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John Dowdy

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John Dowdy
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 2nd district
In office
January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1973
Preceded byJack Brooks
Succeeded byCharlie Wilson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 7th district
In office
September 23, 1952 – January 3, 1967
Preceded byTom Pickett
Succeeded byGeorge H. W. Bush
Personal details
Born(1912-02-11)February 11, 1912
Waco, Texas
DiedApril 12, 1995(1995-04-12) (aged 83)
Athens, Texas
Political partyDemocratic
Dowdy's former residence in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

John Vernard Dowdy (February 11, 1912 – April 12, 1995)[1] was an American politician. Dowdy was a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from the 7th District of Texas from 1952 to 1967 and then served as a congressman from the 2nd District of Texas until 1973, when he decided to retire under indictment for bribery.

According to prosecutors, he accepted a $25,000 bribe to intervene in the federal investigation of Monarch Construction Company of Silver Spring, Maryland. In 1971, Dowdy was convicted on eight counts: two of conspiracy, one of transporting a bribe over state lines, and five of perjury.[2] In 1973, after Dowdy retired from Congress, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, overturned the bribery and conspiracy convictions. Dowdy still served a sentence in prison for perjury.[3][4]

Dowdy was one of four U.S. Congressmen from Texas to originally sign the "Southern Manifesto," a resolution in protest of the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.[5]

Dowdy enjoyed having witnesses in House hearings describe homosexual acts in detail. He was fascinated by same-sex intercourse and publicly admitted to reading gay pornography[6].

Right-wing groups rallied to his defense, including the Washington Observer and the Liberty Lobby, which contended Dowdy was the victim of a "vicious frame-up by the Justice Department in collaboration with a clique of housing racketeers." The ulterior motive, according to the newspaper, was to stop Dowdy's subcommittee investigation of the fraud at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.[7]

Dowdy was born in Waco, Texas, and lived in Texas for most of his life. He was a lawyer before entering politics. He died in Athens, Texas.

Committee assignments

  • 83rd Congress — Post Office and Civil Service.
  • 84th Congress — Post Office and Civil Service, House Administration.
  • 85th through 92nd Congresses — Judiciary, District of Columbia Subcommittee.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Biographical Directory of Congress". Retrieved 2006-10-23.
  2. ^ iPad iPhone Android TIME TV Populist The Page (1972-01-10). "www.time.com, January 10, 1972, "Trials:Congressman Convicted"". Time.com. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ "Southern Manifesto on Integration (March 12, 1956)". WNET. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  6. ^ "The Kameny Papers". www.kamenypapers.org. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  7. ^ Washington Observer, April 15, 1973.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 7th congressional district
1952–1967 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 2nd congressional district
1967–1973 		Succeeded by
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