Austin Congressman Jake Pickle RIP

I clipped an interesting anecdote from his obituary.



J.J. 'JAKE' PICKLE: 1913-2005
The people's politician
Gentleman Jake was Austin's congressman for 31 years.

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Jake Pickle loved politics, from the handshake hellos to the knock-down fights.

He loved Austin, the adopted hometown he represented for 31 years in Congress.

And he loved telling a good story, especially when he was the punch line.........




But his proudest vote was for the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He was one of only six Southern representatives to vote aye. On the job only two months but determined to vote his conscience, Pickle figured he had guaranteed himself a one-term career, because Old Confederacy sentiments still reigned in Central Texas.

Pickle recalled returning to his hotel at 2 a.m. after meeting some friends for late-night drinks to soften the gloomy mood. The hotel operator stopped him in the lobby and demanded that he call the White House. President Johnson, she whispered in a shaking voice, had called personally looking for him. Several times.

Despite the late hour, Johnson came to the phone and admitted that he had failed to vote for several civil rights bills so he could wait for a more auspicious time.

"I just couldn't bring myself to do it," Pickle recalled Johnson saying. "But you did today. On your first big vote in Congress. And I just said to myself that I wasn't going to let this night go by until I had called you and told you personally that your president is proud of you."

That was one of Pickle's favorite stories — he had hours of them — and it usually ended the same way. "Pretty heady stuff for a young man," he would say, choking up.

To the end of his life, Pickle always referred to himself as a "Johnson boy."






http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/06/19pickle.html