Alben William Barkley (; November 24, 1877 – April 30, 1956) was an American lawyer and politician from Kentucky who served as the 35th vice president of the United States from 1949 to 1953 under President Harry S. Truman. In 1905, he was elected to local offices and in 1912 as a U.S. representative. Serving in both houses of Congress, he was a liberal Democrat, supporting President Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom domestic agenda and foreign policy.
Endorsing Prohibition and denouncing parimutuel betting, Barkley narrowly lost the Kentucky Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1923 to fellow representative J. Campbell Cantrill. In 1926, he unseated Republican senator Richard P. Ernst. In the Senate, he supported the New Deal approach to handling the Great Depression in the United States. Democrats chose him to succeed Senate Majority Leader Joseph Taylor Robinson upon Robinson's death in 1937. His 1938 re-election bid was an intense, bitter victory against Governor A. B. "Happy" Chandler. When World War II focused President Franklin D. Roosevelt's attention on foreign affairs, Barkley gained influence over the administration's domestic agenda. He resigned as floor leader after Roosevelt ignored his advice and vetoed the Revenue Act of 1943. The veto was overridden by both houses and the Democratic senators unanimously re-elected Barkley to the position of Majority Leader.
Barkley had a good working relationship with Senator Harry S. Truman, who became vice-president and then president in 1945. With Truman's popularity waning entering the 1948 Democratic National Convention, Barkley gave a keynote address that energized the delegates. Truman selected him as his running mate for the upcoming election, and the Democratic ticket scored an upset victory against Thomas Dewey and Earl Warren of the Republican Party. Barkley took an active role in the Truman administration, acting as its primary spokesman, especially after the Korean War required the majority of Truman's attention. When Truman announced that he would not seek re-election in 1952, Barkley began organizing a presidential campaign, but labor leaders refused to endorse his candidacy because of his age, and he withdrew from the race. He is the most recent Democratic vice president to never receive the party's presidential nomination. He retired but was coaxed back into public life, defeating incumbent Republican senator John Sherman Cooper in 1954. Barkley died of a heart attack on April 30, 1956.
Early life and education
Willie Alben Barkley, the eldest of eight children of John Wilson Barkley and Electa Eliza (Smith) Barkley, was born November 24, 1877. His grandmother, midwife Amanda Barkley, delivered him in the log house she lived in with her husband, Alben, in Wheel, Kentucky. Barkley's parents were tenant farmers who grew tobacco, and his father was an elder in the local Presbyterian church. Barkley traced his father's ancestry to Scots-Irish Presbyterians in Rowan County, North Carolina. Both parents were religious, opposed to playing cards and alcohol. During these times, his grandmother related stories of her relatives. Her childhood playmates included future U.S. Vice President Adlai Stevenson I and James A. McKenzie, a future U.S. representative from Kentucky. Unhappy with his birth name, he adopted "Alben William" as soon as he was old enough to express his opinion in the matter. In the difficult economy of late 1891, relatives convinced Barkley's father to sell his farm and move to Clinton, to pursue opportunities as a tenant wheat farmer. Barkley enrolled at a local seminary school, but did not finish his studies before entering Marvin College, a Methodist school in Clinton that accepted younger students, in 1892. The college's president offered him a scholarship that covered his academic expenses in exchange for his work as a janitor. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1897, and his experiences at Marvin persuaded him to convert to Methodism, the denomination with which he identified for the rest of his life.
After graduation, Barkley went to Emory College (now part of Emory University) in Oxford, Georgia, the alma mater of several administrators and faculty members at Marvin. During the 1897–1898 academic year, he was active in the debating society and the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, but he could not afford to continue his education and returned to Clinton after the spring semester. He took a job teaching at Marvin College but did not make enough money to meet his basic living expenses.
