's liberals versus Johnson's conservatives — ahead of the 1964 election. The Dallas trip was meant to be a unity event; instead it ended with Kennedy's assassination and set in motion the events that would define the decade.
Defeat and Legacy
Yarborough was defeated in the 1970 Democratic primary by Lloyd Bentsen — a conservative Democrat backed by the oil and business interests that had always opposed him. His defeat marked the beginning of the end of Texas liberalism as a serious political force in statewide elections. He died on January 27, 1996, in Austin, Texas, at age 92. His legacy has been reassessed over time; he is now widely regarded as one of the most principled politicians Texas produced in the twentieth century — a man who consistently voted his conscience even when it cost him politically, on civil rights as well as on issues including education, consumer protection, and workers' rights.