Alben William Barkley, U.S. congressman, senator, and vice- president, was born in a log house on November 24, 1877, near Lowes in Graves County, Kentucky. His parents, John Wilson and Electra Eliza (Smith) Barkley, were tenant farmers who raised tobacco. Barkley attended common school in Lowes between fall harvest and spring planting. After the family settled on a wheat farm in Hickman County in 1891, Barkley enrolled in Marvin College in 1892 and earned a bachelor of arts degree within five years.

Barkley then enrolled at Emory College of Atlanta, a Methodist School which was connected with Marvin College. During the 1897-98 academic year, Barkley studied classics and participated in the school debating society, but his limited funds sent him back to Clinton, where he taught in the Marvin College intermediate department. Barkley was still unable to support himself with his teaching, so he resigned in December 1898 and joined his parents in Paducah, where his father had found regular employment. After Barkley obtained access to the library of Democratic Representative Charles K. Wheeler, barristers William S. Bishop and John K. Hendrick hired him as their law clerk in the summer of 1899. After two years of study and clerking, he passed the bar examination and opened an office in 1901, where Hendrick's friend Judge L.D. Husbands appointed him circuit court reporter.

While in Paducah, Barkley joined the Broadway Methodist Episcopal Church and numerous local organizations. His rich baritone and talent as a speaker enhanced both the lay sermons he sometimes delivered as well as the jokes he liked to tell. He married Dorothy Brower of Tiptonville, Tennessee on June 23, 1903 and they had three children: David Murrell, Marion Frances, and Laura Louis

Barkley entered the Democratic primary in December of 1904 for county attorney. Since the region was heavily Democratic, winning the primary was the key to winning the election. He was solely responsible for the organization and leadership of his campaign and used his gregarious nature and talent as a speechmaker and debater in numerous personal appearances to win over the voters.

As county attorney, Barkley had three hundred prosecutions and saved the county thousands of dollars by challenging overcharges against the local government. In 1907 he was elected president of the State Association of County Attorneys and was soon nominated for county judge. The campaign for the election of 1909 was the most vicious of his career, but his victory marked him as a formidable political force.

Barkley worked to repay the farmers, who had been his strongest supporters, through massive road improvement projects in McCracken County. He also inaugurated a number of progressive measures, such as appointing a purchasing agent and auditing the county books. After announcing his intentions to run for 1st District representative in 1911, Barkley took stands that were favorable to the farmers, such as lowering taxes and reducing the influence of railroads. He also advocated federal support for highway construction, which earned him a socialist label by his opponents. The selection of Woodrow Wilson as the Democratic party's presidential nominee in 1912 and the adoption of a progressive platform were favorable to Barkley's election.

During his seven terms in Congress (March 4, 1913, to March 3, 1927), Barkley served on the Interstate Commerce Commission. He enlisted in Wilson's New Freedom program to bolster economic stability by eliminating financial privilege, and he strongly supported the Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914. Barkley also sought governmental solutions to a variety of social problems, including child labor in interstate commerce. He was coauthor of a bill to ban liquor sales in the District of Columbia which laid the foundation for future prohibition measures. Though the initiative eventually failed, it gave Barkley national prominence and put him in the forefront of the Progressive movement.

On November 11, 1922, Barkley announced his candidacy in the 1923 Kentucky gubernatorial race. His spirited campaign earned him the nickname "Iron Man." Always an advocate for better roads, he supported the immediate completion of the state highway network. He also endorsed improving the educational system, but attacked the coal-mining and horse-racing industries. He narrowly lost the primary, but gained the future support of Democrats.

When he announced for the U.S. Senate in 1926, no Democrat opposed him and he defeated the Republican incumbent, Richard P. Ernst. He had important committee appointments and was a highly valued party member. With the onset of the Great Depression, Barkley played a national role as spokesman and policy-shaper during Franklin Roosevelt's terms. Barkley assisted Senate majority leader Joseph T. Robinson in the enactment of much New Deal legislation, defending Roosevelt's policies on national radio. Barkley was the keynote speaker at both the 1932 and 1936 Democratic party conventions. After Robinson's death in 1937, Roosevelt urged Democrats to make Barkley his successor as majority leader.

Roosevelt's focus on foreign affairs during World War II gave Barkley extraordinary power on domestic programs. He did occasionally disagree with the administration on issues of internal interest, such as the inequities in the War Production Board's contracting practices. Though Barkley resigned his majority leadership, he was quickly reelected, setting a precedent of autonomy for future congressional leaders. Roosevelt chose Harry Truman as his vice-presidential running mate in 1944, which may have been in retribution to the legislative defeats he attributed to Barkley.

Barkley continued in his career after the death of his wife in 1947, and his popularity soared. He was ranked as the most popular Democrat, and vied with General Dwight D. Eisenhower as Look magazine's most "fascinating" American.

Truman asked Barkley to be his vice-presidential running mate in 1948 and on January 20, 1949, Barkley took the oath as the nation's thirty-fifth vice-president, the oldest man to do so. When he married Jane Rucker Hadley on November 18, 1949, he became the only vice-president to marry in office. Because of his legislative experience, Truman insisted on his inclusion in all cabinet-level meetings and on the National Security Council, which made him the first working vice-president in U.S. history. With his outstanding talent for public speaking, Truman made him the administration's principal spokesman and commissioned a vice- presidential seal and flag from the army's heraldic branch.

Barkley was not considered as a presidential candidate in 1952 because of his age, but he remained active. After retiring, he hosted a national political television show, had numerous speaking engagements, and began writing his memoirs. By 1954, though, he reentered politics by running for the Senate. He easily defeated incumbent John Sherman Cooper and was appointed to the prestigious Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On April 30, 1956, students at Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia invited him to deliver a keynote speech at a mock convention. During the speech, Barkley observed that he "would rather be a servant in the house of the Lord than to sit in the seats of the mighty." At the conclusion of the address, he suffered a fatal heart attack. He was buried at Paducah.

Biographical information taken from article by James K. Libbey in The Kentucky Encyclopedia.