Early career
In Paducah, Barkley worked as a law clerk for Charles K. Wheeler, an attorney and congressman, accepting access to Wheeler's law library as payment for his services. Despite their political differences – Wheeler supported William Jennings Bryan and Free Silver, while Barkley identified with the Gold Democrats – he hoped that being acquainted with and taught by Wheeler would aid him in his future endeavors, but congressional duties frequently kept Wheeler away from the office. After two months, Barkley accepted an offer to clerk for Judge William Sutton Bishop and former congressman John Kerr Hendrick, who paid him $15 per month.
On December 19, 1904, Barkley declared his candidacy for county attorney of McCracken County well before the March 1905 Democratic primary. The Republicans did not nominate a candidate, so the Democratic primary was the de facto general election. Barkley faced two opponents in the primary – two-term incumbent Eugene A. Graves and Paducah Police Court Judge David Cross. He organized his own campaign and made speeches across the county, showcasing his eloquence and likeability.
Taking office in January 1906, Barkley saved taxpayers over $35,000 by challenging improper charges to the county. Even Republicans admitted that he performed well, and he was chosen president of the State Association of County Attorneys. Friends encouraged him to run for county judge, a powerful position which controlled county funds and patronage, and he announced his candidacy on August 22, 1908. After the chairman of the county's Democratic Club Executive Committee endorsed him, the incumbent judge, Richard T. Lightfoot, retired rather than challenge him.
On January 16, 1909, Democrat Hiram Smedley, county clerk since 1897, was indicted for embezzlement. The scandal gave Republicans an issue for the upcoming campaign. In a series of debates, Barkley's opponent, Thomas N. Hazelip, claimed that the county's entire Democratic organization was corrupt, and made charges against past Democratic administrations. Barkley responded that he had no more responsibility for those wrongdoings than Hazelip had for the murder of William Goebel, a Democratic governor who had allegedly been assassinated by Republican conspirators in 1900. He pointed to his improvement of the county's finances through inspection of charges presented to his office and showed evidence that he had fulfilled his obligations as county attorney, a fact Hazelip conceded. In spite of the scandal, Democrats won every county-wide office, although by reduced margins, but Republicans captured a 5-to-3 majority on the Fiscal Court. Barkley's victory margin—3,184 to 2,662—was the smallest of any county officer.
At the Fiscal Court's January 1910 meeting, Barkley laid out an agenda to reduce the county's debt, improve its roads, and audit its books annually. Despite the Republican majority on the Court, most of the measures he proposed during his term were adopted. The widening and graveling of county roads provided rural residents access to Paducah's amenities but reduced funds for programs such as free textbooks for indigents, and prevented Barkley from reducing the county's debt as planned. When he named his father as the county's juvenile court probation officer, opponents charged him with nepotism. Courting the votes of the district's farmers, Barkley advocated lower taxes and increased regulation of railroads by the Interstate Commerce Commission. After one challenger withdrew in March, three more candidates entered the race – Trigg County Commonwealth's Attorney Denny Smith, Ballard County Judge Jacob Corbett, and John K. Hendrick, Barkley's former employer. Hendrick attacked Barkley's youth, inexperience and ambition to seek higher offices. In June, the nomination of Woodrow Wilson for president and adoption of a progressive platform at the 1912 Democratic National Convention bolstered Barkley's candidacy.
Domestic matters
thumb|right|upright|alt=A man with dark, wavy hair wearing a dark jacket and tie and white shirt|Barkley in 1913
Initially conservative, working with Wilson (who was elected president) inspired Barkley to become more liberal. He endorsed Wilson's New Freedom agenda, including the 1913 Federal Reserve Act and the 1914 Federal Trade Commission Act. Because of his support for the administration, he was assigned to the powerful Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee and became the first freshman to preside over a session of the House. As a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission, he supported the Clayton Antitrust Act and sought to end child labor in interstate commerce through the Keating–Owen Act in 1916. He also supported measures to extend credit to and fund road improvements in rural areas. It was passed in 1917. The amendment passed the House, but a conference committee amended it to allow production of beer and wine. The Memphis Commercial Appeal noted in late 1917 that Barkley had not declined the invitations, but his continued silence reduced the prohibitionists' enthusiasm. The divisive prohibition issue and recent Republican gains in the state made the Democratic gubernatorial primary of particular interest. Stanley was the leader of the party's anti-prohibitionists. Barkley's convention address attacked Republicans and praised the Democrats' record without making reference to prohibition, but many in the Beckham faction refused to accept Black, and he was defeated in the general election by Republican Edwin P. Morrow. Chairing the convention introduced Barkley to state political leaders outside the First District.
