Oscar Callaway

Francis Oscar Callaway
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's Twelfth district
In office 1911-03-04–1917-03-03
Preceded by	Oscar W. Gillespie
Succeeded by	James Clifton Wilson
Personal details
Born	1872-10-02 Harmony Hill (Nip-and-Tuck), Rusk County, Texas
Died	1947-01-31 Comanche, Texas
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Stella Couch
Children	none
Committees	Committee on Expenditures in the Treasury Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior Naval Affairs Committee

Francis Oscar Callaway (October 2, 1872 – January 31, 1947) was a three term U.S. Representative from Texas twelfth district from 1911 to 1917.

Biography

Born on October 2, 1872 in Harmony Hill (Nip-and-Tuck), Rusk County, Texas, Callaway moved with his parents to Comanche County in 1876. He attended the University of Texas at Austin 1897-1899, and graduated from the law department of that university in 1900. He was admitted to the bar the same year, and served as prosecuting attorney of Comanche County 1900-1902. On December 29, 1904 he married Stella Couch. He served as delegate to Democratic State conventions in 1896, 1898, 1900-1916, and 1920-1926.

Callaway was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-second, Sixty-third, and Sixty-fourth Congresses, serving March 4, 1911 - March 3, 1917. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1916.

He returned to his ranch near Comanche, Texas, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising, and also in the practice of law in Comanche. He died in Comanche, Texas, January 31, 1947, and was interred in Oakwood Cemetery in Comanche.^[1][2]

U.S. Representative, 1911-1917

Callaway served on the Committee on Expenditures in the Treasury Department 1912-1913, the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior 1914-1915, and then the Naval Affairs Committee for the remainder of his incumbency. Callaway's tenure was marked by outspoken fiscal conservatism and sharp questioning of every federal expenditure. This included vigorous opposition to huge river and harbor appropriations bills such as making the Trinity and Brazos rivers navigable.^[2]

Callaway came to national attention in 1916 with his opposition to the naval appropriation bill. He believed that a civilian army could repel any invasion, that battleships had been made obsolete by submarines, and that the military expenditures called for by the Preparedness Movement unduly favored munition makers. Some of his strong words against other congressmen on the subject were expunged from the Congressional Record.^[2] In 1917 he charged that leading business interests were purchasing newspapers to advance the preparedness campaign, which led his colleague J. Hampton Moore to call for an investigation.^[3] His opposition to preparedness was a major factor in his loss of the renomination bid to James Clifton Wilson, and he retired to Comanche on March 3, 1917.^[2]

References

1. ^ Oscar Callaway at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Miller TL. CALLAWAY, FRANCIS OSCAR. The Handbook of Texas Online.
3. ^ Special to the New-York Times. (February 14, 1917). Moore Asks for Inquiry Into Charges on Preparedness Campaign. New York Times.

External links

• Oscar Callaway at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Persondata
Name	Callaway, Oscar
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 2, 1872
Place of birth	Harmony Hill (Nip-and-Tuck), Rusk County, Texas
Date of death	January 31, 1947
Place of death	Comanche, Texas