University of Texas
Which school did Ralph Hall go to from 1946 to 1947?
Ralph Hall Ralph Moody Hall ( May 3 , 1923 – March 7 , 2019 ) was an American politician who served as the United States Representative for from 1981 to 2015 . He was first elected in 1980 , and was the chairman of the House Committee on Science , Space and Technology from 2011 to 2013 . He was also a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce . In 2004 , he switched to the Republican Party after having been a member of the Democratic Party for more than 50 years . At 91 , he was the oldest serving member of Congress at the end of his last term in office , the oldest person to ever serve in the House of Representatives , the oldest person ever elected to a House term and the oldest House member ever to cast a vote , and the last member of Congress from the G.I . Generation . Michigan Congressman John Dingell and he were the last two World War II veterans serving in Congress . On March 6 , 2014 , Hall was challenged in the Republican primary by five other Republicans . He received 45.42% of the vote , which was under 50% , the amount required to avoid a runoff election . In the runoff , Hall faced former U.S . Attorney John Ratcliffe , who finished second in the primary with 28.77% of the vote . On May 27 , 2014 , Ratcliffe defeated Hall in the runoff election , 53 to 47% . Early life , education , and law career . Hall was born in Fate , Texas , and was a lifelong resident of Rockwall County , northeast of Dallas . He graduated from Rockwall High School in 1941 . He joined the U.S . Navy on December 10 , 1942 , serving as an aircraft carrier pilot from 1942 to 1945 during World War II , attaining the rank of lieutenant . When he was young , Hall pumped gas for a man and woman whom he later identified as the infamous gangsters Bonnie and Clyde . He attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth during 1943 . After the war , he attended the University of Texas ( 1946–47 ) , and received a law degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 1951 . He was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1951 and maintained a private law practice in Rockwall for many years . Early political career ( 1950–1973 ) . Hall was elected county judge of Rockwall County , Texas , in November 1950 . He held that position until 1962 . In 1962 , he was elected to the Texas State Senate after incumbent Ray Roberts won a special election to replace Sam Rayburn in Congress . As a state senator , he chaired a variety of committees : - Consumer Protection ( 1969–1972 ) - County , District , and Urban Affairs ( 1969–1972 ) - Historical and Recreational Sites ( 1969–1970 ) - Motion Picture Theater Industry ( 1969–1970 ) - Counties , Cities , and Towns ( 1967–1968 ) - Local and Uncontested Bills ( 1967–1968 ) - Transportation ( 1965–1966 ) In 1972 , he ran for lieutenant governor of Texas and lost the Democratic primary , getting only 15% of the vote . Bill Hobby won the primary with a plurality of 33% , and won the general election . Business ( 1973–1980 ) . He was the president and CEO of Texas Aluminum Corp . and general counsel of Texas Extrusion Co. , Inc . He was founding member and chairman of Lakeside National Bank of Rockwall , and was chairman of the directors of Lakeside News , Inc . He was a counsel for the aircraft parts maker Howmet Corporation from 1970 to 1974 . As of 2006 , he was serving as the chairman , president , or director of Crowley Holding Co. , Bank of Crowley , Lakeside National Bank , Lakeside Bancshares Inc. , North & East Trading Co. , and Linrock Inc . Later political career ( 1980–2015 ) . Elections . In 1980 , incumbent Democratic U.S . congressman Ray Roberts of Texas 4th congressional district decided to retire . Hall won the Democratic primary with 57% of the vote . In the general election , he defeated Republican business manager John Wright , with 52% of the vote , the closest race in the districts history and the lowest winning percentage in a general election in Halls political career . He was the fourth person to represent the 4th District since its creation in 1903 . The districts second congressman , Rayburn , the longtime Speaker of the House , represented the district for 48 years . He has never won re-election in a general election with less than 58% of the vote . - 2004 In November 2004 , Hall ran for his first full term as a Republican . He got heavy White House backing , from then-President George W . Bush also a Texan , in the three-way GOP primary that year , defeating two opponents . Hall won the primary with 78% of the vote , and the general election with 67% of the vote , defeating Democratic candidate Jim Nickerson and Libertarian Kevin D . Anderson . - 2006 Hall defeated Democratic candidate Glenn Melancon and Libertarian candidate Kurt Helm in the 2006 general election with 67% of the vote . - 2008 In the general election , Hall again faced Democratic nominee Glenn Melancon and was re-elected with 69% of the vote . - 2010 In the Republican primary , Hall won the nomination with 57% of the vote , his worst performance in a primary election since his first election in 1980 . It was a six-candidate race , with his closest opponent , Steve Clark , winning 30% of the vote . In the general election , he won re-election with 73% of the vote against Democratic candidate VaLinda Hathcox and two other candidates . - 2012 Hall won the Republican primary with 58% of the vote . He won over Democratic