World War I
Barkley supported U.S. neutrality in World War I and endorsed Wilson's plan to purchase merchant ships for the U.S. instead of paying foreign carriers to travel waters containing German U-boats. His position was popular in his district, as 80% of the dark tobacco grown in western Kentucky was sold overseas, and higher shipping costs adversely affected profits. By early 1917, Germany had lifted all restrictions on attacks on neutral shipping supplying Britain and France, outraging many Americans. Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war on April 2, 1917, and Barkley voted for the resolution when it came before the House two weeks later.
Relations with Harding administration
Barkley supported William Gibbs McAdoo for president at the 1920 Democratic National Convention, but the nomination went to James M. Cox. He campaigned for Cox and his running mate, Franklin D. Roosevelt, but his speeches focused more on Wilson's progressive record than Cox's fitness for office. Barkley thought the administration was too favorable to big business interests, however, and in 1922 he proclaimed that if Harding had returned the country to normalcy, "then in God's name let us have Abnormalcy".
Gubernatorial election of 1923
By the time of his 1922 re-election bid, Barkley was the ranking Democrat on the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee. According to Barkley biographer James K. Libbey, the establishment of such an organization, and not necessarily a desire to become governor, may have motivated him to announce his candidacy for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination on November 11, 1922.
thumb|left|upright|alt=A man with dark hair and a prominent mustache wearing a black jacket, patterned tie, and white shirt|J. Campbell Cantrill defeated Barkley in the 1923 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Opposing Barkley in the August 4, 1923 primary was Congressman J. Campbell Cantrill who, along with Stanley, led the conservative wing of the party, opposing prohibition and women's suffrage. Beckham, leader of the liberal wing, intended to run, and his surrogates, particularly Louisville Courier-Journal editor Robert Worth Bingham, began a "Business Man for Governor" campaign in late 1922. Beckham had served as governor from 1900 to 1907 and later in the U.S. Senate, but he was out of office (a "Business Man"), in contrast to Cantrill and Barkley.
Recognizing the need to broaden his appeal beyond western Kentucky, Barkley opened his campaign in the central Kentucky town of Danville on February 19, 1923. Due to Percy Haly's influence on Barkley, and Barkley's own admiration for Woodrow Wilson, he denounced the influence of the coal, racing, and railroad trusts in state politics. Friends in the Anti-Saloon League convinced him that banning parimutuel betting would cripple the racing trust. Like Bingham, Lexington Herald editor Desha Breckinridge had helped create the parimutuel betting system, and Barkley's positions were enough to convince him to back Cantrill, despite the fact that Breckinridge generally disliked Cantrill. He supported Cantrill in the general election, gaining goodwill within the Democratic Party. Cantrill died on September 2, and the Democratic State Committee had to name his replacement. On September 11, the committee nominated Congressman William J. Fields, and Barkley supported him in the general election, which he won over Republican Charles I. Dawson. Instead, he decided to rebuild his war chest to unseat Kentucky's incumbent Republican senator, Richard P. Ernst, in 1926.
