Former U.S. House Speaker Dies

Carl Albert, who rose from the poverty of Oklahoma's coal country to become speaker of the House of Representatives and twice found himself next in line to the presidency, died Friday night.

He was 91 and had been in frail health for years.

Albert spent 30 years representing Oklahoma's 3rd District. He became Democratic majority leader in 1962 and speaker in 1971. He retired in 1976.

Standing at five feet, four-and-a-half inches, Albert became known as the "Little Giant from Little Dixie," a reference to the Democratic stronghold in southeastern Oklahoma that he served.

"From early on, everything I did was calculated to being elected to Congress," he said during a 1985 Associated Press interview.

Twice, Albert stood next in line of succession to the presidency. "One death or another resignation would have done it," he said.

During his years as House speaker, Albert's support of policies of the national Democratic leadership sometimes differed with the views of his constituents.

"I very much dislike doctrinaire liberals -- they want to own your minds," he said. "And I don't like reactionary conservatives. I like to face issues in terms of conditions and not in terms of someone's inborn political philosophy."

Albert opposed civil rights bills in 1956 and 1957 but he became a strong supporter during the Johnson years and played a key role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

During the Vietnam War, Albert and other House members supported President Johnson's Gulf of Tonkin Resolution calling for use of armed force in Southeast Asia.

But in his autobiography, Albert wrote, "Even at the time of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and Lyndon Johnson's subsequent injection of American power, I had had no great enthusiasm for the Vietnam War."

In 1973, Albert helped lead House efforts to block further military operations in Cambodia, Laos, North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

He was born May 10, 1908, in McAlester. His goal to serve in Congress, he said, began at age 7 when he heard an Oklahoma congressman speak during a visit to the one-room schoolhouse Albert attended in Bugtussle, a few miles from McAlester.

Albert left the poverty-plagued area where he was raised to attend college at the University of Oklahoma. He then studied as a Rhodes Scholar in Oxford, England, where he earned his law degree.

"It's been tough," Albert said. "When I first went to college, my father gave me a $20 bill and that was the last penny I ever had from my family."

Albert served in World War II and on his return was elected to the U.S. House.

"He is and always has been my political hero," said former Gov. George Nigh, who used to deliver groceries to the Alberts from his father's store in McAlester.

"He's an example to Oklahomans that from very humble beginnings you can make the highest achievements.

Albert is survived by his wife Mary, a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister and four grandchildren.