district attorney in Texas
Which position did Wright Patman hold from 1924 to 1929?
Wright Patman John William Wright Patman ( August 6 , 1893 – March 7 , 1976 ) was an American politician . First elected in 1928 , Patman served 24 consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives for Texass 1st congressional district from 1929 to 1976 . He was a member of the Democratic Party . Patman grew up in Hughes Springs , Texas . After graduating from Cumberland University , Patman returned to Hughes Springs to be a lawyer . From 1916 to 1917 , Patman held his first political office as assistant county attorney for Cass County , Texas . He then served in the United States Army during World War I from 1917 to 1919 . After the war , Patman was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1920 . Patman served two terms in the Texas House before serving as a district attorney in Texas from 1924 to 1929 . In Congress , Patman was a fiscal watchdog who challenged practices of major banks and the Federal Reserve . He co-sponsored the Robinson-Patman Act of 1935 , which was designed to protect small retail shops against competition from chain stores by fixing a minimum price for retail products . From 1963 to 1975 , Patman chaired the United States House Committee on Banking and Currency . Patman served in Congress until his death in 1976 . His son Bill Patman later served in a different U.S . House seat in Texas from 1981 to 1985 . Early life . Patman was the son of John N . and Emma ( Spurlin ) Patman , was born near Hughes Springs in Cass County , Texas , on August 6 , 1893 . After graduating from Hughes Springs High School in 1912 , he enrolled in Cumberland University Law School in Lebanon , Tennessee . Receiving his law degree in 1916 he was admitted to the Texas bar the same year . During World War I Patman enlisted in the United States Army as a private . He later received a commission as a first lieutenant and machine gun officer in the Texas Army National Guards 144th Infantry Regiment , a unit of the 36th Division . He remained in the National Guard for several years after the war . Political career . Early political career . Patman was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1920 . He left the House in 1924 when he was appointed district attorney of the fifth judicial district of Texas . Early Congressional career . In 1928 , Patman was elected to the House of Representatives from Texass 1st congressional district . In 1932 , Patman introduced a bill that would have mandated the immediate payment of the bonus to World War I veterans . It was during the consideration of this bill that the Bonus Army came to Washington . Patman was a supporter of the New Deal . In January 1932 , Patman spearheaded a movement to impeach Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon , which forced the latters resignation the following month . In 1935 , Patman took on the cause of independent retailers , who were engaged in a nationwide battle to stop the growth of chain retailing by taxing chains and restricting their business practices . Patman in the House and Joseph Taylor Robinson in the United States Senate were the sponsors of the 1936 Robinson-Patman Act , an effort to preserve independent wholesalers and retail outlets ( Mom and Pop stores ) by preventing manufacturers or large retailers from becoming involved in wholesaling . Patman was one of four members of the Texas congressional delegation to originally sign the Southern Manifesto , ( Martin Dies Jr . signed subsequently ) a resolution in protest of the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v . Board of Education . Watergate inquiry . Wright Patmans eponymous committee played an important role in the early days of the Watergate scandal that eventually brought down President Richard Nixon . The Patman Committee investigated the hundred dollar bills found on the Watergate plumbers upon their arrest , suspecting they could directly link them to CREEP , the presidents re-election committee . The Patman Committees 1972 investigation was stymied by pressure from the White House , in part aided by Congressman Gerald R . Ford . Despite these efforts to stop Patman , his investigative course ultimately proved to be Nixons undoing in the sense that the money trail , as reported on in the Washington Post , helped lead to the establishment of the Ervin Senate Select Committee on Watergate in April 1973 . Loss of chairmanship . In 1975 , Patman was voted out of his position as Chairman of the Banking committee by younger Congressmen , in a revolt against the Seniority system which also removed Felix Edward Hébert and William R . Poage from their positions as chairmen . Patman was replaced by Henry S . Reuss by a caucus vote of 152–117 . The main reason given for the caucus removing Patman was concern about his age and effectiveness . Personal life . In 1919 , Patman married Merle Connor , who died in 1967 . They had four children , including Bill Patman , who served in the U.S . House from 1981 to 1985 . Wright Patman remarried in 1968 to Pauline Tucker . Patman died of pneumonia in Bethesda , Maryland on March 7 , 1976 . He was buried at Hillcrest Cemetery in Texarkana . His funeral in Texarkana was one of the largest , most important occurrences in the towns history , wrote Mark Stanley in a 2004 essay for the East Texas Historical Journal . Legacy . Patman is regarded as a liberal and populist who brought federal jobs and works projects to his district , where agriculture previously was the dominant economic sector . However , the left wing Americans for Democratic Action scored Patman low in its 100-point liberal quotient ( LQ ) scale , at 13 in 1972 and 24 in 1973 . In contrast , the American Conservative Union rated Patman a more favorable 47 out of 100 in 1973 . In the U.S . House of Representatives in Washington , the Wright Patman Congressional Federal Credit Union is named after him . This credit union serves the banking needs of elected and former members of the House and their staff . In addition , Wright Patman Lake and Wright Patman Dam in Northeast Texas are also named for him . In 2011 Rick Perry condemned the monetary policies of Ben Bernanke in populist-like language , earning him criticism from some mainstream Republicans , including Karl Rove . One observer , Alexander Cockburn , recalled that it used to be Texas Democrats like Patman who were regarded as the populists . According to Cockburn , Patman , sitting as chair of the House Banking Committee in the early 1970s , snarl [ ed ] at then Fed chairman Arthur Burns , before him to give testimony , Can you give me any reason why you should not be in the penitentiary ? Publications . - Tax Exempt Foundations and Charitable Trusts : Their Impact on Our Economy ( December 1962 ) 87th Congress , 2nd Session - Commercial Banks and Their Trust Activities : Emerging Influence on the American Economy ( Washington DC 1968 ) 90th Congress , 2nd Session , volumes I and II