James D. Martin

For other people named James Martin, see James Martin (disambiguation).

James Douglas Martin (born September 1, 1918) is a retired Republican politician from the US state of Alabama. His 1962 campaign for the United States Senate was the first serious showing by a member of his party since Reconstruction.

Martin was born in Tarrant in Jefferson County, Alabama. He attended the public schools and the Birmingham School of Law. In 1937, he began working in the petroleum industry. In July 1941, he enlisted in the United States Army, where he commanded an artillery battery in Europe during World War II. He also served as an intelligence officer in the Army of Occupation and was discharged as a Major in March 1946. He returned to Alabama to work as an oil products distributor.

Martin was at first a conservative Democrat, but he joined the GOP to challenge incumbent J. Lister Hill for Hill's U.S. Senate seat. Martin lost to Hill by 6,019 votes (49.1 percent for Martin vs. 50.9 percent for Hill), the best Republican showing in decades.

Martin was elected to the House of Representatives in the 89th Congress in 1964, the year of the Goldwater landslide in Alabama, which resulted in the election of several other Republican candidates to the U.S. House, including Jack Edwards and John Buchanan, and William Dickinson. Martin surrendered his House seat after one term in order to run in 1966 for Governor of Alabama. His Democratic opponent was Lurleen Wallace, the first wife of outgoing Governor George C. Wallace, Jr., who had defeated a primary field that included Attorney General Richmond Flowers. Martin ran a conservative campaign, but the Wallaces dominated among the state's then majority of segregationist voters. Neither Martin nor Mrs. Wallace sought support from the increasing number of African American voters, energized since passage a year earlier of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Martin even trailed his fellow Republican, John Grenier, who opposed U.S. Senator John Sparkman that year. Grenier had himself planned to run for governor but switched races after Martin filed for the top office.

Martin ran for the U.S. Senate in 1972 but lost the Republican nomination to former Postmaster General Winton Blount, who in turn was easily defeated by incumbent John Sparkman. Martin ran again in 1978, first against the Alabama Supreme Court Justice Howell Heflin, the Democratic nominee to succeed Senator Sparkman. He switched races in the middle of the campaign to face Donald W. Stewart to fill the unexpired term of James B. Allen, who died in office. However, Stewart, who first beat Allen's widow, Maryon Allen, in the primary, went on to defeat Martin. Martin returned to work in the petroleum industry.

In 1987, Guy Hunt, the first Republican governor of Alabama since Reconstruction, appointed Martin commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

References

• James Douglas Martin
• James D. Martin at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The Political Graveyard

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Carl Elliott	U.S. Congressman, Alabama 7th District 1965—1967	Succeeded by Tom Bevill