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Page Belcher

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Page Belcher
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives
fromOklahoma
In office
January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1973
Preceded byGeorge H. Wilson
Succeeded byJames R. Jones
Constituency8th district(1951–1953)
1st district(1953–1973)
Personal details
Born(1899-04-21)April 21, 1899
Jefferson, Oklahoma Territory
DiedAugust 2, 1980(1980-08-02)(aged 81)
Midwest City, Oklahoma,U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseGladys Collins
Alma materUniversity of Oklahoma
ProfessionLawyer
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Battles/warsWorld War I

Page Henry Belcher(April 21, 1899 – August 2, 1980) was an AmericanRepublicanpolitician and aU.S. RepresentativefromOklahoma.

Biography

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The Page Belcher Federal Courthouse (1974 photograph) is located inTulsa,Oklahoma.

Belcher was born inJeffersonin northern Oklahoma to George Harvey Belcher and Jessie Ray.[1]He was educated atpublic schoolsin Jefferson, andMedford, Oklahoma.Belcher attendedFriends University,aprivatenon-denominationalChristianuniversity inWichita,Kansas.He served as aprivatein theStudent Army Training Corpsat theUniversity of OklahomaduringWorld War I.While in college he studiedlaw[2]and played for the 1918Oklahoma Sooners football team.[3]

Career

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After the war, Belcher worked as manager of his father's Oklahoma car dealership. He wasadmitted to the barin 1936 and began a legal practice inEnid.[2]In 1934, he was elected county clerk ofGarfield Countyand served from 1934 to 1938. He also served on the Enid Board of Education and as judge of Enid's municipal court.[4]Belcher served as executive assistant to U.S. RepresentativeRoss Rizleyduring Rizley's first term in Congress (1941–1943) and later managed several of Rizley's reelection campaigns. He served as Republican chairman of the 8th congressional district, and was also the executive secretary of the Oklahoma Republican Party.

In 1950, Belcher was elected to Congress, where he served for two years as the last representative of Oklahoma's 8th congressional district before it was eliminated in congressional reapportionment. After most of the 8th's territory was merged with theTulsa-based1st district,Belcher ran for reelection there, and held the seat until retiring in 1973.[5]After his home in Enid was drawn out of the district during a mid-decade redistricting in 1967, Belcher moved to Tulsa.

In Congress, Belcher was a member of theAgriculture Committeeand its wheat subcommittee, eventually rising to ranking Republican on that committee. In that role, he facilitated passage of legislation related to theArkansas River Navigation System.[6]

Breaking with many of his regional colleagues, Belcher refused to sign the 1956Southern Manifesto,and he voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957and1960,[7][8]as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitutionand theVoting Rights Act of 1965,[9][10]but not theCivil Rights Acts of 1964and1968.[11][12]

Belcher usually had easy reelection campaigns because the Tulsa area was friendly to Republicans, but was nearly defeated in 1958 due to discontent over theEisenhower administration's farm policy. He faced another credible challenge in 1970, when formerJohnson administrationofficialJames R. Jonesheld him to only 55 percent of the vote. With Jones priming for a rematch in 1972, Belcher announced that June that he was retiring due to age and poor health. Jones then won the seat in the subsequent election.

Personal life

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Page Belcher was married on June 16, 1922, to Gladys Collins. The two had a son, Page Jr., and a daughter, Carol. Belcher was a Methodist, a Member of the Kiwanis, American Legion, and Odd Fellows.[13]He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Following his retirement, he moved toMidwest Citywhere he died on August 2, 1980, at the age of eighty-one.[2]He is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, Enid, Oklahoma. After his retirement from Congress, the federal courthouse inTulsawas named in his honor.[2]In addition, Tulsa is home to the Page Belcher golf course.[14]

References

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Public DomainThis article incorporatespublic domain materialfrom theBiographical Directory of the United States Congress

  1. ^"Index to Politicians: Belcher".The Political Graveyard.RetrievedMarch 27,2007.
  2. ^abcd"Biographical Sketch of the Creator of the Collection".The Carl Albert Center.Archived fromthe originalon February 9, 2007.RetrievedMarch 27,2007.
  3. ^"1918 Football Roster".SoonerStats.com.RetrievedMarch 27,2007.
  4. ^"Page H. Belcher Collection".Archived fromthe originalon February 9, 2007.RetrievedMarch 27,2007.
  5. ^"BELCHER, Page Henry, (1899 - 1980)".Congress.gov.RetrievedMarch 27,2007.
  6. ^"Belcher, Page Henry (1899-1980)".Archived fromthe originalon September 6, 2008.RetrievedAugust 30,2009.
  7. ^"HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957".GovTrack.us.
  8. ^"HR 8601. PASSAGE".
  9. ^"S.J. RES. 29. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO BAN THE USE OF POLL TAX AS A REQUIREMENT FOR VOTING IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS".GovTrack.us.
  10. ^"TO PASS H.R. 6400, THE 1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT".
  11. ^"H.R. 7152. PASSAGE".
  12. ^"TO PASS H.R. 2516, A BILL TO ESTABLISH PENALTIES FOR INTERFERENCE WITH CIVIL RIGHTS. INTERFERENCE WITH A PERSON ENGAGED IN ONE OF THE 8 ACTIVITIES PROTECTED UNDER THIS BILL MUST BE RACIALLY MOTIVATED TO INCUR THE BILL'S PENALTIES".
  13. ^politicalgraveyard.com/geo/OK/GA.html
  14. ^"Page Belcher".Archived fromthe originalon May 4, 2010.RetrievedApril 2,2010.
[edit]
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of theU.S. House of Representatives
fromOklahoma's 8th congressional district
January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1953 		Succeeded by
none
Preceded by Member of theU.S. House of Representatives
fromOklahoma's 1st congressional district
January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1973 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Page_Belcher&oldid=1222801976"