WRIGHT, James Claude, Jr., a
Representative from Texas; born in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Tex., December
22, 1922; attended the public schools of Fort Worth and Dallas, Tex.; student at
Weatherford (Tex.) College, 1939-1940, and the University of Texas, 1940-1941;
enlisted in the United States Army Air Force in December 1941; commissioned in
1942 and flew combat missions in the South Pacific; was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross; partner in a national trade extension and
advertising firm; member of the Texas State house of representatives, 1947-1949;
mayor of Weatherford, Tex., 1950-1954; served as president of the League of
Texas Municipalities in 1953; delegate, Democratic National Conventions, 1956,
1960, 1964, and 1968, and Convention chairman in 1988; elected as a Democrat to
the Eighty-fourth and to the seventeen succeeding Congresses and served from
January 3, 1955, until his resignation on June 30, 1989; majority leader
(Ninety-fifth through Ninety-ninth Congresses), Speaker of the House of
Representatives (One Hundredth and One Hundred First Congresses); is a resident
of Fort Worth, Tex.
Bibliography
Wright, Jim. Of Swords and Plowshares: A Collection of the Best Short
Writings of Congressman Jim Wright. Fort Worth, Tex.: Stafford-Lowdon Co.,
1968; Reflections of a Public Man. Fort Worth: Madison Publishing
Company, 1984.
-- Biographical
Data courtesy of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.