candidate VaLinda Hathcox in the general election for the second race in a row , this time by 73 to 24% . - 2014 In May 2013 , Hall announced his bid for an 18th term in the U.S . House . On December 20 , 2013 , he said that the 2014 campaign would be his last , regardless of the result . In the March 4 , 2014 Republican primary , Hall led a six-candidate field with 29,815 votes ( 45.4% ) . Because he did not obtain a majority of the ballots cast , Hall was forced to enter the May 27 , 2014 runoff election with the runner-up , former U.S . Attorney John Lee Ratcliffe of Heath , who received 18,891 votes ( 28.8% ) . Ratcliffe defeated Hall in a contentious and expensive March 21 runoff . With the loss , Hall became the only sitting Republican U.S . representative from Texas to unsuccessfully seek renomination to his or her seat out of 257 attempts since statehood . No Democrat even filed , meaning that the runoff was the real contest for the seat . Accordingly , Ratcliffe was elected unopposed , and assumed office on January 3 , 2015 . Tenure . Hall described himself as an old-time conservative Democrat . For many years , he was one of the most conservative Democrats in the House . He was an early supporter of a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget and also favored legislation requiring a super majority on any tax increases . He frequently clashed with the Clinton Administration , and voted for three of the four articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton . He endorsed George W . Bush for President in 2000 , becoming one of the few Democratic politicians to do so . The two had been friends for many years . While Hall was very conservative even by Texas Democratic standards , his conservatism can be attributed to the demographics of the 4th District . It had once been reliably Democratic , but became increasingly friendly to Republicans as Dallas suburban growth spilled into the western portion of the district ; indeed , the district included a small portion of Dallas itself . The 4th has not supported the Democratic nominee for president since 1964 . Despite this districts increasingly Republican tilt , Hall won 10 more terms as a Democrat with an average of 60% of the vote . In 1994 , for instance , he was re-elected by a 19-point margin , even as other conservative Democratic congressmen lost their seats . By the turn of the century , he was the only elected Democratic official above the county level in what had become one of the most conservative districts in Texas . Like many in the Democratic Party , he voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement . In 1999 , he was one of six Democratic congressmen who supported a Republican tax cut plan . He has been an original co-sponsor of bills to repeal the estate tax and the marriage tax . In late 2002 , he voted for the resolution allowing the use of force in Iraq . In March 2003 , he voted for a budget that included Bushs 10-year , $726 billion tax cut plan . The plan passed the House 215–212 . - 2004 party switch Hall was frequently rumored to switch parties , especially after the Republicans took control of the House in 1995 . Even as Democrats with far less conservative voting records than Halls , such as Greg Laughlin , Jimmy Hayes , Billy Tauzin , and Nathan Deal , all switched parties , he insisted that he would remain a Democrat as long as it did not hurt his constituents . He said that he had an obligation to pull my party back toward the middle . He was one of the co-founders of the Blue Dog Coalition , a group of moderate and conservative Democratic congressmen . In 2003 , House Majority Leader Tom DeLay engineered a controversial mid-decade redistricting . Hall was the only White Democratic congressman not targeted by the remap , but his district was shifted slightly to the north . Tyler , the heart of the 4th for a century , was shifted to the neighboring 1st District . It did , however , pick up a portion of Collin County , which had been part of the district until the 1980s round of redistricting . In January 2004 , on the final day for candidates to file to get their names on the ballot for the March 9 , 2004 , primary , Hall switched parties and became a Republican . He said that Republicans refused to put money for his district into a spending bill , and when he asked why , the only reason I was given was that I was a Democrat . He also cited concerns with his Democratic criticism of President Bush ; he had not attended Democratic caucus meetings for some time due to the criticism leveled at Bush , his longtime friend . He told the press , The country is at war . When the country is at war you need to support the president . Some of my fellow congressmen have not been doing that . After the switch , which became official on January 5 , 2004 , the GOP allowed him to keep his seniority . He became chairman of the House Energy Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality . He also joined the Republican Study Committee , a caucus of conservative House Republicans . - Northern Mariana Islands ( CNMI ) The Northern Mariana Islands are a U.S . commonwealth in the Pacific with a large garment industry . Billing records of Preston Gates Ellis and Rouvelas Meeds , an international law firm employed by the CNMI , the government of the islands , show numerous contacts between the law firm and Halls office . He said his dealings with the law firm were with Lloyd Meeds , a partner with the firm , which at the