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Former House Speaker Jim Wright dies
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Candidate
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| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia May 06, 2015 02:55pm |
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| Category | Obituary |
| Author | Dave Montgomery and Anna M. Tinsley |
| News Date | Wednesday, May 6, 2015 08:50:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | In 1939, one of Jim Wright’s classmates penned an eerily accurate forecast in the high school yearbook, predicting that, in 1955, “Congressman Wright” would deliver “the most erudite speech heard in the Congressional Hall.”
Sixteen years later, in 1955, Jim Wright arrived in Washington as the newly elected U.S. representative from Fort Worth. It was the beginning of a 34-year congressional career that fulfilled a boyhood dream and vaulted Wright to the pinnacle of power as 48th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Mr. Wright, 92, has died, Thompson’s, Harveson and Cole Funeral Home in Fort Worth confirmed Wednesday morning.
“This is the loss of a great man — and a lot of Fort Worth history,” Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said. “He has left a long legacy of being a tremendous public servant.
“He will be greatly missed.”
Even after his career collapsed in 1989, when an ethics scandal forced him to become the first speaker in history to resign, Mr. Wright insistently portrayed himself as a lucky man. “I got to do in life what I set out to do,” he said repeatedly.
During his more than three decades as representative from the 12th District in Texas, Mr. Wright became as much a Fort Worth institution as the Stockyards and the pink granite courthouse. At the height of power, he fortified his hometown with millions of dollars in government pork, from defense jobs to water projects. President John F. Kennedy once called Fort Worth “the best represented city” in America. |
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