Alben Barkley:
A Vice Presidential Unit

Alben Barkley was the thirty-fifth vice president of the United States of America. Born November 24, 1877 in Graves County, Kentucky and passed away April 30, 1956. His presidential term lasted from January 20, 1949 to January 20, 1953 serving under Harry S. Truman. Alben Barkley was born in a small log cabin in a small town in Kentucky. Being raised in a heavily religious environment to local tenant farmers, Alben set out and exceeded his family’s expectations by graduating from Marvin College in 1897. His passion was in the field of speech and debate, and continued his academic career in 1900 by attending University of Virginia Law School. Passing his bar in 1901, he had quite a successful law career, and eventually was nominated McCracken county judge. Alben eventually moved to a more political focused life style, where he represented Kentucky’s 1st district in the House of Representatives from 1913 to 1927. Afterwards, he served on a multitude of different service years for the U.S. senate, and eventually led to his vice presidential position in 1948. At age 71, and the oldest vice president inaugurated in the history of America, Alben Barkley was often sought as an old fashioned vice president. He consistently attempted to reconcile and work with legislative branch rather than the executive, and his poise demeanor was often a delightful and humble viewpoint rarely seen in the white house. His vice presidential career ended in 1952, and immediately decided to run for president, being nearly 75, he dropped out of the campaign race, and decided to host his own TV show, “Meet the Veep”. Unfortunately, several years after the show aired, Alben Barkley was dealing with his slowly deteriorating health, and passed away in 1956.

Political Party: Democratic
President: Harry S. Truman
Family: Dorothy Brower Barkley- 1st wife, Jane Hadley Barkley- 2nd wife , John Wilson Barkley and Electra Eliza Barkley -Mother & Father

Trivia Questions:
1) How many children did Alben Barkley have?
Three

2) How many wives did Alben have?
Two

3) Where did his TV show title originate from?
His grandson called him Veep which he believed was short for vice president


Of Note:

At age 71, he decided to get remarried, and married Jane Hadley Barkley
In 1956,Berkley died from a heart attack while giving a speech at the Mock convention.
Berkley served in the senate all five time periods he ran for a position.





The famous daily shows you important history that happened on this day.