At the 1924 Democratic National Convention, Barkley again supported William G. McAdoo for president. Since the 1923 gubernatorial contest, he had distanced himself from Haly and promised the conservatives that he would not push a ban on parimutuel betting if elected. Consequently, he had no opposition in the primary. Ernst had opposed a bonus for veterans of World War I, an unpopular position in Kentucky, and at 68 years old, his age worked against him. Barkley contrasted his impoverished upbringing with Ernst's affluent lifestyle as a corporate lawyer, and also attacked him for supporting Michigan senator Truman Handy Newberry, who resigned due to allegations of election fraud. In early 1928, Vice President Charles G. Dawes assigned him to a special committee to investigate the campaign expenditures of the leading candidates in the upcoming presidential election. When the Kentucky delegation arrived at the 1928 Democratic National Convention, they approached Smith supporters with a view to pairing Barkley to their candidate. They did not tell Barkley of their decision until after he seconded Smith's nomination for president. He campaigned for Smith, but Herbert Hoover won a landslide victory. After the election, Barkley led a coalition of liberal Democrats and Republicans that opposed Hoover's use of protective tariffs, a debate that took particular urgency following the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Barkley opposed the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, claiming it would cost Americans both jobs and exports, but Congress approved it, and Hoover signed it on June 17, 1930. When Congress adjourned, Barkley accompanied Sherwood Eddy and fellow senators Burton K. Wheeler and Bronson M. Cutting to the Soviet Union in August 1930.
Barkley maintained that Hoover's response to the continuing depression and the severe drought in 1930 were inadequate, and pointed out that the $45 million in loans to farmers that he approved amounted to less than half the losses sustained by Kentucky's farmers alone. He was angered that Hoover refused to call a special congressional session to adopt relief measures after the 71st Congress adjourned in early March 1931.
Second term and ascension to floor leader
Barkley supported Franklin D. Roosevelt for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1932, but facing a re-election bid himself, he did not announce his support, fearing that his message might not resonate with Kentucky voters. Roosevelt supporters offered Barkley the keynote address and temporary chairmanship of the 1932 Democratic National Convention if he would endorse their candidate. Both opportunities would help Barkley's re-election chances, so he announced his support for Roosevelt on March 22. Applause frequently punctuated the speech, with the longest interruption – a 45-minute near-riot – erupting after Barkley called for a platform plank directing Congress to repeal prohibition. Prohibitionist constituents still supported Barkley because, for most of them, the depression trumped all other concerns. In the general election, he defeated Republican Congressman Maurice H. Thatcher by a vote of 575,077 to 393,865, marking the first time in the 20th century that a Kentucky senator won a second consecutive term. Democrats gained control of the Senate during the 1932 elections; Joseph Robinson was chosen majority leader, and he appointed Barkley as his assistant. In July 1934, the Democratic National Committee chose Barkley to respond to Republican National Committee chairman Henry P. Fletcher's radio attacks on the New Deal. Later that year, he embarked on a tour of twenty states, defending the New Deal and stumping for Democratic candidates in the 1934 midterm elections. These remarks help set an anti-Supreme Court tone for Roosevelt's second term. On February 5, 1937, Roosevelt proposed legislation authorizing the president to appoint an additional justice for each one over the age of 70. A letter from Roosevelt praising Barkley's legislative accomplishments and addressed to "My Dear Alben" was seen as an endorsement. Although Roosevelt remained publicly neutral, he pressured Illinois' William H. Dieterich and Missouri's Harry S. Truman to support Barkley instead of Harrison; Dieterich acquiesced, but Truman remained loyal to Harrison.
Challenge by Happy Chandler
thumb|right|upright|alt=A man with dark, slicked-back hair wearing a pinstriped black jacket, patterned tie, and white shirt|Albert B. "Happy" Chandler unsuccessfully challenged Barkley for his U.S. Senate seat.
