44 Facts About Jim Wright

Jim Wright represented Texas' 12th congressional district as a Democrat from 1955 to 1989.

Jim Wright won election to Congress in 1954, representing a district that included his home town of Fort Worth.

Jim Wright voted for the Civil Rights Acts of 1960 and 1968, the final version of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, and the initial House amendment to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 24th Amendment to the US Constitution.

Jim Wright became a senior member of the House Public Works Committee.

In 1976, Jim Wright narrowly won election to the position of House Majority Leader.

Jim Wright voted in favor of the bill establishing Martin Luther King Jr.

Jim Wright became Speaker of the House after Tip O'Neill retired in 1987.

In March 1988, Jim Wright led the House Democratic Caucus as Speaker to override President Reagan's veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987.

Jim Wright resigned from Congress in June 1989 amid a House Ethics Committee investigation into compensation that he and his wife had received.

Jim Wright was born in Fort Worth, the son of Marie and James Claude Jim Wright.

Jim Wright mostly attended Fort Worth and Dallas public schools, eventually graduating from Adamson High School.

Jim Wright studied at Weatherford College and the University of Texas at Austin, but did not graduate.

In December 1941, Jim Wright enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces, and after training, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Corps in 1942.

Jim Wright trained as a bombardier and earned a Distinguished Flying Cross flying during combat in B-24 Liberators with the 530th Bomb Squadron, 380th Bomb Group in the South Pacific during World War II.

Jim Wright was defeated in his bid for reelection in 1948, after a rival claimed that Wright was weak in opposing both communism and interracial marriage.

Jim Wright was the mayor of Weatherford from 1950 to 1954.

Jim Wright won despite the fervid opposition off Fort Worth Star-Telegram publisher Amon G Carter, who supported incumbent Democrat Wingate Lucas.

Jim Wright would be re-elected fourteen times, gradually rising in prominence in the party and in Congress.

Jim Wright developed a close relationship with Amon G Carter Jr.

In 1956, Jim Wright refused to join most of his regional colleagues in signing the segregationist Southern Manifesto, and voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1960 and 1968.

Jim Wright voted against the initial House resolution for the Civil Rights Act of 1957 on June 18,1957, but voted in favor of the Senate amendment to the bill on August 27,1957.

Jim Wright voted in favor of the House amendment to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on July 9,1965, but did not vote on the joint conference committee report on August 3,1965.

Jim Wright voted against the 24th Amendment to the US Constitution.

Jim Wright strongly supported the Superconducting Super Collider project in Waxahachie in Ellis County, but the work was halted in 1993.

In 1971, Jim Wright was appointed a Democratic deputy whip, picked for ideological balance.

Jim Wright speaks for Fort Worth and he speaks for the country, and I don't know any city that is better represented in the Congress of the United States than Fort Worth.

Bush, Democrats retained control of the House in the coinciding congressional elections, thus when the 101st Congress opened on January 3,1989, Jim Wright was re-elected as speaker.

Cooperation in governance, says Zelizer, was put aside as they deposed Speaker Jim Wright and regained power.

Mack, whose brother was married to Jim Wright's daughter, was given a clerk's job in the Capitol upon his release.

Jim Wright went on to become the executive director of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee and served as Wright's chief legislative strategist.

Critics, including feminist activist Andrea Dworkin, alleged that Jim Wright manipulated the legal system to get Mack off and, subsequently, protected him from media scrutiny.

In 1988 Jim Wright became the target of an inquiry by the House Ethics Committee.

Jim Wright was the first Speaker to resign because of a scandal.

Michael Parenti, critic of the national security state, attributed Jim Wright's forced resignation to the critical questions he was raising in the late 1980s with regard to CIA covert actions in Nicaragua.

Jim Wright had not only criticized Reagan's policy, but taken the extremely unusual step of entering into negotiations with the Nicaraguan government as Speaker.

Black wrote that Jim Wright had been saved from financial ruin and elevated to Speaker of the House by massive campaign contributions from control frauds like Charles Keating.

Jim Wright resigned to avoid the official documentation of his role in this that would almost certainly have come from hearings by the United States House Committee on Ethics, as it did for the Keating Five.

Jim Wright was an avid reader but was stricken with macular degeneration.

In November 2013, Jim Wright was denied a voter ID card at a Texas Department of Public Safety office, as he hadn't brought the duly-required documentation with him on the day of his visit.

Jim Wright indicated that he had worked out a solution with the Texas DPS that would allow him to cast a ballot in an upcoming election, but feared that other elderly people, especially those in retirement homes, would be unable to navigate the requirements.

Toward the end of his life, in May 2014, Jim Wright expressed regret over resigning as Speaker of the House.

Jim Wright was survived by his wife Betty and four children.

Jim Wright had previously undergone surgery twice to treat cancer, though it is not clear if his death was cancer-related.

Jim Wright championed prosperity for every working family, and helped lead the way to peace to Central America.