Processed by: Archives Staff ; machine-readable finding aid created by:Eric Weig
Alben W. Barkley file from Truman Presidential papers
1945-1952
University of Kentucky Special CollectionsLexington, Kentucky 40506
Arranged chronologically.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Alben W. Barkley file from Truman Presidential papers, 1945-1952, 1F62M-591, Special Collections, University of Kentucky.
1 reel microfilm (4 ft.)
Vice-President, U.S. Senator from Kentucky. Barkley was born in Graves County, Kentucky in 1877. A graduate of Marvin College in Clinton, Kentucky, Barkley also attended Emory College in Oxford, Georgia, and the University of Virginia Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1901 and began practice in Paducah. Barkley entered McCracken County politics, serving as county attorney and county judge successively. In 1913 he was elected to Congress. Ten years later, the Congressman made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. He won a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1926 and became Democratic majority leader in 1937. When the Democrats lost control of the Senate in the 1946 elections, Barkley served as minority leader for two years. Nominated as Harry S. Truman's running mate, Barkley was elected Vice- President of the United States in 1948.
Truman-Barkley correspondence during Truman's years as President, also contains letters to the President pertaining to Barkley as well as some clippings.
Truman Presidential Library, Independence, Mo.