Robert "Bob" Price
Robert Dale "Bob" Price (September 7, 1927 --August 24, 2004) was a Republican congressman from the Texas Panhandle from 1967-1975 and a member of the Texas State Senate from 1978-1980. Price was considered to have been among the most conservative members of his party. He was the first Republican since Reconstruction to hold the Panhandle congressional seat.
Price was born to Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Price, Sr., in rural Reading, Kansas, in Lyon County near Emporia. He was educated in the Reading public schools and thereafter received his bachelor's degree from Oklahoma State University at Stillwater in 1951. After graduation, he married the former Martha "Marti" White.
Price joined the U.S. Air Force and served from 1951-1955. He flew 27 combat missions during the Korean War. He was awarded the Air Medal.
The Prices moved to Texas after his discharge from the Air Force. Throughout his adult life, he owned and operated a ranch near Pampa in Gray County. The ranch was located in portions of four counties and had been in the Price family since 1907.
Eight years in Congress
Price became involved in state Republican politics. He was a delegate to the state GOP conventions in 1964, 1966, and 1968. He was a delegate to the national convention in Miami Beach, Florida, in 1968.
In 1964, Price made his first race for the District 18 seat in the U.S. House. He challenged the 14-year incumbent, Walter Edward Rogers (1908-2001), who had begun his political career as city attorney in Pampa in the late 1930s. Rogers won the race, 58,701 votes (55 percent) to Price's 48,050 (45 percent). Price's showing was numerically the best that any Republican congressional candidate made in Texas in 1964, the year that native Texan Lyndon B. Johnson overwhelmed Arizona's Barry M. Goldwater.
Price ran again in 1966, but Rogers decided not to seek reelection to a ninth term. The Democrats nominated Dee D. Miller to contest the seat. Price defeated the Miller, 45,209 votes (59.5 percent) to 30,822 (40.5 percent). Price was joined in the Texas delegation by a second Republican, George Herbert Walker Bush, a Massachusetts native who was elected from a suburban Houston district. Price's party gained 47 U.S. House seats nationally but still remained in the minority.
While in the House, Price served on the House Agriculture Committee and on the Manned Space Flight and NASA Oversight subcommittees. He was reelected in 1968 with a 65.2 percent margin and was unopposed in 1970.
In 1972, Price faced a closer race from Democratic Congressman Graham Boynton Purcell, Jr., (born 1919) of Wichita Falls, a fellow incumbent. The district was reconfigured and became Number 13. Price defeated Purcell, 87,084 (54.8 percent) to 71,730 (45.2 percent).
A Watergate casualty
In 1974, Price was among dozens of Republican congressmen unseated in the Democratic "Year of Watergate." Price and his colleagues had nothing to do with the Watergate affair, which had already forced President Richard M. Nixon out of office, but voters punished their party, and they bore a large burden of the political cost. Price was defeated by the Democrat Jack Hightower of Vernon (later of Austin), who served for five terms. Hightower had a solid majority, 53,094 (57.6 percent) to Price's 39,087 (42.4 percent). Hightower's winning total was nearly 20,000 below Purcell's losing tally in 1972. More than half of Price's 1972 supporters deserted him, more likely not voting, rather than actually marking the ballot for Purcell.
Price lost to Hightower (no relation to former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower) in an attempted comeback in 1976. Hightower prevailed with 101,798 votes (59.3 percent) to Price's 69,328 (40.4 percent).
Later election results
Price was elected to the Texas State Senate in a special election in 1977. He used the slogan "Price is right for Texas." He held the seat for a partial term, 1978-1980.
In 1988, when Republican Congressman Eldon Beau Boulter of Amarillo stepped down to run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate, Price entered The Primary to succeed Boulter but lost the party nomination to Larry Milner. The seat nevertheless went to a Democrat in the fall, State Senator William "Bill" Sarpalius of Amarillo. Sarpalius polled 52.5 percent, to Milner's 47.5 percent. Sarpalius had won the state senate seat that Price vacated in 1980 and served in that capacity until he was elected to the U.S. House in 1988. Sarpalius served three terms in Congress and vacated the seat in January 1995. He was defeated in the 1994 general election by Republican William "Mac" Thornberry, originally from Clarendon.
Price sought the GOP congressional nomination again in 1990, when he lost to [...] Waterfield, and 1992, when he lost to Beau Boulter, who was seeking his own comeback after having vacated the seat to challenge the popular Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr., (1921-2006) for the Senate in 1988. By that point, Price had become a dreaded perennial candidate.
Price's legacy
Price was a member of the First Baptist Church of Pampa and the Masonic Lodge. He was a Shriner. He was also a former member of The Downtown Kiwanis Club.
Price was recognized posthumously by the Texas House of Representatives in January 2005 in a proclamation presented by his Pampa friend, Warren Chisum. The proclamation cited Price's "sense of humor, strength of conviction, and dedication to public service. Bob Price sought to make a positive difference in the lives of others, and he leaves behind a legacy of achievement that will surely inspire those who will follow in his footsteps."
Price died in Pampa. In addition to his wife "Marti," he was survived by his son, Carl Price; his daughter, Janice Price Johnson, and his brother, Ben Price, Jr. He is interred in Fairview Cemetery in Midland, Texas.
References
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=P000528
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlo/79R/billtext/HR00024F.HTM
Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, U.S. House
http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi?lastname=PRICE&firstname=ROBERT&middlename=D&start=21
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/RR/war2.html