Barkley faced a primary challenge in his 1938 re-election bid from Albert B. "Happy" Chandler, Kentucky's popular governor who had a strong political organization throughout the state. According to historian James C. Klotter, Chandler was confident of his ascension to the presidency and saw the Senate as a stepping stone. Chandler twice asked Roosevelt to appoint Kentucky's junior Senator, M. M. Logan, to a federal judgeship so he could arrange his own appointment to Logan's Senate seat. On one of these occasions – the retirement of Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland – Barkley advised Roosevelt to appoint Solicitor General Stanley Reed instead.
The New York Times saw the primary as "the Gettysburg of the party's internecine strife" over control of the Democratic National Convention in 1940. Early on, Chandler portrayed himself as a supporter of Roosevelt – since Roosevelt was popular in Kentucky – but opposed to the New Deal. Forty years old – 20 years Barkley's junior – he referred to Barkley as "Old Alben".
Early in the contest, congressional business restricted Barkley's campaign to weekends, so he enlisted allies such as Fred Vinson to speak on his behalf. Chandler's political enemies such as former governor Ruby Laffoon, whom Chandler had crossed as lieutenant governor, and John Y. Brown, who felt that Chandler had broken a promise to support him for a seat in the Senate, also supported Barkley. After the congressional session, Barkley resumed his "Iron Man" campaign style, making between 8 and 15 speeches each day and traveling, on average, per week. This countered Chandler's implication that Barkley's age was a disadvantage, a charge that was further blunted when the younger Chandler fell ill in July, temporarily halting his campaigning. Barkley ridiculed the suggestion, promising to appoint "an ice water guard" for his campaign.
Recognizing that the defeat of his hand-picked floor leader would be a repudiation of his agenda, Roosevelt began a tour of the state in Covington on July 8. Chandler, the state's chief executive, was invited to welcome the president.
As nearly every 20th-century Kentucky governor had done, Chandler printed campaign materials with state funds, solicited campaign funds from state employees, and promised new government jobs in exchange for votes. Federal New Deal employees countered by working on Barkley's behalf. A Senate committee investigated Stokes' findings, and WPA administrator Harry Hopkins claimed the committee's report refuted all but two of Stokes' twenty-two charges. Nevertheless, Congress passed the Hatch Act of 1939 which restricted federal employees' participation in political activities. Barkley defeated his Republican opponent, Louisville Judge John P. Haswell, securing 62% of the general election vote. Encouraged by Barkley's success, Roosevelt campaigned against conservative Democratic incumbents in southern states, but all of these candidates won, which damaged Roosevelt's image.
Floor leadership
With his caucus divided between conservatives and liberals, Barkley failed to secure passage for Roosevelt's court-packing plan.
thumb|left|Barkley during his tenure as floor leader
Barkley disagreed with Roosevelt's selection of Agriculture Secretary Henry A. Wallace as his running mate; Libbey felt that "there is enough evidence from Barkley's tortuous private and public statements about the qualifications of Wallace to infer that Barkley wanted the vice presidency for himself", although he did not promote this idea to Roosevelt. Roosevelt went on to win an unprecedented third term in a landslide. In November 1943, he helped draft the Connally–Fulbright Resolution for the creation of an international peace-keeping body at the end of the war, an idea he had favored since Woodrow Wilson's support of the League of Nations. He also advocated passage of a measure to outlaw poll taxes, but the bill was defeated.
Split with Roosevelt
In April 1943 a confidential analysis by Isaiah Berlin of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the British Foreign Office described Barkley as "a Democratic party 'wheelhorse' who will pull the Administration wagon through thick and thin. Although he is the Majority Leader in the Senate, he is not an adroit negotiator, but a loyal supporter of the President come hell or high water."
