Prentiss Walker
Encyclopedia
Private life
Walker was born in Taylorsville, MississippiTaylorsville, Mississippi
Taylorsville is a town in Smith County, Mississippi, United States. It is the hometown of various professional athletes, including former Auburn Tigers and current Oakland Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell...
. He served in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and, after the war, worked as a chicken farmer in Smith County, Mississippi
Smith County, Mississippi
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 16,182 people, 6,046 households, and 4,558 families residing in the county. The population density was 25 people per square mile . There were 7,005 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...
.
Political career
Prentiss Walker became the first Republican to be elected to the House of RepresentativesUnited States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Mississippi since Elza Jeffords
Elza Jeffords
Elza Jeffords was a U.S. Representative from Mississippi.Born in Ironton, Ohio, Jeffords attended the common schools in Portsmouth, Ohio.He studied law....
in 1882 when he defeated 11-term incumbent W. Arthur Winstead
W. Arthur Winstead
William Arthur Winstead was a U.S. Representative from Mississippi.Born near Philadelphia, Mississippi, Winstead attended the public schools Clarke Memorial College, in Newton, Mississippi, and the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa.He graduated from Mississippi Southern College at Hattiesburg in...
in 1964 by 7,000 votes. His victory is considered to have been heavily influenced by the campaign of Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
, who carried Mississippi in the 1964 presidential election with an unheard-of 87 percent of the vote. Goldwater carried many of the counties in the district with 90 percent of the vote.
Walker gave up his House seat after only one term to challenge Senator James O. Eastland in 1966. He ran well to Eastland's right, accusing him of being too friendly to President Lyndon Johnson and of not doing enough to block integration-friendly judges in his position as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Walker lost by 27% to 65% to Eastland, with 105,652 votes. Nonetheless, it was the first credible challenge Eastland had ever faced. In 1968, Walker challenged G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery
Gillespie V. Montgomery
Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery was an American politician from Mississippi who served in the U.S. House of Representatives 1967–1997...
for his old House seat, but lost by 30% to 70%. Walker ran for the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
against Eastland in 1972 as an Independent and won some 14,000 votes.
Reagan anecdote
At a Republican fundraiser at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson on June 20, 1983, President Ronald Reagan told the following anecdote:Former Congressman Prentiss Walker, who I understand is here today, tells a story about his first campaign. He dropped in on a farm and introduced himself as a Republican candidate. And as he tells it, the farmer's eyes lit up, and then he said, "Wait till I get my wife. We've never seen a Republican before."
And a few minutes later he was back with his wife, and they asked Prentiss if he wouldn't give them a speech. Well, he looked around for kind of a podium, something to stand on, and then the only thing available was a pile of that stuff that the late Mrs. Truman said it had taken her 35 years to get Harry to call "fertilizer."
So, he stepped up on that and made his speech. And apparently he won them over. And they told him it was the first time they'd ever heard a Republican. And he says, "That's okay. That's the first time I've ever given a speech from a Democratic platform."
Works cited
- G.O.P.THREATENED IN SOUTH BY LOSS OF BACKLASH VOTE, Oct 9, 1966; ProQuest Historical Newspapers, The New York Times (1851 - 2003)