- James Allred
Infobox Governor
name = James Allred
order = 33rd
office = Governor of Texas
term_start = 1935
term_end = 1939
lieutenant =Walter Frank Woodul
predecessor =Miriam A. Ferguson
successor =W. Lee O'Daniel
office2 =Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
term_start2 = 1939
term_end2 = 1942
appointed2 =Franklin D. Roosevelt
predecessor2 = New seat
successor2 =Allen B. Hannay
office3 =Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
term_start3 = 1951
term_end3 = 1959
appointed3 =Harry S Truman
predecessor3 = New seat
successor3 =Reynaldo Guerra Garza
birth_date =March 29 ,1899
birth_place =Bowie, Texas
death_date = death date and age|1959|09|24|1899|03|29
death_place =Laredo, Texas
party = Democrat
spouse =
profession =
religion =James V. Allred (
March 29 ,1899 -September 24 ,1959 ) was a U.S.politician who served as the Democraticgovernor ofTexas during theNew Deal era. He was thereafter ajudge .He was born in Bowie in Montague County in northeastern
Texas , and was christened James Burr Allred V. James and Burr were the names of his uncles. He was known as "Vee" until he enlisted in theU.S. Navy in 1918. The Navy clerks had no intention of typing his full name on forms, so he was listed as "Allred, James V," theRoman numeral "V" being mistaken for the letter "V." Allred had no problem with the change, and used the altered form of his name the rest of his life.Allred had enrolled in
Rice Institute in 1917 but left school soon thereafter because of financial problems. He served in the U.S. Immigration Service for a short while before enlisting in the Navy duringWorld War I .After the war he clerked in a
law office inWichita Falls, Texas , obtained a law degree fromCumberland School of Law atCumberland University inLebanon, Tennessee , and began law practice in Wichita Falls.Allred's public-service career began in 1923, when Governor
Pat Neff appointed him assistantdistrict attorney in Wichita Falls to complete an unexpired term. He was elected to a full term in 1924. In 1926 he ran forattorney general ofTexas as a Democrat but was defeated. In his next try for elective office, in 1930, he was elected attorney general at the age of thirty-one, having defeated theincumbent and becoming the youngest man to hold that office. He was reelected in 1932. He then served two terms as governor, from 1935-1939.On leaving the governorship, he was appointed by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt to district judge in theU.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas . He served in that office from 1939 to 1942, when he resigned to run against an incumbentsenator ,W. Lee O'Daniel , for his seat in theU.S. Senate . Allred failed to unseat O'Daniel, and Roosevelt then nominated him to a seat on theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit , but theSenate Judiciary Committee would not approve his nomination. In 1951 he was reappointed to the Southern District judgeship by PresidentHarry S. Truman , and he served in that position until he died of a heart attack in Laredo, the seat of Webb County in south Texas only a few hours after recessing court because he felt "a little under the weather." He lived in Corpus Christi during this judicial tenure and was interred in Wichita Falls.He has been described as a "talented and fiery"
lawyer . As attorney general he filed an unprecedented number of suits, including manyanti-trust cases, and recovered millions of dollars for the state. As governor he embraced Roosevelt'sNew Deal , and during his administrations the legislature passed social security measures that included old-age assistance and teacher retirement programs. He opposed theKu Klux Klan and repeal ofprohibition .He married Joe Betsy Miller of Wichita Falls on
June 20 ,1927 . She was born onOctober 15 ,1905 , inAltus, Oklahoma and died onJune 7 ,1993 , in Wichita Falls.James and Betsy Allred had three sons: James V., Jr., William David, and Sam Houston, who was born in the Sam Houston bed in the Sam Houston bedroom of the Texas Governor's Mansion.
Allred Prison , in Iowa Park, is named for him. Governor James Allred is related to Alex Allred ofLansing, Michigan .References
*Ex-Governor Allred Dies After Seizure. "Dallas Morning News", September 25, 1959, sec. I, p. 1.
*Fiery Allred Got Into Politics Early. "Dallas Morning News", September 25, 1959, sec. I, p. 3.
*James V. Allred of U.S. Bench, 60. "New York Times", September 25, 1959.
*Joe Betsy Allred, widow of former governor, dies. "Dallas Morning News", June 9, 1993, p. 30A.External links
*Handbook of Texas|id=AA/fal42|name=James Burr V Allred
* [http://texashistory.unt.edu/permalink/meta-pth-3899 Legislative Messages of Hon. James V. Allred, Governor of Texas 1935-1939] , hosted by the Portal to Texas History
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.