Passed Vice Presidents - # 35 – Alben Barkley

Grave of Alben Barkley (13 July 2023))

Served under Harry S. Truman

20 January 1949 – 20 January 1953

Preceded by # 34 – Harry S. Truman

Succeeded by # 36 – Richard Nixon

Born – 24 November 1877

Died – 30 April 1956 (Age 78)

Buried – Mount Kenton Cemetery, Paducah, KY

Date Visited – 13 July 2023

Last summer’s road trip nabbed six VP graves. While I see a chance to maybe grab one or two more, it’s hard to imagine this endeavor being completed. Some of these guys are too far off the beaten path. Shame I didn’t think about this during earlier quests since two VP’s are in heartland state capitol cities. Thankfully, my circuitous drive to Wisconsin was ripe with opportunities.

While a few states have small portions of their territory in another time zone, Kentucky is the one state that is almost split down the middle. This is how you make up time – I leave my motel at 0900 and drive west. Fifteen minutes later, it’s 0815.Ta-DAAH.

Two days in Kentucky and I fully traversed the state and its two time zones, ending the second day in the once-bustling Ohio River town of Paducah. In the days of railroads and river boats, the city was a major hub of activity. The last of the four-grave, Kentucky haul ended with a visit to Harry Truman’s VP, Alben Barkley. Unlike some of the lightweights I’ve seen in my lifetime like Dan Quayle and Mike Pence...people picked for a job where nothing is expected, Barkley was working the Washington halls of power for thirty-six years before he landed the Number Two spot in 1948.

Grave of Alben Barkley, Mt. Kenton Cemetery,

Paducah, KY (13 July 2023)

In Barkley’s time, the party affiliation in the early 20th-century South was solidly Democratic. However, along with the Confederate segregationists, Barkley was the occasional liberal in their number.

After serving in county positions, he was elected to the House in 1913. He served there until 1927 after which he was elected to the Senate. He so effectively supported Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal policies, the Democrats elected him Senate Majority Leader, a position he held for ten years. When the war took most of the president’s attention, Majority Leader Barkley supported the administration’s domestic agenda.

 

Vice President Alben Barkley

By Hessler Studio, Washington, D. C. - Truman Presidential Library,

It stands to reason that Mr. Barkley would get along with fellow Democrat, Missouri Senator Harry Truman. After all, their states share the same river. Then Harry hits the career lottery by going from FDR’s latest invisible vice president to the top job.

The senator hung in there and helped the new president manage the domestic post-WW II scene. By election year, 1948, Truman’s unpopularity was an issue, but Barkley gave such a rousing endorsement speech at the Democrat convention, he was nominated as Truman’s running mate and they sailed to that famous upset win over Republican Tom Dewey.

As vice presidents go, I would suggest Barkley was one of the more-engaged examples. With president Truman preoccupied with the Korean War, the vice president fronted for the rest of the administration’s agenda.

Grave of Alben Barkley, Mt. Kenton Cemetery,

Paducah, KY (13 July 2023)

After his term as vice president, he considered a run for the presidency. When labor leaders refused to support him because of his age, he bowed out. He was 74 at the time...younger than the two presumptive nominees this year. With that settled, the diligent public servant returned to the Senate in 1954. Two years later, a heart attack proved the unions correct in their concerns...but it still ended a pretty successful career of public service.

In a special location under the rotunda of the Kentucky capitol in Frankfort, there is a statue of the vice president.

Statue of Alben Barkley

Kentucky Capitol, Frankfort (9 June 2008)

The plaque on the base says,

MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES

HOUSE AND SENATE. MAJORITY

LEADER OF THE UNITED STATES

SENATE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE

UNITED STATES

Grave of Dorothy Barkley, Mt. Kenton Cemetery,

Paducah, KY (13 July 2023)

Mr. Barkley’s first wife is buried with him. She also died of heart disease.

We conclude this tribute with the tabloid portion of the post.

Winning the 1948 election made Barkley, at 71, the oldest person elected to the vice presidency. That same year, he also remarried. Jane Hadley was 33 years younger AND (clutch your pearls) a Republican! In 1940, she worked for FDR’s opponent and felt strongly enough that when her milkman expressed support for Roosevelt, she left him a note – “No Wilkie, no milkie.” But the VP was smitten and he pursued her. They married in 1949. She died of a heart attack in 1964 at age 52 and is buried in Missouri. One wonders how today’s media would treat all that.