Albert Richard Thomas

Infobox_Congressman
name = Albert Thomas|

date of birth = April 12, 1898
place of birth = Nacogdoches, Texas
date of death = February 15, 1966
place of death = Washington, DC
state = Texas
district = 8th
term = 1937–1966
preceded = Joe H. Eagle
succeeded = Lera Millard Thomas
party = Democratic
spouse = Lera Millard Thomas
religion = Methodist

Albert Langston Thomas (April 12, 1898–February 15, 1966) was a Democratic Congressman from Houston, Texas for 29 years and was responsible for bringing the Johnson Space Center to Houston.

Early life

Thomas was born in Nacogdoches, Texas on April 12, 1898 Lonnie (Langston) and James Thomas. [ [http://www.houstonhistory.com/citizens/houstonians/history8ee.htm Great Houstonians] ] He attended local schools, worked in his father’s store, and served as a Lieutenant in the United States Army during World War I before graduating from the Rice Institute and the University of Texas Law School. He married Lera Millard. Thomas was admitted to the bar in 1927, and he practiced law and served as Nacogdoches County Attorney before moving to Houston in 1930 to become Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. [ [http://www.texasescapes.com/AllThingsHistorical/Albert-Thomas-AM1104.htm| Archie P. McDonald, "All Things Historical", November, 2004] ]

Congressional career

When long-time congressman Joe H. Eagle did not seek reelection in 1936, so he could run for the United States Senate, Thomas sought and won the Democratic nomination, which was tantamount to election. In that primary, Thomas beat Houston Mayor Oscar F. Holcombe in what was something of an upset. [Transcript, Mrs. Albert (Lera) Thomas Oral History Interview I, 10/11/69, by David G. McComb, Internet Copy, LBJ Library. [http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/ThomasL/Thomas-L.PDF] ] The Eighth District of Texas at that time comprised all of Harris County, which includes the state's largest city, Houston.

In Congress, Thomas was a protégé of Texas Senator (later President) Lyndon B. Johnson but maintained a generally conservative voting record. In 1949, he became chairman of the House subcommittee on independent office appropriations. He also served on the subcommittee on defense appropriations and on the joint committee on Texas House delegation. He was a typical Southern Democrat who through seniority rose to be the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's, subcommittee on defense. In that capacity, he was able to steer projects to Texas including supporting Johnson's proposal to build the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station. Thomas also served on the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and was instrumental in securing the location of the United States National Aeronautics & Space Administration's Manned Spacecraft Center (later named after Lyndon Johnson) in Houston in 1961. Since its inception, Johnson Space Center has served as mission control for every U.S. manned space flight including Apollo 11, the first lunar landing. "Houston" became the first word addressed to earth from the moon, in reference to the Johnson Space Center mission control. [Chaikin, Andrew. "A Man on the Moon". New York: Penguin Books, 1994.]

Thomas was one of the members of the Suite 8F Group, [Robert Bryce, "Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas, America's Superstate" (PublicAffairs, 2004)] which included his college roommate at Rice University, George R. Brown. [ [http://www.ricehistoricalsociety.org/cornerstone/issues/RiceCornerstoneSummer2002.pdf Rice Historical Society] ] Brown's company Brown and Root donated the land on which the Johnson Space Center would be located to Rice University. Then-Vice-President Lyndon Johnson was chairman of the Space Council, and Thomas, a member of the NASA board, played leading roles in the eventual acceptance of Rice University's offer.

Appreciation dinner in 1963

In 1963, Thomas was seriously considering not running for a fifteenth term. Local Democrats organized an appreciation dinner on November 21, 1963 with over 3200 attendees to persuade him to run for another term. The most visible attendees were President John F. Kennedy and Vice-President Johnson who both spoke of Thomas's leadership. Kennedy said, "Next month, when the U.S. fires the world's biggest booster, lifting the heaviest payroll into...that is, payload..." here the President paused a second and grinned. "It will be the heaviest payroll, too," he quipped. The crowd roared. "The firing of that shot will give us the lead in space," the President resumed in a serious vein. "And our leadership in space could not have been achieved without Congressman Albert Thomas." [ [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/special/jfk/houston/stories/dinner.html| Redding, Stan and Mansell, Walter, "Houston Chronicle", November 22, 1963] ]

Thomas accompanied the Presidential party as it traveled to Dallas, where the next day President Kennedy was assassinated. He witnessed the swearing in of President Lyndon Baines Johnson on Air Force One.

In 1964, Thomas was named Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

By the time of his death on February 15, 1966, at the age of 67, Thomas ranked eleventh in seniority in the House. The voters of Harris County elected his wife Lera to complete his term. Some time after he died, Houston's Albert Thomas Convention and Exhibit Center was named in his honor. [ [http://www.houstonhistory.com/citizens/houstonians/history8ee.htm Great Houstonians] ] He is interred in Houston's Veteran Cemetery.

Notes

References

*CongBio|T000156
* Transcript, Mrs. Albert (Lera) Thomas Oral History Interview I, 10/11/69, by David G. McComb, Internet Copy, LBJ Library. [http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/ThomasL/Thomas-L.PDF]
* Bryce, Robert, "Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas, America's Superstate" (PublicAffairs, 2004).