Tension developed between Roosevelt and Barkley during the war, however. He announced that he would resign as floor leader and encouraged his legislative colleagues to override the veto. He stated that Roosevelt's characterization of the bill as "providing relief not for the needy, but for the greedy" was "a calculated and deliberate assault upon the legislative integrity of every member of the Congress of the United States". Roosevelt sent a letter to Barkley insisting he had not intended to impugn Congress' integrity and urging him not to resign. The next morning, Barkley resigned and left the Democratic Conference Room; minutes later, the caucus unanimously re-elected him. Many members who had seen Barkley as Roosevelt's advocate in Congress now looked upon him as Congress' advocate with Roosevelt. Delegates favored replacing Vice President Henry Wallace on their ticket in favor of Barkley, but Roosevelt refused to consider him, telling a July 11 meeting of Democratic leaders that he was too old.
Buchenwald concentration camp
thumb|Barkley viewing unburied corpses at Buchenwald concentration camp, 24 April 1945
On April 11, 1945, U.S. forces liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp, established in 1937, where at least 56,545 people died. General Dwight D. Eisenhower left rotting corpses unburied so a visiting group of U.S. legislators could truly understand the horror of the atrocities. This group visited Buchenwald on April 24 to inspect the camp and learn firsthand about the enormity of the Nazi Final Solution and treatment of other prisoners.
The legislators included Barkley, Ed Izac, John M. Vorys, Dewey Short, C. Wayland Brooks, and Kenneth S. Wherry, along with General Omar Bradley and journalists Joseph Pulitzer, Norman Chandler, William I. Nichols, and Julius Ochs Adler.
Truman succeeds Roosevelt
Truman ascended to the presidency when Roosevelt died in April 1945, just before the end of World War II. The committee's report, delivered on July 20, 1946, exonerated Roosevelt of any blame for the attack and highlighted weaknesses in communications between branches of the U.S. armed forces, leading to the creation of the United States Department of Defense.
In the 1946 elections, Republicans wrested control of both houses of Congress from the Democrats for the first time since the Great Depression and gained control of the majority of state governments. They also passed the Twenty-second Amendment, limiting the president to two terms, a posthumous slap at Roosevelt.
thumb|right|upright|alt=A slightly built, dark haired woman wearing a white dress and leaning backward onto her left arm|Barkley's wife, Dorothy, died March 10, 1947, after a long illness.
Barkley's wife became an invalid due to heart disease. He was the Democratic Speakers Bureau's most requested orator, surpassing Truman. Marny Clifford, wife of Truman's naval advisor Clark Clifford, nicknamed Barkley "Sparkle Barkle" for his care of his wife, who died March 10, 1947. Because of the Republican resurgence and Truman's difficulty appealing to some Democrats, Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey was expected to win the upcoming presidential election. He mentioned Truman only once, leading Truman to suspect that Barkley sought to supplant him as the party's presidential nominee, but no such attempt occurred. Playing off Barkley's keynote speech, Truman called a special congressional session on July 26, challenging Republicans to enact their agenda. They were unable to pass any significant legislation, seeming to confirm Barkley's characterization of them as a "do-nothing Congress". Aged 71 years old at the time of his inauguration, he was (and still is) the oldest man ever elected vice president, breaking Charles Curtis' record at 69. His grandson, Stephen M. Truitt, suggested the nickname "Veep" as an alternative to "Mr. Vice President". The nickname was used by the press, but Barkley's successor, Richard Nixon, discontinued using it, saying it belonged to Barkley. When Congress created the National Security Council, it included the vice president as a member. Barkley acted as the administration's primary spokesperson, making 40 major speeches in his first eight months in office. Mark Hatfield's biographical sketch of Barkley noted that he was "the last [vice president] to preside regularly over the Senate, the last not to have an office in or near the White House, [and] the last to identify more with the legislative than the executive branch". In March 1949, Democratic floor leader Scott W. Lucas introduced an amendment to Senate Rule XXII to make cloture easier to achieve, hoping to end a ten-day filibuster against a civil rights bill. Conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats opposed the rule change and tried to obstruct it. Georgia senator Richard Russell Jr. appealed Barkley's decision, and the chamber voted 46–41 to overrule. After Hadley's return to St. Louis, Barkley kept in touch with her via letters and plane trips. Barkley is the only U.S. vice president to marry while in office. His friends, Scott Lucas and Clinton Anderson, opposed the amendment, but Barkley had promised support during the 1948 campaign. The following year, the university's debating society renamed itself the Barkley Forum. The university also created the Alben W. Barkley Distinguished Chair in its Department of Political Science. He felt ill when he arrived in Paducah on election day, and a doctor diagnosed him with a "tired heart". Returning to Washington, D.C., he spent several days in the Bethesda Naval Hospital, but was able to preside when the Senate opened its session on November 28. Truman surprised Barkley, appearing on the Senate floor to present the medallion and a gavel made of timbers used to renovate the White House after the burning of Washington in 1814. On his 74th birthday, Barkley traveled to the front lines on a fact-finding mission for the president.
