The Life of Carl Albert

Speaker of the U. S. House

of Representatives

Carl Albert was born on May 10, 1908, in a mining camp near McAlester, Oklahoma, and he grew up in a log cabin on a nearby farm. His parents were Ernest Homer Albert, a coal miner and farmer, and Leona Scott Albert.

In high school he polished his speaking skills to win a regional oratorical contest in 1927 and a national competition in 1928. Perhaps the grandest accomplishment of his youth came after graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 1931: he won a Rhodes Scholarship. The next three years were spent at Oxford University, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts in Laws and a Bachelor of Civil Laws.

After his return from England in 1934, Albert worked for the Federal Housing Administration for three years. During this time he was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar. He then spent six years in the practice of oil law in Oklahoma, Illinois, and Ohio. In 1941 he entered the armed forces as a private, serving briefly in the Third Armored Division but largely in the Judge Advocate General Corps. While in the Army he married Mary Harmon, in 1942.

Albert left the service as a Lieutenant Colonel in February 1946. When he returned to Oklahoma, he planned a career as an attorney. Instead, he ran for Congress. He filed as a candidate for the Democratic primary of Oklahoma's U. S. Congressional Third District on the very day the incumbent decided to retire. It was the hardest race he ever faced. There was no clear winner in the primary, so he was forced into a runoff that he squeaked through by 329 votes. He easily beat his Republican opponent, however, in the general election. Albert never had a problem winning the fourteen other congressional elections in which he ran.

The Third District of Oklahoma has always lain in the state's southeast, a region called "Little Dixie" because its settlers came from nearby Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, and because its agricultural economy is based on cotton and peanuts. Its voters almost always vote Democratic. Albert, because his work outweighed his small stature, became known as "the little giant from Little Dixie."

During three decades of service, Albert promoted the interests of his state in Congress. He supported public works projects, such as those on the Arkansas and Red Rivers, that literally transformed the face of Oklahoma. Legislation he sponsored reflected the needs and concerns of his constituents. One of his earliest accomplishments was passage of a rider that prevented cuts in acreage devoted to peanut cultivation, and over the years he introduced other bills and amendments benefiting cotton and peanut growers in his district. One of the last bills he introduced, in 1969 with other members of the Oklahoma delegation, called for the repeal of existing gun control laws. Albert's district was home to a large number of hunters. As his leadership responsibilities increased, the number of his bills in the hopper decreased. As Speaker of the House, he followed the tradition of not introducing legislation at all.

Albert's career in the House of Representatives, 1947-1976, was distinguished. He served on several standing committees-- Agriculture (1949-1962), Post Office and Civil Service (1947-1948), House Administration (1949-1952), Science and Astronautics (1963- 1967), and Education and Labor (1968)--as well as the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress (1949-1952) and the Select Committee to Investigate Lobbying Activities (1949-1951). In 1955 the lawmaker was chosen majority whip and began his ascent of the House leadership ladder. Serving with Sam Rayburn and John McCormack, Albert succeeded the latter as Majority Leader in 1962 and as Speaker in 1971.