time listed 36 attorneys on staff , not with Jack Abramoff , the firms representative for the CNMI contract . In 2006 , he said of the Northern Marianas , They were good allies , and I believed their government should handle their affairs and not have us impose labor laws on them . In December 1996 , Hall and E.K . Slaughter , a friend , and their wives visited the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands . The trip was arranged by the National Security Caucus Foundation ( NSCF ) , which told him that the trip would be paid for by that group . Greg Hilton , the director of the now-defunct NCSF , had no funding for such trips ; he only arranged them with CNMI officials . Hilton said he was led to believe by officials of Preston Gates that the CNMI would pay the expenses and be reimbursed by the private sector . In fact , Preston Gates paid the expenses for such trips and billed the CNMI for reimbursement . For the trip of Hall , Slaughter and their wives , Abramoff billed the CNMI $12,800 . In September 1997 , Democratic Representative Neil Abercrombie placed remarks in the Congressional Record describing a teenager described as Katrina , whose story had been widely publicized , stating that an employer had lured her to the CNMI under false pretenses and that she was also forced into service as a prostitute . Abramoffs staff contacted Halls office 15 times in the two months following Abercrombies remarks . In November 1997 , he entered into the Congressional Record a statement saying that upon reviewing those remarks , he had felt that Congressman Abercrombie had relied on an erroneous and misleading article published by the Readers Digest some months ago . The article , according to Hall , said that the teenager was forced to perform lewd sex acts with customers before a video camera . He quoted a report by the acting attorney general of the CNMI in response : in fact...she wanted to do nude dancing...to support her family . The remarks by Abercrombie did not cite that source , and the Readers Digest June 1997 story by Henry Hurt , Shame on American Soil , does not refer to a child named Katrina . In his remarks , he also said , I intend to seek further information on matters as reported by the Readers Digest author—and I would hope that a fair-minded person like Congressman Abercrombie would accompany me early next year if , and when , we can both work a visit into our schedule—a visit that would not involve the expenditure of any American tax dollars . Asked in 2006 how the 1996 trip benefited the Texas 4th Congressional District he represents , he said , I think it benefits my constituents if you do anything that benefits the peace through strength people , when youre going out to bring information to them to help win the Cold War . Thats a benefit to them , to their strategic interests . The last gasps of the Cold War ended in 1991 . He also said the whole thing was about .. . them setting their own minimum wage . They had told me they would waive their foreign aid in return for setting their own minimum wage . His comments in the Congressional Record in 1997 do not mention a minimum wage and the CNMI receives no foreign aid . - Views on climate change On December 1 , 2011 , Hall gave an interview to National Journal in which he expressed disbelief in anthropogenic climate change . He accused climate scientists of concocting the evidence for anthropogenic climate change to receive federal research grants , citing the Climategate controversy and calling investigations which had largely exonerated them straw-man reviews . He stated , Im really more fearful of freezing . And I dont have any science to prove that , but we have a lot of science that tells us theyre not basing it on real scientific facts . He responded to allegations that Republicans could be called anti-science in light of these views by saying , Im not anti-science , Im pro-science , but we ought to have some believable science.. . We have to be more careful what outlays we make for something that hasnt been proved . - Legislation sponsored Hall introduced into the House the North Texas Invasive Species Barrier Act of 2014 ( H.R . 4032 ; 113th Congress ) , a bill that would exempt the North Texas Municipal Water District from prosecution under the Lacey Act for transferring water containing invasive species from Oklahoma to Texas . The Lacey Act protects plants and wildlife by creating civil and criminal penalties for various violations , including transferring invasive species across state borders . Committee assignments . - Committee on Science and Technology , Chairman Emeritus - Subcommittee on Energy - Subcommittee on Space - Committee on Energy and Commerce - Subcommittee on Environment and Economy - Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Caucus memberships . - International Conservation Caucus - Republican Study Committee - Tea Party Caucus Personal life . Hall married the former Mary Ellen Murphy on November 14 , 1944 , while he was serving in the United States Navy in Pensacola , Florida . They had three sons , Hampton , Brett , and Blakeley , and ( as of 2013 ) have five grandchildren . She died on August 27 , 2008 . In January 2004 , regarding his switch of party , Hall said I talked with some of my family . Some agreed , some did not . My wife didnt agree . Shed rather I quit than switch parties . Hall died of natural causes on March 7 , 2019 , in Rockwall , Texas , at the age of 95 . Electoral history . Source : Source :