O. C. Fisher
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Ovie Clark Fisher (November 22, 1903 – December 9, 1994) was an attorney and non-academic historian who served for 32 years as the U.S. representative for Texas's 21st congressional district.
Early life
Fisher was born in Junction in Kimble County, Texas to Jobe Bazilee and Rhoda Catherine Clark Fisher.<ref name="Ovie Clark Fisher">Template:Handbook of Texas Texas State Historical Association</ref> He married Marian E. De Walsh on September 11, 1927. A daughter named Rhoda was the couple's only child.
Fisher attended University of Texas at Austin, University of Colorado at Boulder, and Baylor University at Waco, from which he received his LL.B.<ref name="About O. C. Fisher">Template:Cite web</ref> He was admitted to the bar in 1929.
Career
Fisher practiced law in San Angelo in West Texas for two years.<ref name="Fisher, Ovie Clark">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1931, he was elected county attorney for Tom Green County.
Fisher represented the 53rd District of Texas in the Texas House of Representatives<ref name="State House of Representatives, 1930s">Template:Cite web</ref> from 1935 to 1937. From 1937 to 1943, Fisher was District Attorney for the 51st Judicial District of Texas. <ref name="Fisher Biographical Chronology">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1942, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives<ref name="Texas: U.S. Representatives, 1940s">Template:Cite news</ref> as a Democrat and served in the 78th Congress<ref name="Committees Served-O.C. Fisher">Template:Cite web</ref> to the 93rd Congress. He was reelected 14 times, only facing nominal opposition the first 13 times.
In 1972, however, Republican Doug Harlan held Fisher to 57 percent of the general election vote despite spending almost no money. Paul Burka of Texas Monthly said Harlan's success was "one of the first indications that the dominance of the rural conservative Democrats in Texas politics could not be sustained." With Harlan priming for a rematch in 1974, Fisher opted against a 16th term.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Fisher was one of five U.S. representatives from Texas to sign the "Southern Manifesto"<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> in protest of the US Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Fisher voted against the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Civil Rights Acts of 1960,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Civil Rights Acts of 1964,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Civil Rights Acts of 1968<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
After heart surgery<ref name="What the Politicians Say">Template:Cite journal</ref> in 1973, Fisher announced that he would not be stand for re-election in 1974.<ref name="Contest Looms for U.S. House Seats">Template:Cite news</ref> His party nominated Robert Krueger as his successor, who defeated Harlan, who made his second and last race for Congress.
Fisher died on December 9, 1994.<ref name="Ex-Rep O.C. Fisher of Texas, Who Served 32 Years in Congress, Dies at 91">Template:Cite news</ref>
Legacy
Baylor University is the repository for the O.C. Fisher Papers.<ref name="O. C. Fisher Papers">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1975, San Angelo Lake, a reservoir managed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers was renamed O.C. Fisher Reservoir in his honor.<ref name="O.C. Fisher Reservoir">Template:Cite web</ref> San Angelo State Park<ref name="San Angelo State Park">Template:Cite web</ref> is on the shores of the reservoir.
Fraternal memberships
Fisher had membership in the following organizations:<ref name="Kimble Co-The Political Graveyard">Template:Cite news</ref>
Works
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References
Sources
Template:S-start Template:S-par Template:US House succession box Template:S-end
- 1903 births
- 1994 deaths
- People from Junction, Texas
- People from San Angelo, Texas
- University of Colorado Boulder alumni
- University of Texas at Austin alumni
- Baylor University alumni
- County district attorneys in Texas
- Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives
- Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas
- 20th-century American historians
- American male non-fiction writers
- Historians from Texas
- 20th-century American male writers
- Signatories of the Southern Manifesto
- 20th-century members of the Texas Legislature
- 20th-century United States representatives
- Acacia members