Thomas L. Blanton
Encyclopedia
Thomas Lindsay Blanton was a United States Representative
United 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 Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. He was a member of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

.

Born in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

, Blanton was educated in the public schools. He graduated from the law department of the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...

 in 1897, with three years in the academic department. He was admitted to the bar
Admission to the bar in the United States
In the United States, admission to the bar is the granting of permission by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in that system. Each U.S. state and similar jurisdiction has its own court system and sets its own rules for bar admission , which can lead to different admission...

 in 1897 and commenced practice in Cleburne, Texas
Cleburne, Texas
Cleburne is a city in Johnson County, Texas, United States, and a suburb of Fort Worth. According to 2007 United States Census Bureau estimates, the population is 29,050. It is the county seat of Johnson County. Cleburne is named for a Confederate General, Patrick Cleburne...

. He moved to Albany, Texas
Albany, Texas
Albany is a city in Shackelford County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,034 at the 2010 Census. It is the county seat of Shackelford County.-History:...

, and continued the practice of law until 1908, when he was elected judge of the forty-second judicial district of Texas. He was reelected in 1912 and served in that capacity from 1908 until elected to Congress.

Blanton was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-fifth
65th United States Congress
The Sixty-fifth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1917 to March 4, 1919, during the fourth and fifth...

 and to the five succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1917-March 3, 1929).

Censure

While a member of the House of Representatives of the Sixty-seventh Congress, Blanton inserted into the Congressional Record
Congressional Record
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when the United States Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks...

 a letter purporting to have been written by one Millard French, a non-union printer, to "George H. Carter, Public Printer"; the letter recited a conversation reported to have occurred between French and a printer named Levi Huber who belonged to the union. The letter was said to contain language that was "unspeakable, vile, foul, filthy, profane, blasphemous and obscene", in the words of Representative Franklin Mondell
Franklin Wheeler Mondell
Frank Wheeler Mondell was a representative of Wyoming born in St. Louis, Missouri, and educated in the public schools. For many years he was engaged in farming, stock-raising, and railroad construction. He lived in Wyoming from 1887 onward, and served in Congress from 1895 to 1897 and then from...

, and the House voted to expunge the letter from the Congressional Record, on a vote of 313 to 1.

The letter itself was an affidavit sent by an employee of the Public Printer on September 3, 1921, and relates to the Government Printing Office. A selection of the letter, which relates what Levi Huber, the corrector of revises, said to the employee:
"G__d D___n your black heart, you ought to have it torn out of you, you u____ s_____ of a b_____. You and the Public Printer has no sense. You k_____ his a____ and he is a d_____d fool for letting you do it."


Robert D. Stevens of the University of Hawaii at Manoa wrote in a 1982 article that the offending remarks "were not all that offensive by today's standards," and only took up half a column of the Record, and furthermore contained only 32 "obscene" words, which were already censored in the form of removing most of the letters and replacing them with underscores.

A motion to expel
Expulsion from the United States Congress
Expulsion is the most serious form of disciplinary action that can be taken against a Member of Congress. Article I, Section 5 of the United States Constitution provides that "Each House [of Congress] may determine the Rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with...

 Blanton failed by only eight votes, and he was unanimously censure
Censure
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spiritual penalty imposed by a church, and a negative judgment pronounced on a theological proposition.-Politics:...

d by the House of Representatives on October 24, 1921, for "abuse of leave to print." Mondell, the author of the expulsion resolution, claimed on the floor of the House of Representatives that "There is not a member who will not say that it is the vilest thing he has ever seen in print", and that "Any one speaking the words contained in the Congressional Record would be subject to fine and imprisonment under the laws of the land." Representative Finis Garrett, defending Blanton, insisted Blanton had "no intention of being indecent but merely [had] a desire to show a condition existing between organized and non-organized labor in the printing office."

Subsequent events

The censure motion did not appear to harm Blanton's reputation with his constituents and he was reelected to the House in 1922, 1924, and 1926. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1928 but was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination to 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...

.

Blanton was subsequently elected on May 20, 1930, to the Seventy-first Congress
71st United States Congress
The Seventy-first United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1929 to March 4, 1931, during the first two years...

 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Robert Q. Lee
Robert Quincy Lee
Robert Quincy Lee was a U.S. Representative from Texas.Born near Coldwater, Mississippi, Lee attended the public schools and the Fort Worth High School....

. He was reelected to the Seventy-second
72nd United States Congress
The Seventy-second United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1931 to March 4, 1933, during the last two years...

, Seventy-third
73rd United States Congress
The Seventy-third United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1933 to January 3, 1935, during the first two years...

, and Seventy-fourth Congresses
74th United States Congress
-House:Also 2 Delegates, 3 Resident Commissioners-Senate:*President of the Senate: John N. Garner *President pro tempore: Key Pittman -Majority leadership:*Majority leader: Joseph T. Robinson...

 and served from May 20, 1930, to January 3, 1937. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1936.

He engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, in 1937 and 1938. He returned to Albany, Texas, in 1938, and continued practicing law. He also engaged in the raising of Hereford cattle. He died in Albany, August 11, 1957. He was interred in Albany Cemetery.

Source

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