1. Bruce Reynolds Alger was an American politician, real estate agent and developer, and a Republican US representative from Texas, the first to have represented a Dallas district since Reconstruction.
32 Facts About Bruce Alger
1. 2.
Bruce Alger attended Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey on a scholarship.
3.
Bruce Alger flew bombers and attained the rank of captain, claiming to be among the first US troops in Japan after the conclusion of the war in August 1945.
4.
The B-29 that Bruce Alger piloted was named "Miss America '62" after his daughter who would turn 18 in 1962.
5.
In 1945, Bruce Alger moved to Dallas and formed his own real estate and land development company.
6.
Bruce Alger was chosen as the first president of the White Rock Chamber of Commerce.
7.
In 1950, Bruce Alger announced the development of a 180-lot subdivision in Far East Dallas off Peavy Road which was to bear his name, and is known as Bruce Alger Park.
8.
Bruce Alger continued to support the development after being elected to Congress, even speaking at ceremonies for the neighborhood.
9.
In 1954, Bruce Alger became the Republican candidate for US House of Representatives for Texas's 5th congressional district.
10.
Bruce Alger received 27,982 ballots to Democrat Wallace H Savage's 24,904.
11.
Bruce Alger was the only Republican in the Texas delegation for eight years until 1963, when Ed Foreman of Odessa, later of Dallas, joined Alger for the final two years of his tenure.
12.
Bruce Alger considered himself an individualist, a constitutionalist, and a man of principles.
13.
Bruce Alger maintained that the national government should concentrate on defense and foreign affairs.
14.
Bruce Alger believed that the responsibility for social programs belonged at the local level.
15.
Bruce Alger was the only member of the House, for example, to oppose the popular school lunch program.
16.
In 1960, Alger organized a protest at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas against Lyndon Johnson, by then the US Senate majority leader, who was campaigning to become vice president as John F Kennedy's running mate.
17.
House Speaker Sam Rayburn particularly disliked Bruce Alger and was often brutal towards the Republican "interloper" in the Texas delegation.
18.
In 1956 and 1958, Bruce Alger defeated two Democrats who later became well-known names in the state.
19.
In 1958, a heavily Democratic year nationally, Bruce Alger defeated Barefoot Sanders, 62,722 to 56,566.
20.
In 1962, Bruce Alger won his last term in the House with 89,938 votes to Democrat Bill Jones' 69,813.
21.
Bruce Alger was unseated in the 1964 general election by the former mayor of Dallas, Democrat Earle Cabell.
22.
Bruce Alger polled 127,568 ballots, a considerable number of votes in a House election.
23.
Yet, turnout was so much higher in 1964 than in 1962 that Bruce Alger lost even though he polled nearly 40,000 more votes in the latter year than in the former.
24.
Bruce Alger is a very inflexible man and a suspicious man.
25.
Bruce Alger questioned the intellectual honesty of men like Mr Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson, and so he just didn't make any friends.
26.
Bruce Alger had offices in Dallas' One North Park building.
27.
Bruce Alger moved for a time to Florida but returned to Dallas in 1976.
28.
Bruce Alger resided in Carrollton, which is located in three Dallas-area counties.
29.
Bruce Alger remained out of the political limelight except for a few public appearances.
30.
Bruce Alger was divorced in 1961 from Lucille "Lynn" Antoine, who said that politics caused an estrangement in the marriage to the point that they had little in common except for a liking for gin rummy.
31.
Bruce Alger had two step-children in Massachusetts, Robert Jones of Amherst and Laura Jones of Chatham.
32.
Bruce Alger retired in 1990 and spent ten years with his wife Priscilla traveling around the United States in a recreational vehicle.