Harry M. Wurzbach
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Harry McLeary Wurzbach (May 19, 1874 -- November 6, 1931) was the first Republican since Reconstruction to represent Texas for more than one term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He held the old Fourteenth District seat from 1921-1929 and from 1930-1931. Wurzbach was born in San Antonio to Charles Louis Wurzbach and the former Kate Fink. He attended public schools and graduated from the law department of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, in 1896. That same year, he was admitted to the bar, established his practice in San Antonio, and married the former Frances Darden Wagner.
Wurzbach volunteered as a private in Company F, First Regiment, Texas Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish-American War. After the war, he relocated to the town of Seguin outside San Antonio and continued his law practice. He was the Guadalupe County prosecuting attorney from 1900-1902 and the county judge (an administrative position) from 1904-1910.
[edit] Elected to Congress, 1920
First elected to Congress in the general election of 1920, Wurzbach unseated the freshman Democratic Representative Carlos Bee of San Antonio (1867-1932), 17,265 (55.6 percent) to 13,777 (44.4 percent). In 1922, 1924, and 1926, Wurzbach won by margins of 54.8, 62.4, and 57.2 percent, respectively. He won his seat even as the Republican presidential candidates in 1920 and 1924 were losing the electoral vote of Texas.
[edit] The disputed election of 1928
In 1928, Wurzbach lost reelection even though Republican Herbert Hoover was winning Texas over the Democrat Alfred Emmanuel "Al" Smith. Hoover in fact was the first Republican ever to win the electoral vote of Texas, a fact often attributed to Smith's Catholicism. Wurzbach polled 27,206 (49.7 percent) to 29,0555 (50.3 percent) for the Democrat Augustus McCloskey of San Antonio (1878-1950). Wurzbach claimed irregularities in the election and appealed his case to the Republican-controlled House. The House reversed McCloskey's election (after eleven months of congressional service) and seated Wurzbach on February 10, 1930. Wurbach then won another term in November 1930, when he polled an impressive 27,206 (59.3 percent) to Democrat Henry B. Dielmann's 18,707 (40.7 percent).
[edit] Wurzbach's legacy
Wurzbach served until his death in San Antonio at the age of 57. His death came near the start of the Great Depression, which had a devastating impact on Republican congressional candidates throughout the 1930s. Wurzbach was a delegate to the 1924 Republican Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, which nominated Calvin Coolidge to run for a term of his own. He is buried in the National Cemetery in San Antonio.
On his death, there was a special election in 1932, which was won by Democrat Richard M. Kleberg of the King Ranch. Kleberg served until 1937, when Lyndon B. Johnson of Gillespie County, an aide to Kleberg, won a special election for this seat.
Wurzbach, of German extraction, was also the first Texan native to win election to Congress as a Republican. After Wurzbach, no other Republicans represented Texas in Congress until 1955, when Bruce Reynolds Alger of Dallas County took his seat to begin ten years of service in the House. In 2005, for the first time in history, a large majority of the U.S. House delegation from Texas were members of the Republican Party.
Wurzbach was an uncle of Democratic Congressman Robert Christian "Bob" Eckhardt (1913-2001), who served from 1967-1981. Eckhardt was upset in 1980 by the young Republican Jack W. Fields of Houston.
An interstate exit on the Connally Loop, a.k.a. the 410 Loop, in San Antonio, Harry Wurzbach Road, and an interstate exit on Interstate 10, also in San Antonio, Wurzbach Parkway, both honor his memory.
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000775
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/WW/fwu4.html
| Preceded by: Carlos Bee (D) |
United States Representative for the 14th Congressional District of Texas
Harry M. Wurzbach (R) |
Succeeded by: Augustus McCloskey (D) |
| Preceded by: Augustus McCloskey (D) |
United States Representative for the 14th Congressional District of Texas
Harry M. Wurzbach (R) |
Succeeded by: Richard M. Kleberg (D) |
