page_title: William R. Poage
section_title: Political Career
hierarchical_section_title: William R. Poage / Political Career
caption_attribution_description: English: The W.R. Poage Federal Building in Temple, TX, named for the late U.S. Representative W.R. Poage
context_page_description: William Robert Poage was a Texas politician who was won election to the United States House of Representatives 21 times, serving 42 years.
context_section_description: A Democrat, he served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1925 to 1929, and the Texas State Senate from 1931 to 1937.
  In 1936, Poage was elected to the House of Representatives. He was later diagnosed with Ménière's disease, which eventually left him deaf in one ear. In the House, he supported acts designed to help the rural residents of his district. He supported the farm price supports of the Roosevelt Administration, and worked to keep farmers prosperous. Poage was the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture from 1967 to 1975, until he was removed from his position in a revolt by House Democratic Caucus against the Seniority system. The Caucus considered Poage to be too conservative and he was replaced by Tom Foley (D-WA), a future Speaker of the House.
  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, Poage 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. And, when lobbied by the Johnson administration to support the War on Poverty legislation for the opportunities and services it would provide, Poage responded, "Oh, I see! You're talking' about the niggers!"
caption: The W.R. Poage Federal Building is located in downtown Temple, Texas.
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