delegate to each Democratic National Convention
Which position did George H. Mahon hold from 1936 to 1964?
George H . Mahon George Herman Mahon ( September 22 , 1900 – November 19 , 1985 ) was a Texas politician who served twenty-two consecutive terms ( 1935–1979 ) as a member of the United States House of Representatives from the Lubbock-based 19th congressional district . His legacies include the development of federal farm programs , the establishment of the former Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock and Webb Air Force Base in Big Spring , leadership in the development of Interstate 27 , a short connection between Amarillo and Lubbock , and disaster relief during droughts and tornadoes common to West Texas . Background . Mahon was born to John Kirkpatrick Mahon and the former Lola Willis in the Mahon community near Haynesville in Claiborne Parish in northern Louisiana near the Arkansas state line . In 1908 , Mahons family moved to Loraine in Mitchell County , Texas , where young George graduated from Loraine High School . In 1924 , he received his bachelors degree from Baptist-affiliated Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene . While in college he married the former Helen Stephenson , and they had one daughter . In 1925 , Mahon graduated from the University of Texas Law School in Austin . Mahon joined a friend , Charlie Thompson , in the opening of a law firm in Colorado City . He was elected county attorney for Mitchell County , Texas in 1926 . Thereafter , Governor Dan Moody named Mahon district attorney of the thirty-second judicial district of Texas , a position which he held from 1927 to 1933 , having been elected once after the initial gubernatorial appointment . Congressional tenure . Mahon was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1934 , when he defeated Clark Millican of Lubbock in the runoff election for the seat . Lubbock residents , including Charles A . Guy , the editor of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal urged that the seat go to a Lubbock resident – Millican – because Lubbock is the largest city in the district . Rural areas , however , coalesced behind Mahon . Once in office , Mahon cemented his hold on Lubbock as well as the whole district and rarely had opposition in his reelection campaigns . In its 2008 centennial , the Avalanche-Journal declared Mahon the most influential figure in Lubbocks 20th century history . Mahon was a delegate to each Democratic National Convention from 1936 to 1964 , having participating in the nomination of all party standard-bearers from Franklin D . Roosevelt to Lyndon B . Johnson . He was the chairman of the Appropriations Committee from 1964 until his retirement from the House in 1979 . Known for his personal frugality , Mahon often clashed with presidents of both parties who he determined wanted to spend more money than the treasury could afford . Early in his Congressional tenure , Mahon served on the committee that developed the Manhattan Project . In 1947-8 , he served on the Herter Committee . He was one of the majority of the Texan delegation to decline to sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto opposing the desegregation of public schools ordered by the Supreme Court in Brown v . Board of Education . However , Mahon voted against the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 , 1960 , 1964 , and 1968 , as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S . Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . On three occasions , 1962 , 1964 , and 1976 , Mahon faced Republican opponents Dennis Taylor , Joe B . Phillips ( 1925-2012 ) , a Realtor from Lubbock and later the administrator of the Smithlawn Church of Christ Maternity Home and Adoption Agency , and then Jim Reese , a former mayor of Odessa , respectively . Mahon topped Taylor , 46,925 ( 67.1 percent ) to 23,022 ( 32.9 percent ) in the same election in which the Republican Ed Foreman of Odessa unseated the Democrat J.T . Rutherford in an adjacent West Texas congressional district . Mahon prevailed in 1964 , 87,555 ( 77.6 percent ) to Phillipss 25,243 ( 22.4 percent ) . In his last race , Mahon defeated Reese , 87,908 ( 54.6 percent ) to 72,991 ( 45.4 percent ) , with victory secured by his large margin in Lubbock County . Mahon decided not to run again for the U.S . House in 1978 , when Reese lost the Republican runoff primary for the seat to George W . Bush , who was then defeated in the general election by Democrat Kent Hance , who subsequently switched parties . After his years in the House , Mahon stayed in Washington to work with the Smithsonian Institution , of which he was a regent from 1964 to 1978 . Mahon died in San Angelo of complications from knee surgery . He is interred at the Loraine City Cemetery in Loraine in Mitchell County alongside Mrs . Mahon , who died in 1987 . External links . - Mahon papers , 1887-1986 and undated , in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University