Campaign for president
At the March 29, 1952 Jefferson–Jackson Day fundraiser, Truman announced that he would not seek re-election, although he was exempt from the Twenty-second Amendment's term limits. After the announcement, the District of Columbia Democratic Club formed a Barkley for President Club with Iowa senator Guy Gillette as chairman.
thumb|left|upright|alt=A man with receding dark hair wearing a black jacket, white shirt, and striped tie|Adlai Stevenson II received the Democratic presidential nomination in 1952 instead of Barkley.
Barkley's distant cousin, Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson II (grandson of Adlai Stevenson I), was considered his primary competition for the presidential nomination, but had not committed before the convention. Kentucky's delegation to the 1952 Democratic National Convention announced that they would support Barkley, and Truman encouraged Missouri's delegates to do so. Barkley's advisors believed that Kefauver and Russell would knock each other out of the early balloting, allowing Barkley to capture the nomination. At a meeting with labor leaders the next morning, Barkley failed to persuade them to retract the statement, which caused delegations from large industrial states such as Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania to waver on their commitments to Barkley. Later that day, he announced his withdrawal from the race. In a show of respect, a Missouri delegate nominated Barkley for president and House Majority Leader John W. McCormack seconded it, but Stevenson was easily nominated. A month after the convention, Barkley hosted a Stevenson picnic and campaign rally at his home in Paducah and later introduced him at a rally in Louisville. Despite Barkley's predictions of a Democratic victory, Stevenson lost in overwhelming fashion to Republican Dwight Eisenhower.
Post-vice presidency (1953–1956)
thumb|right|The Angles, Barkley's home in Paducah
Barkley's term as vice president ended on January 20, 1953. In a 1971 study of Barkley's Senate career, historian Glenn Finch argued that Barkley was the only person who could beat Cooper. Few issues differentiated the candidates, and the campaign hinged on party politics; visits to Kentucky by President Eisenhower, Vice President Richard Nixon, and Illinois senator Everett Dirksen on Cooper's behalf reinforced this notion. He won the general election by a vote of 434,109 (54%) to 362,948 (46%), giving Democrats a one-vote advantage in the Senate. In honor of his previous service, he was assigned to the prestigious Committee on Foreign Relations.
Death
In a keynote address at the Washington and Lee Mock Convention in Lexington, Virginia on April 30, 1956, Barkley spoke of his willingness to sit with the other freshman senators in Congress; he ended with an allusion to Psalm 84:10, saying "I'm glad to sit on the back row, for I would rather be a servant in the House of the Lord than to sit in the seats of the mighty," drawing riotous applause. On June 23, 1903, he married Dorothy Brower (November 14, 1882 – March 10, 1947). Barkley Regional Airport in Paducah is also named for him. In 1984, the federal government declined to purchase The Angles, his Paducah home, and it was sold at auction. Many personal items owned by Barkley are displayed on the second floor of the historic house Whitehaven in Paducah. In February 2008, Paducah's American Justice School of Law changed owners after failing to secure accreditation from the American Bar Association. It was renamed the Alben W. Barkley School of Law, but remained unaccredited, and closed in December 2008.