Wright, Jim

Born in the family of the seller. He studied at Wederford College and the University of Texas at Austin, but never received a bachelor's degree. He participated in the Second World War as a pilot, took part in the hostilities in the South Pacific. He was awarded the Cross of Merit of Flight . His memoirs about the war years "The Flying Circus: Pacific War - 1943 - As Seen Through A Bombsight" were published in 2005.

After the war, he settled in Wederford and founded a consulting company specializing in exhibition activities. During these years he joined the Democratic Party . He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives, the lower house of the state legislature from 1947 to 1949. In 1950-1954 he was mayor of Wederford, in 1953 he was elected chairman of the Texas Municipalities Association.

From 1955 to 1989 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the US Congress. During his stay in Congress, he refused to sign the Southern Manifesto, which contained provisions against racial integration in state institutions. At the same time, in 1957, he voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act, which established the Civil Rights Division under the US Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In 1964, he refused to support the “Civil Rights Act”, which established the principles of desegregation in public places and equal employment opportunities. In 1979, he achieved the adoption of the ambiguously accepted so-called Wright Amendment, which established competitive advantages for the Dallas airport. Only in 2006 did Congress decide to phase out this legislative act. He also advocated the creation of a Superconducting Super Collider in Texas-based Waxahachi.

He was a majority leader in the House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987. In 1988, he chaired the party congress - the Democratic National Convention.

In 1989, he resigned amid an investigation into a violation of ethics in his activities related to the receipt of donations. According to the report of the special commission, the politician received unlawful fees for publishing his book, The Thoughts of a Public Person. It was also found that the speaker’s wife also violated the law when accepting no work to avoid restrictions on benefits and gifts. In addition, the media unleashed a scandal 16 years ago when the main assistant to the speaker, John Mack, was accused of a brutal attack on a woman named Pamela Small. He was found guilty and sentenced to fifteen years in prison, but thanks to the efforts of the congressman, after 27 months, the sentence was commuted. Analyst Michael Parenti linked the attack on the Democratic speaker with his tough stance on investigating the illicit supply of weapons to the Nicaraguan Contras by the Reagan administration in the 1980s. Other researchers attribute these events to the politician's involvement in the widespread Savings and Loan Crisis, which led to the insolvency of the Federal Savings and Loans Insurance Corporation (FSLIC). As a result, the US government spent $ 124 billion in taxpayer dollars and liquidated 747 insolvent S & Ls by setting up a Settlement Trust Corporation for this. A series of scandals revealed that political corruption was one of the causes of the crisis in loan and savings institutions. Allegedly, the speaker tried to interfere with the investigation of fraud.

After his retirement, he taught as a visiting professor at Texas Christian University.

In November 2013, he was stripped of his voter ID by the Texas Department of Public Security because he did not bring the necessary documents on time. The former speaker addressed the public in a letter stating that existing legislation restricts the right of older voters to participate in elections.

• Jim Wright at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Photos from the Jim Wright Collection at the Portal to Texas History