page_title: Absalom Willis Robertson
section_title: Early political and legal career
hierarchical_section_title: Absalom Willis Robertson / Early political and legal career
caption_attribution_description: English: Virginia state senator A. Willis Robertson
context_page_description: Absalom Willis Robertson was an American politician from Virginia who served over 50 years in public office. A member of the Democratic Party and ally of the Byrd Organization led by fellow U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Robertson represented Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and had earlier served in the Virginia General Assembly. A Dixiecrat or member of the conservative coalition during his congressional career, Robertson was also the father of televangelist Pat Robertson.
context_section_description: Robertson then established a private law practice and began his elective career. He was elected to the Virginia State Senate as a Democrat in 1915 to represent Bedford and Rockbridge counties and Buena Vista, Virginia, in Senate district 22, replacing W. T. Paxton, who had replaced J. Randolph Tucker in 1913. Robertson served from 1916 to 1922, when he resigned and was replaced by Samuel S. Lambeth Jr. in the February 1923 special session but Robert J. Noell won the election to succeed him later that year. During World War I, Robertson enlisted and served in the United States Army, but was assigned stateside so he could continue that part-time elective office.
  Robertson served as Commonwealth Attorney for Rockbridge County, Virginia (an elective office per the Virginia constitution, which prohibited such officials from also serving as legislators or judges during their terms) from 1922 to 1928.
caption: Robertson as a state senator during the 1916 General Assembly
exif: {"Image ExifOffset": "26", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "182", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "246"}